Chapter 48
Noah
"Are you ready?" Kiki asked.
"Yeah", I said straightening my tie. I looked in the mirror of the small bathroom and I could hardly recognize myself. I didn't know what to feel. So numbness was the best I could muster up.
Was it foolish to think that I would know if Haley was in danger, dying or dead? It was just a normal Wednesday for me in the tent. But by night everything had changed.
My wife was dead and with her that small part of me that dreamed to hope, to love had died.
"It was a nice ceremony", Kiki said leaning it in the doorway. I wouldn't know because I couldn't go. The people in town didn't waste any time with their dead out of fear they would become revenants. I got to see most of the ceremony through a camera Mey and Kiki wore. From my viewpoint in the back, it looked like the entire town showed up to pay their respects in some way.
It was just the type of Christian ceremony I could see Haley being bored with but it was part of tradition so everyone just went along with it. The priest who married us was the same who would bury Haley.
Death shouldn't have this effect on me. I knew this would happen. It's what Haley wanted; to live and die. She never wanted to be a vampire.
I walked out of the bathroom and Kiki followed behind me. Eric offered to come with me but I declined. I didn't have much time to say goodbye and once I did I was going back to Therap to be put on a extended leave.
I felt eyes on me as I moved through the tent but I ignore them.
The walk to the church only took a few minutes and as I stood in front of the small white church I couldn't move to go in. "I don't mean to rush you but ....they really want to ....put her...in the ground before tonight".
"...yeah..." I took a deep breath and tried to push down my reluctance to go in. I just needed to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I climbed the three stairs that led into the candle lit church.
And at the front was Haley. In a simple wood casket. There were no flowers, no mourners or epitaphs.
Kiki silently slipped into the very back pew.
Time seems to slow down as I made my way up the aisle to the casket. I hadn't even noticed that there were two other people in the church until I got to the front pew and saw Gloria and Lilly. They were dressed simply in black dresses. Gloria just stared forward as Lilly leaned against her shoulder.
"We're not here to stop you. They wouldn't keep the church open if all the family left", she explained.
"Thank you... I'll be brief".
"Don't be. Take all the time you need".
As much as I just wanted to say goodbye and crawl into a hole and die myself I couldn't take those final few steps just yet. "After tonight I'll be heading back to Therap".
"Good for you", Gloria stated softly.
"Bye bye", Lilly added.
"How is your mother?"
"Broken. She won't even hold the triplets", Gloria cleared her throat before I continuing,"As terrible as this may sound. We all knew if anyone was going to go first it was going to be Haley".
"She shouldn't have went alone".
"Who would have went with her? It was a suicide mission and she knew that".
Haley may have been a lot of things but she wasn't stupid. Everything Gloria said was true. But it didn't make it any easier to accept,"How are the babies?"
"Healthy. We're scrambling to find more baby things. I don't think anyone in a million years would have thought Amy and Marc would have had triplets after all of the miscarriages they had to go there".
"It proves someone has a sense of humor. All boys?"
"Two boys and one girl". I sat down across from Lilly and Gloria in the other pew section. I wanted to be happy for Haley's family. But, I couldn't. It felt like an unfair trade. "It would be easy to blame them. But they're just babies. The only crime they committed was being born poor in Evian".
She was right.
I wasn't that close to Haley's family. Maybe her mother but that was about it. But they were the only remaining connection I had to her now. If Haley was here now she wouldn't want me wishing death on her nephew and niece. She loves them enough to make the ultimate sacrifice before they even breathe their first breath. She gave them the only gift she could and that was the possibility of a life,"I'm leaving at first light. Your family should consider coming with me".
"To Therap?"
"Yes. I can't bring Haley back. But I knew she wouldn't want me to abandon you all. Family was always the most important thing to her. The soldiers here may stay for another month but they have no obligation to continue fighting a battle that was never ours to begin with. Haley had set up this arrangement with POTUS but now that she's dead there's no reason for Therap soliders to be in Evian. When they leave, and they will. The town will fall and everyone that hasn't left will with it. Out of respect for Haley's life you all should seriously consider it".
"I can already tell you they're not going to go".
"Then that's a shame and waste of her sacrifice", I stood up and slowly made my way over to the casket. I look down at Haley I've wanted to believe that she was just sleeping. But she had no heartbeat, her skin was pale and her hands had rigamortis already setting in as they rested folded on her lower waist. They dressed her in a thin white gown that went all the way down to her ankles. Someone had given her back her wedding ring. Her hair was braided down The way she normally wore it with the pink ribbon she always wore. The red one I had given her was wrapped around her neck like a necklace. And this is how she would lay from now until the end of time.
"I love you and I'll never forget you", I would carry Haley in my heart until my final day. I'll never love someone that's deeply truly and sincerely as I did with Haley.
She can rest now.
She gave this town and her family everything until it killed her.
"Goodbye, my love", I kissed her forehead for the last time fighting back the tears that wanted to fall. This will be the last time I see her. I didn't believe in an afterlife, I didn't believe in God. Time has taught me religions only purpose is to control the masses. But this one time, this one singular moment I pray it's all true. That somewhere far beyond reality itself Haley is at peace happy in a garden with no suffering or pain. And one day her family will join her.
I stood up I'm staring down at Haley I spoke,"Gloria, you won't get a better offer than the one I'm giving you".
"I know".
I took a deep breath and turned away from the casket. As I walked down the pews out the door I had only one last thing to say,"If there's anything you can do. Any reason you can give your family. I would do it now. Don't let pride kill you all. Because that's the only thing you're going to find if you stay in this town".
