"May they forever rest in peace amongst the shades."
The solemn eyed priest concluded.
Dead.
Realization hit him like a brick to the face, his forever-loving grandparents were dead.
Before it had seemed like he was dreaming, like he would wake up any second and go downstairs to find his grandparents sitting at their breakfast table waiting for him.
But then his dream came true. They were dead.
" Alistor, are you alright?"
As if in a trance, he turned. His mother was standing a few paces away, her head tilted questioningly, ebony tears pouring down her pale cheeks.
Grieving, they all were grieving, he realized, staring around at the tearstained faces that filled the bleak graveyard. Turning on his heels, he left. A dismal, bleak silence cocooned him, wrapping around him, spreading...
"Alistor! Come, they're announcing your grandparents' will!" A young charcoal haired boy yelped, as he appeared from around the corner, his shoes tapping hollowly on the cobblestone road, hurried.
Turning, he stared the young boy down, his clear obsidian eyes flashing. How dare they? His grandparents bodies had not yet hardened, yet they were already sweeping for what his grandparents had left them. Utterly absurd.
Face drained and pale, he brushed past the boy and headed for the graveyard gates. He was exhausted; his grandparents' death had sucked the energy out of him, more than he'd like to admit. I have to get this over with, he thought as he retraced his steps toward the gates.
A few minutes later...
From his seat he silently listened as the priest announced his parents will; their riches were to be divided between all the members of the family, their heirlooms were given out to the eldest in his grandparents lineage, their house was to be shared amongst all of their grandchildren, but they had left him the attic. Only him. Along with a short handwritten note, warning him to tread carefully and not to fear change.
Storming across the cobblestone pathway that lead through the dismal cemetery, Alistor didn't look back. He would never set foot in that house. Ever.
