Don't You Come Crying When They're Rippin' Out Your Throats (Sequel to AsHollow)

28 - Faded Light Behind...

The city had been on clean up duty for just over a week now, everyone chipping in with rebuilding the buildings and structures, and sorting through the piles of dead bodies that were stacked up at the side of the street. A lot of the Heartatack that had been killed were escaped convicts and prisoners who'd gotten out - most likely by The Cardinal or Gilbecc getting them out while we were distracted by something else - but there was more than a few that were children who'd been taken from their homes. That one was a lot harder to deal with. Families had come forward to claim them and take them away for their own private funerals, I was paying for them though. I wouldn't let that stop me and I insisted because of everything that had happened. In the end a lot of people seemed to see it easier to claim their loved ones and then leave them with us to deal with for the burials.

Other than that not much more had been going on around Grandomina, a lot of people going inside their homes to do their mourning in private, others just not wanting to see the bodies - even still, everyone had to do their part.

Except for today. That was the one exception because we were having all the burials today.

I stood on the balcony of the inn we were all staying in watching as the people were walking down the streets towards the cemetery, just a sea of black and sadness. I didn't really want to go down... I didn't want to be these people's leader today, I didn't want to be the person that they were all looking up to. I just wanted to be someone else in the crowd, nothing special... I didn't want to be someone that people could blame for their loved one's deaths.

"Laurence?" a quiet voice from the door said. I turned round to see Drew standing there, suit and a black tie on - much like the one I was wearing. "You ready?"

I wanted to scream at him, throw things and shout at the top of my lungs how I wasn't ready to say goodbye or go out there and put on a brave face for people. But then again, I was never going to be ready to say goodbye to those who had laid down their lives for Grandomina... For me.

"Just my tie," was all I ended up saying as I walked back inside, running a hand through my slightly damp hair.

Drew picked my tie up and wrapped it round my neck, sorting it all out for me as I stood there blankly, biting on my bottom lip as I waited. He stood back and brushed it down before doing the same with my jacket and shirt. "There, you look lovely."

I gave him a weak smile and he did the same back, hugging me tight and that was something that I gratefully returned, gripping the back of his jacket tightly as I hid my face in his neck. I refused to cry though... That's all I had done more or less for the past week, and I wasn't going to do it any more. Besides, the people of Grandomina would be doing enough of that to cover me for today.

I sighed and pulled back, straightening myself out. Drew reached up and planted a small kiss on my cheek before leading me outside and downstairs to where Barrone was waiting for us, dressed the same but with a purple waistcoat underneath his jacket and his goggles wrapped round his neck.

He just nodded at me and I did the same back, no words wanting to fall from either of our mouths, and we all made our way out the inn and into the thinning crowds of people heading towards the cemetery.

I didn't have any thoughts going through my head as we walked, nothing jumping out at me and making me want to stick to it. Instead of thinking of anything I just followed the people in front of me like a sheep.

I glanced over at the Timids and saw the two of them holding hands tightly, Drew's knuckles going a little white. I felt my lips tug ever so slightly and my eyes started to water up, but I had to bite my lip hard to stop me from making a sound or breaking down on the ground in tears.