Chapter 57
Together
The burial was simple and elegant, it was unlike most parties with the Elites. The Ballans called only family and friends, the family held hands together and watched as she was buried. The Ballans had their private cemetery, Betsy was buried alongside Charles. No one had said a word when she was sealed, they watched the fireworks on the bench.
Koruna took a long look at the cemetery, she was astonished at the simple yet complicated design on each stone allocated to a member of the family. The stones had flowers blooming around them which meant that it was preserved properly and with a strict attention to detail.
“This is not a bad resting place.” Koruna said out loud.
“No, it isn’t. Do you want to be buried here?” R’ao asked.
“I would like to be cremated and maybe as ashes, I would like to be buried with you.” She winked.
“So romantic.” Flank said without life in his voice, he did not know the woman but the entire event was depressing and this was why he avoided anything that had to do with death, one would think that at this point, he would be used to it.
“Do you think there’s life after death?” Margaret asked in a small voice.
There was an awkward silence afterwards before Koruna answered, “Yes, I don’t believe that there is life after death. I know that there is one, death is not the end in totality.”
“Why are you so sure?” Annie raised her head from Margaret’s shoulders.
“Do you think death is the end?” She asked in return.
“I… I don’t know but I want it to be more than dust to dust.” She replied.
“I thought the Ballans were Christians.” Oni commented indifferently.
“We are but it is more of religion than spirituality. I don’t even understand my mortality as well, if the good people go to heaven and the bad go to hell, then what qualifies as good?” Bernie mused.
“It’s believing in Jesus that makes the difference I think.” Mariam added.
“Are you saying that if you are good and you don’t believe in Jesus, you go to hell? Do you also mean that if you believe in God but you are bad, you’ll still go to heaven?” Kelvin scoffed.
“Oh dear…” Flora muttered.
Lola chuckled, “It is more than that, and you cannot put God in a box. I don’t know much but I do know that there is a peace I feel even in the storm when I pray. My understanding is that he is an embodiment of love but he is not a pushover, I can’t say for certain what happens to people’s souls when they die but I know that no bad deed goes unpunished. For every light, there is darkness, good and bad, black and white, rich and poor, and so for everything you do, it will come back to you either here or over there.”
“There is the conscience that can act as a judge, you know what is right and what is not. My hands might be stained with blood but it doesn’t mean I’ll end in hell. I have to believe that I am a good person, I only hurt those who have hurt me and I do the best with what I am given. It has to make a meaning if not all of this is just breeze and we have no meaning in life and in death.” Telih’s deep voice rang from where he was standing.
“Emotions, dreams, imagination, creativity and many more attributes are the things that make us who we are, I believe death is not the end because I believe in myself. If you listen well, there is an echo to the world. Mysteries untold and each time humans tend to explain what they cannot understand as coincidence. There was a time I nearly died, not this time or the last three times. I was younger and still filled with hope, I was running after a cat who had ate my lunch when I fell into a deep hole. I cried and shouted until I lost my voice, I was cold, hungry and distraught. I could feel my life slipping away when it was like someone carried me and I felt warmth. When I opened my eyes, it was old man Circus he gave me the sweetest smile. He was the one who always gave me lunch anytime he had leftovers from his restaurant.” Koruna smiled with tears in her eyes.
“When I was able to walk back, I heard wailings from his house with people crying. Apparently Old man Circus had fallen in a ditch, broken his hips and had died same time I was rescued. I could not explain it to anyone because I do not understand it myself, I might have imagined it or maybe it happened but there is nothing to explain his sweet warm smile. Nothing mattered in the world at that moment, it was the first time I had seen someone be at peace. It’s the first time I am saying this out loud and not because I was afraid people would not believe me, I wanted to keep that memory for myself. There are so many things we cannot explain in the world, different cultures, traditions and beliefs but life and death unites us all. The bad gets punished and the good gets rewarded. Call it myth, but when diverse cultures in the world agrees on a simple subject, It speaks for itself.” Koruna let out a loud breath.
“I did not know Betsy for long but she cared for you. All of you, deep down that frosty face and cold smile is a woman who just wants the best for you, for us. That woman is 6 feet under because some people or a person believes that they have the power to take and give lives. While I might believe in God, I would rather have my pound of flesh. Vengeance won’t come later, I will get it myself.” She looked at each one of them.
“Together.” Margaret said with a hardened voice.
“No… I can’t risk your lives.”
“And you can risk yours?” Annie held Koruna’s free hand.
“Betsy said together, you can take the lead but we will do this together. If there is someone out there who wants us dead then this is only just the beginning. We cannot be sitting ducks.”
“Nah, she meant for me to do the dirty work, it was literally the last thing she said before she died.” Koruna shrugged.
“W..what?” Margaret looked at her confused.
“Look, I am sure Betsy was a wonderful woman but she was also a cunning one. She knew each one of you and what you were capable of, she wouldn’t want to risk your lives for something so dark and may I remind you, I was the one that they tried to kill and not anyone else except for the Ark brothers.” R’ao and Oni exchanged glances.
“No, but…” Annie wanted to talk but was cut off by Koruna.
“Koruna, you can’t stop us from doing whatever we want to do as much as we cannot stop you. Isn’t better you allow us before we put ourselves in danger and when we die, it will also be your fault.” Bernie grunted.
“Also?” Koruna gasped.
“She died because of you.” Bernie said with passion.
“Is that what you think?”
“What matters is not what I think but what you think, you think so too and that is why you intend on going on a mission that could get you killed. You said it, they don’t know us, and we are not on their radar. Use us.” Bernie said.
“You said death is not the end, Betsy may very well be looking at us. How do you expect us to allow you do whatever you want when she specifically said we have to be together?” Margaret said calmly.
“Hold up, there seems to be a big misunderstanding here. I don’t feel responsible for her death.” Koruna said with widened eyes.
“It’s okay. We know.” Flora patted her back.
“You are driving me crazy, I don’t.!!!”
“If you say so.” Flank shrugged.
“Guys… how is it my fault? I didn’t shoot her!”
“No, but the men who did were there because of you and she was caught in the crossfire as she tried to save you.” Lola murmured.
“Wow.” Koruna scoffed.
“You don’t have to feel guilty, Betsy lived and died as she wanted and that is not on you.” Kelvin smirked.
“R’ao, tell them.” Koruna looked to him for support but he pecked her forehead in response. She sighed deeply and groaned, “Fine we do this together but you do as I say. Nothing more and nothing less, there is only so much guilt I can carry.”
“We knew it!!! There was some human in you after all.” Margaret gave her a small smile.
“I don’t get it, I thought all of you would want to crucify me after all directly or indirectly it is my fault she’s dead.” She responded to them, she was sure that at least one of them would hate her presence and that was what she was banking on so she could cut ties with them once and for all.
“It's not so simple” Annie grinned.
“Your presence in our lives caused sequences of actions that changed most of our perspectives about life.” Bernie sighed.
“And Betsy left us handwritten letters, I can see you didn’t get one.” Margaret smirked.
“She did?”
“Yes, she was very particular in the way we should treat you and she also threatened to take away our inheritance if any of us should defy her instructions. Even from the grave, she is still as controlling.” Margaret screamed the last part out.
“Oh, I didn’t get a letter.”
Shola who had been sitting with them but hadn’t said a word cleared his throat,
“This was what she wanted the most. Her family together for one single purpose, Koruna her death wasn’t your fault. She had less than a month to live and she knew what she was doing so don’t carry that. Her will would be read tomorrow evening at 4 at the castle. Don’t be late and be appropriately dressed.”
“How do you dress appropriately to a reading?” Flora frowned in question.
Shola gave her a look, bowed and left them in his own car, Margaret, Mariam, Bernie and Annie followed afterwards in their own car. Koruna walked with her crew towards Flora’s truck with R’ao and Oni.
“The story about the Old man Circus, is it true?” Oni asked.
“Nope, Old man Circus was a stingy and callous man. He’s definitely headed for hell when he dies.” Koruna chuckled and Oni looked at her with a combination of awe and disgust.
“He’s dead now, Marcus hit his head with a large rock.” Flora smirked.
“Marcus, his son?” Koruna gasped.
“You knew?” Oni raised his brow well.
“It’s one of Grandma Buke’s stories about the other side. We are familiar.” Flank smirked.
“I don’t get it, why would you…?”
“Hope makes the heart grow fonder, and it wasn’t so much as a lie as it was a retelling of a story. Grandma Buke said it happened to her and well old people don’t lie.” Koruna shrugged.
“So you did it for us?” Kelvin said quietly.
Their pace was broken, “I thought you went with them.” Koruna said.
“I wanted to talk to you that was before I discovered you were lying.” He glared at her.
“I wasn’t.”
“You were but it made the needed impact. I was never a part of the Ballans, you know what’s harder than aggressive attention? It’s when people ignore your existence. It hurts let me tell you, it makes you question your sense of worth. Betsy was the only reason I kept going, she saw me and that is why I am doing this. I’m the reason Charles Ballan is dead.”