Chapter 1: Funerals Are Never A Good Thing

POV: Nicole

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Cathleen and-”

We? I’m the only person here. 

Nicole always hated funerals. They just always seemed like this wretched and horrible experience to put oneself through. Why would you willing want to put yourself through hours of whining, trips down memory lane, sad drunks, and people trying to overly justify the way they may have treated or were with whomever died? It just made no sense to her. Fortunately she was the only one at this funeral. 

Her parents were never very social. It wasn't that they didn't get along with people. They were nicest people that you would ever meet and could have had as many friends as they wanted, but for whatever reason they just didn't want to get to know the neighbors.

Nicole didn't have any family to speak of and she was not about to tell her friends about what happened to her parents.

Well at least they listened to me for once and didn't invite people here on purpose.

 Thinking about how her parents used to purposely invite her friends to gatherings and parties when all she wanted was to spend her days leisurely made her sad. Nicole was never the type to party. She absolutely hated being surrounded by big crowds of people. It wasn't that she hated people, no she just hated how they acted at parties and gatherings. The need to be "cool" and drink themselves till they're piss drunk was never something that made sense to her. And, the need to feel as though they had to do what other's wanted or expected them to do, think, or feel was stupid.

And, of course, her parents would still plan parties and gatherings for her because they "didn't want her to become a loner." 

How ironic. Nicole scoffed as she watched the priest continue his eulogy.

They were always such big advocates of me not being alone and now they’re gone. She stared up at the dark sky. It was raining and even though there was a tent covering both the priest and her parent’s caskets, but she wanted to stand in the middle of the rain with her umbrella.

Something about standing in the rain seemed to soothe her. She may have seemed calm and emotionless to people that were passing by, but inside she was a wreck. In her mind she was screaming and angry at the fact that her parents had left her all alone, but in her heart she was crying and in pain. Her parents were always her source of strength and comfort.

Her mother would always her hair as she would lay her head on her mother’s lap whenever she was sad. And, her father would give her those big bear hugs that she loved in moments like these. But, now she had no one. No one and nothing.

There would be no more “I love you pumpkin” and “how was your day shortstop” waiting for her when she got home. No more nagging to do the dishes or garbage. No more cheesy family pictures for holiday cards and, above all else, no one to play the piano for.  

Her parents loved to hear her play the piano. Whenever she mastered a new piece she would play it for them right away. When she learned to compose her own pieces was also when she wrote a composition for her parents. She never forgot the face her parents made when she played it for them on their anniversary. Her mother’s eyes were filled with love and she was crying while her father was clapping loudly and whistling as if she had just performed on stage. When she stood up to bow her father had immediately grabbed her and gave her a hug that made her a bit breathless for a second because of how hard he was squeezing her.

When her father had finally let go of her all she could do was laugh. He was like a big teddy bear that always needed to express how happy and proud he was while her mother was the opposite. Nicole turned to look at her mother when she noticed that she was crying. She went over to see what was wrong and all her mother could say was “Thank you baby. It was beautiful just like you.”

“Would you like to say anything before the caskets are lowered?” the priest said snapping her out of it. He stared at her with questioning eyes waiting for her to answer. Nicole just walked pasted him and made her way to her parents caskets and looked at them.

She had a bought a big bouquet that had a mixture of her parents favorite flowers with her to put on the caskets along with a copy of the sheet music with the song she wrote for her parents.

Her parents always liked to be prepared and had planned how they wanted to be buried a longtime ago. They had bought a large gravestone, a custom made coffin to fit the both of them in it, and had the grave made large enough to accommodate the coffin.

You made sure your funeral was taken care of….but not me. Nicole smiled bitterly as she placed the flowers and sheet music on the coffin.

“I love you.” She nodded her head towards the priest to have the coffin lowered. She turned to leave when she noticed the priest was just staring at her. His eyes felt like they were trying to find an opening into her mind as he stood there motionlessly.

He must think that I’m the worst daughter ever. Nicole didn’t bother sticking around for the actual burial. She just wanted to go home and lay down in her parent’s bed.

___________________________________________________________________________________

“It’s so quite now.”

Her parents may have been the only people living in the house, but they were by far some of the noisiest people ever to walk on planet earth. In one room you would hear the television on full blast while music was playing on their surround sound with her mother attempting to sing along, but failing miserably. She smiled as she remembered how one minute her mother would hit her notoriously screeching high note instead of replicating that beautiful high note that Bruno Mars would make.

Being inside the house was like walking through a time machine. She couldn’t walk into a room without going down memory lane and looking at how much had changed. This house would always be her home, but now the one thing that had always made it whole had been ripped out of her life.

As she continued to make her way upsta