A part of me was hoping that we’d be late for the funeral; maybe a protest somewhere, a traffic jam, even though there were barely 300 people in our town, or a plane crash somewhere in the fields- anything, literally anything to keep us from reaching the funeral in time. I know it made me sound like a terrible person but I couldn’t stop the little girl inside me from hoping that I wouldn’t have to see the face of the man who had insulted my parents almost a decade ago. And had slandered my entire existence. 

Some wounds never heal. You keep going about your day to day business and fool yourself into believing that you have healed from the scars, but the truth is that it’s all just a hoax. Not thinking about the pain doesn’t make it disappear. It stays there silently, only to break your heart again when it’s time. 

I turned to look at Aunt Nell who was silently looking out of the window. She hadn’t spoken a single word since last night. I wondered what she was thinking. She didn’t look sad, just dazed, lost in her thoughts. I really wished I could read her mind today. This woman had spent 13 years away from her son because of a man who was too arrogant and proud to ever apologize to her. Uncle Thomas had shifted back into the neighboring town of Northenshire four years ago and since then, he’d payed several visits to Woodsville. But he never told Aunt Nell what seemed to be the easiest words to spell out, “I’m sorry, Nellie.” He had never apologized to her. And Aunt Nell had forgiven him anyway.

The car came to a halt. I braced myself for the long ordeal ahead and managing one weak smile at the driver who held the passenger door open for me, I stepped out of the cab.

Funerals confused me. I had attended only three funerals in my life, the first two being of my parents who had passed away at an age too early for me to have a recollection of. The third funeral was of my school teacher, Professor Edmund. Professor Edmund was a sordid man, and the whole town hated him. So when Aunt Nell dragged me to his funeral, I had expected it to be a sorry little service with barely any attendees. But somehow, everybody had congregated in his little garden  to pay their respects to the dead. And each of them had something good to say about him. But why? Why do people talk well of the dead only because they’re dead?

Uncle Thomas was a terrible man, and he had committed some terrible things in his life. And just because he had died didn’t make him any  more of a better person. He really would’ve been a better person if he had lived to repent what he had done. To Aunt Nell, to Nathan, to me.

A young man in a long black coat came walking towards us. He was fairly good looking, not the kind that’ll blow you off right away, but if you looked at him close enough, you could see that he was beautiful, especially his eyes; gentle, brown eyes. Nathan.

                                                                       *************************

The funeral service had been as expected. There were a series of well-worded eulogies by Nathan and a few of Uncle Thomas’s co-workers. There were also dozens of hushed whispers amongst the audience upon seeing Aunt Nell at the funeral. I tried to remain invisible for the most part, keeping my head lowered in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with anyone. But in spite of my efforts, I kept noticing Nathan’s eyes averting from Aunt Nell’s face to mine repeatedly. And also, through my peripheral vision, I noticed another pair of eyes observing me curiously. I turned my head slightly and there I could see him, in the most unexpected of places: Arthur.

                                                                      **************************

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Arthur’s soft voice interrupted my incoherent train of thoughts. 

I turned to face his beautiful face. There was something about him that was very comforting, just his presence had put my agitated thoughts to rest. For now. I smiled effortlessly at him, and he smiled back, melting my heart yet again.

“Good afternoon, Laura,” he said.

I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. It’s funny but I had not expected him to remember my name, even though it was only yesterday that I’d met him at the exhibition. But a part of me had believed that I was nothing but a temporary muse for him, someone he’d forget about right as he fell asleep in his bed. It felt good to be wrong in life for once.

“Good afternoon, Arthur, even though it’s almost 5 in the evening.” 

“Is it? I barely noticed the time passing because I was too busy noticing you, I suppose,” he said and then immediately looked apologetic. 

“Pardon me, it was highly inappropriate of me to say something like that now. I’m just so very pleased to see you here that I forgot where we are,” Arthur explained, scratching his head in embarrassment. 

“It’s okay, don’t look so mortified,” I chuckled at his expression. Arthur looked relieved but kept a straight face. 

“Thankyou, Laura. The deceased was your relative I heard?” He asked as I started walking towards the stone bench in the cemetery. Arthur followed me quietly.

“He was my uncle, yes.” Unfortunately. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Arthur said, his hand hovering over my shoulder for a second before he decided to withdraw it.

“Thankyou, I-,”

“Laura?” Nathan’s unfamiliar voice interrupted our conversation.

“I had been looking for you,” Nathan continued, eyeing Arthur suspiciously before turning to look at me again. “It’s time to leave.”

I nodded and stood up. Nathan, who had completely ignored Arthur except for a slight nod, now started walking away from us. 

“When can I see you again?” Arthur asked as soon as he’d left.

“Why do you want to see me?” I asked him instead. Seeing Arthur at the exhibition and even now at the funeral was one thing. But wanting to meet him after today had never been on my mind. So I was surprised that it was on his.

“I can’t answer that now, but I promise I will in time.” 

“I’m in town with Nathan for a few days, Aunt Nell did not want to leave him alone right now.” Arthur’s beautiful face lit up.

“That’s wonderful, then I’ll meet you soon Laura,” he said.

“Ok.” I found myself agreeing, only because he seemed so excited about it. I would regret it later, but for now, I couldn’t break his heart when he looked so happy. I just couldn’t. 

“Goodbye Laura,” Arthur held out his hand for mine. I placed my tiny hand in his and he lifted it up to his mouth, gently pressing his soft lips against it. 

“Goodbye Arthur,” I whispered, almost breathless.

As I turned my back on him, I could see Nathan’s eyes boring into me. But I decided to ignore him for now; I wanted to think about Arthur. Lately, that’s all I wanted to do.