The City Of Death

Chapter Three- Macy

It takes me nearly an hour to get to Behemoth's district, and another twenty to get to my destination. But once I'm there, there's no mistaking it. It's more spectacular up close. The neon shines brighter here, lighting the space around it in a way that the lampposts can't compare to. In fact, there aren't any lampposts in this area of the City. The neon provides more than enough light here.

The graveyard.

I've always known that my parents' ashes were spread here. Skye told me that much. But she never took me to see their gravestones, and after my sister disappeared, I didn't want to try and find them myself. I didn't want to be reminded of the parents I'd lost before I'd even known them. But now that my Death is upon me, it's time to try and find my parents. If worse comes to worst, I'd like my gravestone to be placed with theirs. Hopefully, though, it won't come to that. If I'm lucky, my gravestone will be placed somewhere else.

I walk up to the gate and pull on it, expecting it to open right up. To my surprise, though, the gate doesn't open. It's locked. Well, isn't that something? I work up the courage to finally find my parents, and I can't even get in. That seems unfair. I pull on the gate a few more times, rattling the metal. I try pushing it, just in case that was the problem, but still, it doesn't open. I sigh in frustration, and right as I turn to leave, I see someone walking towards the gate. I look carefully at his armband and realize the person is the Sexton. The person who takes care of the graveyard.

"You didn't have to pull on it that hard. I heard you the first time," he says, and I smile sheepishly.

"I'm not surprised. It's so quiet here," I respond, and he shrugs. It's not altogether unsurprising. The graveyard is the most sacred place in the City. It makes sense that it'd be quiet. Just standing on the threshold of it, I can feel the sanctity of the place. Even the Sexton speaks in a whisper, and I immediately feel the need to do so myself.

"Anyone particular you're here to see?" he asks, and I nod.

"My parents. I'm not sure where they are, though. I've never been to see them," I respond, and he smiles at me.

"That's what I'm here for. Names?" he wonders, already walking into the graveyard. I follow him inside, trying to keep up with him while also trying to keep my footsteps quiet. It is unusually quiet in here. My footsteps don't ring in the air like they usually do. I look down to see that I'm standing on grass. I didn't know there was grass inside the City. I thought that was something that only existed in the Outside. The rest of the City only has concrete and the only plant life is of the fake variety.

"They're, um..." I drift off, trying to remember what my parents' names were. Skye has only mentioned them a few times. "Xavier, and... um... Sheila. I think."

"You think?" he asks, a smile in his voice.

"They've been dead for about 21 years. Just after I was born. I never really knew them," I explain, and he hums in thought.

"21 years, eh? Well, I wonder if they're over here," he responds, walking away from the gravestones towards a wall on the other side of the graveyard. I raise my eyebrow until I see the wall is covered in plaques. Do they just move the plaques onto the wall after they've been there for a time? I haven't heard of that, but maybe it's something that I wouldn't have needed to know. We get to the wall, and I gently run a hand over one of the plaques. This one belonged to a woman named Priscilla. She was 27 years old the day she died. She was climbing a building and "fell" off.

"What is this?" I question, looking at the huge wall of plaques.

"About 15 years ago, most of the statues were destroyed. The plaques were left alone, so we moved them all up here instead of making new statues for them all," the Sexton answers and I harden my face. Who could come into a graveyard and desecrate it so? But I already know the answer. I only know of one group of people that could do this.