Ten all black outfits covered her bed, beautiful dresses, gorgeous shirts with matching skirts, many people wouldn’t have had such a hard time choosing what to wear, but Ronnie had done nothing but sit curled up in her armchair and stare at the clothes. It had always been easy for her, picking out an outfit, she had always been a very stylish and self-confident girl, but for the first time in her life she was absolutely clueless. This was the first funeral she’d ever been too, and it wasn’t just some relative she hardly knew. No, this was the love of her life. Ronnie had spent the past few days locked up in her room crying her eyes out. The next day was his funeral and she knew she wasn’t done crying yet. The next day was exactly one year since they met, and what a year that had been, she had laughed, cried and loved, oh how she loved him, with all of her heart.
As she sat in the chair wrapped in a blanket, she let the tears fall freely once again. She believed no one had ever felt as much pain as she did during those days. That is until her mother knocked on the door.
“Weronika let me in. I want to talk to you.” Her voice was muted from the other side of the thick door leading into Ronnie’s room.
“No! I don’t want to talk to you.” Ronnie cried loud enough for her mother to hear, but she didn’t leave. She just knocked on the door one more time.
“Sweetheart, please open the door.” She begged, “You can talk to me. I know how you feel, remember?” Of course Ronnie remembered; she had just been too preoccupied in her own misery that she had almost forgotten her mother’s. Ronnie stood up from the chair and dragged herself to the door, she unlocked it and her mother stepped in. Without another word being said she put her arms around her daughter and pulled her close in a tight hug.
Many years ago, when Ronnie was very young, too young to remember anything, her biological father had passed away. She had never thought much of it because a few years later her mother remarried and her new husband had always been a father to Ronnie. Now she didn’t understand how her mother ever got through the pain of losing her husband, they had known each other six years before the got married and then they were married for three years before he passed away. Ronnie had only known him almost a year before he died, but the pain was almost unbearable.
“How did you do it mom?” she whispered into her mother’s shoulder where her face was buried.
“Oh, honey.” Her mother whispered as she stroked Ronnie’s hair, “All you can do is give it time. Have you decided what to wear tomorrow?”
Ronnie groaned hopelessly and turned in her mother’s arms to face the bed, “No, it’s too hard. I don’t know what he would prefer.” She whispered, afraid that if she spoke louder her voice would crack and she’d begin crying again.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t care, he would just want you to be there.”
Her mother, Karen, didn’t like him at first; he wasn’t good enough for her daughter, she didn’t want Ronnie to get hurt, but as she saw the relationship grow and noticed how much he cared for her daughter, she accepted him into their family and hoped he would never leave Ronnie. Karen was a loving woman and she knew the pain of losing a loved one, both from being dumped and from getting them taken away from her. She loved easily and had only had one boyfriend before she met Ronnie’s biological father. She had experienced heartache and wanted to always protect her darling daughter from it. She had failed.
Ronnie was the spitting image of her mother, only 25 years younger. A gorgeous brunette with caramel-colored eyes, a slim body with a beautiful face. But that was as far as the similarities went, while her mother was a popular kid in High School, Ronnie had about one friend, until she got a boyfriend, that is. Now after they began dating she was suddenly popular, everyone wanted to be her friend, but she stayed true to her best friend Julie. The past days after he passed away people had been showing up at their door, they had been calling her house and written to her on her phone and on Facebook. It had gotten too much for her and she turned off her phone to avoid having to deal with the pity of her classmates.
Ronnie knew she was going to have to face them all the next day at the funeral, she did wish none of them would be there though. Luckily her mother and her father would be there too, and of course Julie was going to be at her side the whole day. She was going to come by first thing in the morning to help Ronnie get ready and to support her through the day. Ronnie felt blessed she had such a wonderful friend.
“How about this one?” Karen said as she let go of her daughter and lifted a dress from the bed. Ronnie shrugged and sunk down in her armchair once again, staring mindlessly on the dress.
“I considered it, I just thought it might be too inappropriate.” She muttered. Her mother held out the dress in front of her scrutinizing it closely.
“Why would you think that? It’s so lovely!” Ronnie didn’t really want to explain it. She knew it wasn’t inappropriate, it was actually very pretty and anyone would have loved to wear it. It had lace sleeves that went to her elbows; there was lace around the neck and back as well. It was tight around her bosom and had a navy ribbon under the breasts from where it fell in a full skirt. The problem was that it was a dress she had gotten from her boyfriend; he had given it to her for this exact purpose. It was delivered in the mail with a note. He wanted her to wear it, she just didn’t know if she could.
“He gave it to me.” Ronnie sobbed, “He gave it to me to wear to his funeral, he knew he was going to die and he bought me a dress to wear to his funeral. I can’t wear this dress!” She cried in frustration. While she spoke she had risen from the chair, she yanked the dress out of her mother’s hands and threw it across the room. She shrieked heartbrokenly and grabbed the nearest picture from her table and threw it against the wall as well.
“Why did he die?” She screamed. Karen got a firm hold on each of Ronnie’s arms and held them down, making sure she couldn’t grab anything that might me lethal if she threw them around as well.
“Sweetie. Shhh, it’s going to be okay. I know you hurt, but it won’t last forever. Oh, Ronnie, I’m so sorry this had to happen to you.” She whispered as she wrapped her arms around her fragile daughter, comforting her.
“Why did he die?”
