Burn

Chapter 1: It Started With a Death

"...May she rest in peace. Elízabeth A. Hawkins" The voice was distant as I myself stared to the left and up away from everyone and the casket. My nose burned, indicating I was getting ready to cry. I had done enough crying, as if it could be measured, for this "occasion"

I hated to associate her death with the word occasion. Like it happened often. I suppose for every birth there was a death, but this would be her only death. My mother had given me the word to help me cope, honestly it brought up more issues within my own walls called my brain.

It wasn't raining. It was a clear, breezy, sunny May day. It seemed Mother Nature always cried in movies in a sad scene - a funereal, a death, or someone remembering a lost loved one. I guess today Mother Nature was taking a long over due break. 

Elízabeth A. Hakins. Eli-Avery. I called her that almost every day. I already missed her and she hadn't been dead a month. The funereal was not extravagant, just simple, family and a few friends. There would be a service, after the burial, at her church then we would all go to the Hawkins' for diner and reconcile. 

A boy cleared his throat, ripping me out of my walls. I sighed and my eyes focused in on him. Her cousin. I forgot his name, but it wasn't really necessary anymore. We had only hung out because of Eli. She said 'my best friend and my least annoying cousin, oh, you guys have to be friends'

We never really struck anything, but he was a pleasant sight right now. He had her eyes. 

"Beth was a fire" He spoke. His voice was soft, yet firm and strong. He had that masculine sound in his voice. Rough and deep, but it was soft with sadness "She was a fire. She knew He created her fire. And she burned ever since she was born. She was warmth to many in this crowd. And I am sad to say, this fire, is now gone. But her ashes remain, because she is never truly gone" The boy slid back into the first row that held family.

I thought on his words, then it was time to say my own. My words couldn't have been more different yet the exact same. "Eli was a star" I said. I looked out into the crowd and met the eyes of her family, then my family, then our friends. "She was one of the billion people in this world. I loved the way she twinkled like a shining star" I smiled sadly, not looking back at the casket "She burned, I remembered, and now, she is a hallow space in the galaxy"

People looked a bit shocked as I walked away. The boy made a better speech about fire. He held fire in his eyes as he looked at me. His eyes held a new recognition for me, that I had never seen before.