Forever and Always

Loved Ones

The next morning, after the death of Aurora, Emi and Charles dragged themselves out of the hotel room they had book late the previous night and headed for the airport.

Emi watched in the corner of her eye as Charles walked beside her, head held high in an attempt to look braver than he actually felt. Emi knew that deep down, he was crushed, he was devastated. Aurora had really grown on both of them, and while they had only known her for a couple of weeks, they really liked her, enough that a bit of their hearts had gone to heaven with her.

They went through security and customs in the airport, and then made their way out onto the tarmac. The sun as they went outside blinded them, much too bright a day for such a gloomy time.

Emi took a deep sigh as they stood at the base of the jet, taking a quick moment of fresh air before they were to board. It was then that she felt the warmth and strength of Charles' hand wrap around hers, squeezing it tight in a way to for him to tell her everything will be ok. Everything after what they were going to go do now, anyway.

She glanced over at him quickly, and his soft gaze he sent back was like a was like a warm blanket on a cold day - comforting and cozy. It sent an electric current through her body, and a light shade of pink crept up onto her cheeks.

Charles pulled her up the stairs behind him by her hand as he ascended, not letting go once, even when they had sat down on the long couch against one of the plane's walls. They got comfortable together as the jet got ready to take off, Charles against the one of the armrests while Emi leant on him, and he ran his fingers through her soft, blonde hair. She added this moment to her collection of 'quiet moments' she had saved up in her brain.

The flight took them just under two hours to get from Bologna in Italy to Barcelona in Spain. When they had landed, they quickly went through customs and security and finally caught an uber just as the airport began to get busier.

Emi felt a wave of relief when the uber driver turned onto a backroad that would take them around the city and not through it - many of her nervous thoughts subsided, but only just, they were still in the back of her mind. She hated even the thought of going back through that city with even the slightest of chances that she might see him again, the person who had hurt her the most in her life. The only reason why she had come back was to bury Aurora next to Bianca and her mother and sister.

"Son 34 euros, por favor", that will be 34 Euros please, the uber driver turned around and asked politely when he has stopped the car in the cemetery parking lot. Emi nodded, drawing her purse out from her handbag and searching through it until she pulled out two 20 Euro notes and handed them over. 
"Quédese con el cambio, señor", keep the change, sir, Emi replied, smiling at the older man in the front seat as her and Charles exited the car. When Charles had closed the door behind them, they watched as the small grey SUV drove away before they turned around to face the dull landscape of tombstones. The sky above had been cast a light grey and soft white clouds covered the sun, saving them from the blinding rays it usually dished out.

The walk down to their destination didn't take long - not much more time than three or four minutes through the thousands of graves that lay next to them. And when they did get there, the usual sight of three tombstones had been replaced with four and an empty hole in front of the newest addition. That would be Aurora's grave. Two groundskeepers stood around it with shovels in their hands and a small boxed trailer behind them, looking bored with what the suited lady in front of them said. Soon, one of them spotted Emi and Charles as they just stood there, looking around and waiting for the people to move so they could come closer to the gravesites. The man nodded over at them, signaling the woman to whip her head around and face them with a sympathetic expression.

"Goodmorning. Are you two Mr. Charles Leclerc and Miss Emilia Rose?", the woman asked, holding a stack of papers on a clipboard to her chest. Her voice was thickly Spanish accented, her brown eyes bearing a slight shine to them as she looked upon the two, and her hair tied up in a neat professional bun at the back of her head that complimented her black suit and minimalistic golden jewelry she wore.

"That is us, yes", Charles replied when Emi stayed quiet for a moment too long.

"Well, hello to you both. You are just in time for the burial of little Aurora", she said, trying to make her voice as light and soft as possible to maintain a comforting sense about her.

"Oh, really?", Emi said, her heart slowly starting to crumble again as she spoke, her voice sounding far-away and disconnected, like she was off in some other place.

The woman nodded her head in agreement and looked over at the two for a moment before then looking away, giving them some brief privacy. Charles glanced over at Emi, taking her hand in his and giving it a slight squeeze. Through the haze of her tear-filled eyes, she could see his lip wobble and a small tear rush down his face. She knew this was hard for him too, but here he was, comforting her instead of trying to comfort himself.

"We'll stay", Emi whisper when Charles nodded his head and the lady turned back around.

"Ok. That's ok. It will only be quick. We will lay the coffin in the ground and then she will be covered up and the plaque will be put in", the lady told them softly. They both nodded their heads, Charles squeezing Emi's hand tighter beside her as they sat down on the grass below them.

It didn't take long before Aurora's small creamy-coloured coffin was lowered into the ground. The lower it went, the lower Emi's heart sunk. Even though she had already buried three of her loved ones in the past, she'd never actually seen them get put down into the ground. It was sad. When the hoist stopped and the coffin was finally down there, Emi quickly got up and went over to the hole in the ground. She held a small bunch of flowers she'd bought in the airport when they had arrived. Emi looked down to where the coffin lay - so sad and small looking and so far away. It was depressing that this was people's final resting place. She slowly picked apart the bunch of blooms, saving a few she could put beside the other graves, and threw down two pink tulips into the gravesite. Emilia watched as they landed on the smooth wood coffin, and if it weren't six feet deep in a cemetery, it might have looked nice.

Charles joined her side a moment later, and Emi gave him another pink tulip to toss down. He did the action so elegantly, like he didn't want to disgrace this small emotional moment by moving in any other way. When the three flowers lay across her coffin, they both bowed their heads for a moment in silence, before stepping away and giving the men the nod of approval to start burying her.

It didn't take long before the hole was filled and pat down by the two men and Emi and Charles were left alone. Emi stared at the plaque that had been put down, just above the soft dirt surface of the newly filled-in ground.

Aurora
Just look up at the stars.
I'll be there.

When Emi looked at the engraved message on the smooth concrete tombstone, her heart swelled. It made her remember the last moments her and Charles shared with Aurora under the stars. It was weird to think that it had only happened the previous night and she was alive - suffering but alive. And now she was gone, buried six feet underground.

Emi stood up, holding the flowers she had saved from before. Slowly, one by one, she went past each of the graves, her mother's, her sister's, Bianca's, and finally Aurora's, placing a flower at the base of each tombstone. When she sat back down next to Charles again, a thought crossed her mind. I never want to come back here to bury someone again. She really, really hoped it would never happen again, that she would never have to add another grave next to these four. 

As if he was reading her mind, Charles squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her. She leant over, placing her head on his shoulder as he pulled her closer by her waist, and together, they sat in silence, looking at the four graves in front of them - the four graves of people who had all meant so much to them, especially Emi.