My Boy Builds Coffins

"That is all for today class. You may leave." The teacher announced.

Sighs of relief echoed among the small school house as the kids began to pack their things ready to go home. Especially for one student who unlike the others started to shove her books into her bag. 

"Anya, why are you so quick to pack your things today?" Her friend, Charlotte, laughed. 

Anya looked at her friend, blue eyes wide, as she froze with a book in her hand. Her shocked expression melted away as a smile crossed her face. 

"Eli is going to walk with me today." She explained.

"You mean the coffin boy?" Charlotte grimaced. "I thought he didn't like anything that was alive." 

Anya heard someone behind giggle. Hot anger coursed through her and she angrily shoved the last book into her bag before brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face. 

"He doesn't really like things that are dead." Anya muttered as she roughly closed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. 

She didn't look anyone in the eye as she left the school house, but as quick as she walked it didn't stop her from overhearing Charlotte ask, "How does she like him?" 

Anya walked outside the school house and her eyes searched for her beloved. She immediately spotted him standing in the middle of the dirt road in front of the school house looking up at the sky. Elijah's clothes, which consisted of a light blue button up tucked into tan pants, was covered in wood dust. Evidence of his recent work.

Elijah tore his eyes away from the sky to look at Anya walking toward him. 

"How was your day, love?" He asked with a smile. 

Anya took his hand in hers as she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, but better now that I'm with you, dear." 

Elijah chuckled while patting her on the head. "Really? Then should I teach you instead so your whole day could be better?" He joked.

Anya rolled her eyes as they began to walk down the road. "So," She began. "Are we going to your shack today?" 

Elijah shook his head with a smile, "Do you always want to go there?" He questioned . 

"Oh please it's not like you're dying to go back." Anya countered with a smug grin. 

Elijah took a deep breath in then nodded. He took her down the winding road until they could hear the sound of waves crashing against the shore hidden beyond the small hills near Elijah's home. When the two were not spending thier time in the Elijah's shack they could be found walking up and down the sore together, holding hands, and picking up interesting shells that Anya would use to decorate Elijah's work space. 

As the couple walked closer to the shack they spotted a tall figure stadning outside the door-less entrance. He was looking around the small space with a look of uncertainty. 

"May I help you?" Elijah asked once they were close enough to the stranger. 

The stranger looked up. His face looked young with deep hazel eyes and slicked back hair. Anya could tell by looking at his suit the man had money. 

"Are you the boy who builds them here coffins?" The wealthy man asked with a heavy southern accent.

Elijah let go of Anya's hand to cross his arms over his chest. "And if I am?" He answered cautiously. 

"My dear Ma' died recently and she requested to be buried in one of your coffins." He explained. "Said they were the best. So how much are they?"

Elijah walked to the nearest coffin. "How much do you want to pay?" He asked. 

The man blinked in shock. "Excuse me?" He said in disbelief. 

"How much do you want to pay?" Elijah repeated slowly. 

The man was quiet for a minute before finally saying, "I'll give you two hundred." 

Elijah nodded, "Fair enough." 

After the man had paid and Elijah had helped him put the coffin into his car, Anya walked with Elijah into his shack. 

The inside was small with an unfinished coffin in the center and chairs on ether side of it. Anya took her seat on the chair she usually sat in when she stopped by to watch him work. 

Elijah sat down on his own claimed seat and scooted closer to the coffin. He then picked up a small whittling knife that had been placed carefully to the side before he left to pick her up and, with steady hands, he began his work. 

Anya sat looking at him hunched over the coffin, mesmerized by how focused he was. Her eyes watched how his hands carefully cut intracate patterns out of the wood, almost like they where already there and her dear Eli only had to cut away the extra wood that hid it.

That was something that she loved about her beloved Elijah, how he put so much care into each coffin he makes even though he knows that it will be thrown into the ground without a second thought.

Although people mistake his love of making coffins as an obsession with death that was far from his train of thought. He believed that the coffin should be made as special as a humans life. He didn't think his coffins carried something dead, but held something precious, and that's what he built them for. Anya couldn't love him anymore for that fact.

"You love making coffins don't you?" She whispered to him as she rested her hand on her cheek. Anya gave him a look of love that her dear Elijah retuned. "Making a chair or a table or a... ship wouldn't be enough?" 

Her beloved smiled "My dear it seems you've grown to know me too well." 

Without a second thought Anya stood up and leaned over the unfinished coffin to kiss her beloved. She knew that her boy loved building coffins and truthfully she wouldn't have it any other way. 

Authors Note:

This was inspired by the song 'My Boy Builds Coffins' by Florence + The Machine (it's to the side if you want to listen to it.) I hope you enjoyed the story! Remember to Vote & Comment!