I Would Kill For You

22. Memento Mori

I discerned two figures in the distance, observing everyone from afar. I recognised detective Nichole by her blonde hair and detective Henry by his short trimmed beard. Were they looking for the killer? Did they know who killed Avery?

I started being more aware of my surroundings, but there was no one who looked suspicious. No one whom I could see at least. I stared in the horizon, numbly and emptily, lost in my own thoughts.

"Bel?" a timid voice got me out of my trance after a while.

I turned to my best friend and saw that the cemetery was almost empty. The detectives were nowhere to be seen either. I looked around me and spotted Devon walking away with a brunette, Hayden and another boy from his class. He glanced in my direction and our eyes met.

 He was holding a lit cigarette between his index and middle finger, and he stopped suddenly. The brunette halted as well and asked him something, wrapping her arm around his torso. He didn't push her away; he gave me a cold stare and averted his sight, and kept on walking. His stony look twitched something inside me, as if it were a physical blow to my heart. But what was I expecting? A warm embrace? He must have thought that I had ignored his calls and texts on purpose, and although I'd told him we would speak the other day, we never did. And that was my fault.

"Rosabel. Are you okay?"

Gabrielle was watching me concerningly with her big teal blue eyes, her hand squeezing mine softly. Her light copper hair was braided into a fishtail braid and she had a straight black dress that accentuated her porcelain skin.

"As okay as I could be, given the circumstances. Why don't you go ahead? I'll be right there."

"No. I'll stay with you." she said.

"I want to be alone for a while. Please." I requested, squeezing her hand in return.

She hesitated for a moment, but she gave in soon. She nodded and made her way to the car.

I took a deep breath and approached Avery's grave. My eyes welled up with tears just by reading the epitaph on her tombstone.

Avery Halloway

2000-2017

GONE TOO SOON BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

I cleared my throat and tried to say something, anything that would sum up how sorry I was. I didn't know if she could hear me; I didn't even know what to say. I stared at the inscription on her grave and at all the flowers around it emotionless, but my chin started to tremble and I was on the verge of crying. I didn't even want to cry, but tears kept on forming in my eyes.

"It's really unfortunate that we realise how much a person means to us only after we lose her."

I flinched and felt a presence behind me; a towering figure that could only belong to Damian. I could see from the corner of my eye his defined facial features, his luxurious hair blown by the winter breeze and his dark eyes fixated on me. I caught the scent of his perfume and felt warmth spreading in my veins.

 But as I pivoted on my heels to face him, a dejected smile tugged at my lips. It wasn't Damian; it was his twin brother, Joseph, in a dark green coat. His image, his perfume had been a simple mirage of my mind, for his aura was nothing like that of Damian. He emanated innocence and serenity, his light brown eyes beaming with nostalgia. He was beautiful and looked even younger in the morning light, which reflected specks of dark gold on the tips of his hair. He was holding four white roses in his hands.