"In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which."
George R. R. Martin
Two Caskets 1 Funeral
Two opened caskets were propped in the front of the church. The first one to the left was holding a thirty-two-year-old woman. Her hair pitched black with a tint of brown, her skin smoothed like a china doll and her expression dimmed; even in death her beauty couldn't be hidden. Her last attire was a white laced dress, which happened to be her mom's favorite gown, the younger brother thought it would be a perfect last wear since she was the reflection of their mother: poetic and tearful that on this day August 27th 2014 he was officially losing them both. Her name was Tru Rosalee Davies-Vance, a wife and a mother of two. Harrison, her only brother, sat in the first row with his wife Corina and his daughter Elise. 'If there was only more time' were the words that consumed his thoughts, he desperately wanted to blame her death on himself so that when people wanted to understand how she died he could at least give them a person to point their finger to. It made no sense theoretically, but he wanted to punish himself for not trying harder. She was his favorite sister, he was supposed to be the man his father never was and protect her, protect both of his siblings. On his left side was his oldest sister Meredith, she stoically sat not being able to shed a tear. She felt she didn't deserve the right to weep for Tru. She reminisced on the last moment they shared together which was ten years ago, she told Tru that she would check into rehab and not a word was spoken since then. In a decade, their lives had changed drastically and she barely knew the young lady who was in the casket. Meredith had washed herself of the white powder addiction completely and re-entered the corporate world. It seemed to be that Tru had raised a loving family and just like her mother she had gotten herself into trouble, most likely doing something she wasn't supposed to do or being somewhere that she wasn't supposed to be.
Across the aisle was Tru's husband, Meredith's brother-in-law, who she met for the first time in the morgue and her nephews who she didn't even know were born. Tru was the middle child, the one with gifts and talent. The one who kept it all together and at the same time tore it all apart.
The second decease was a man named Jackson Harper. His hazel hair was slicked back and he wore a T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans to his request. He had the most in attendance at the funeral, the majority consisting of employees from the company he owned. The only person there who would miss him was a silvery haired man who was sitting in the row behind Tru's husband. He was on leave from the prison for the service and would return exactly after, it was imperative that Richard said goodbye to his only son. Jack wasn't his biologically, he just did a good job of replacing the son he first had who was sitting right across the aisle from him: Harrison. Harrison hadn't spoken to his father in nearly a decade, Tru and him were the ones who saw to it that dad got a long sentence in jail. Richard thought while clutching his cane how uneasy the whole event was. His adopted son in one casket, his real daughter dead in the other casket, her husband sitting in front of him: the husband and attorney who had masterfully put him away for life. He bet the two boys sitting on each of his sides had not the slightest clue that the felon sitting behind them was their grandfather. Then Meredith, his oldest child who was MIA until now. It was no secret that no one wanted him there, just as no one wanted his son Jack there. Harrison was keeping the possibility open that Jack concocted a plan to kill his sister and it had somehow backfired on both, an accusation that only he and his convicted father would understand.
The burning hatred Harrison had for Jack was indescribable and he hated that his sister had to go out beside him. In his eyes, Jack was a snake. Someone who was sly, manipulative and only good for stabbing another in the back, again, only Richard and him would know that. The rest of the family would be kept in the shadows mystified at how these two good natured citizens ended up at their funerals a week later. The younger brother would have gladly waited for tomorrow, allowing his sister to have a funeral dedicated to only her, but no, he couldn't go against Tru's husband's wishes. Carter thought it would be befitting that they both be buried together on the same day; nobody could quite comprehend why but he insisted. He was a kind and honest man, when he took his boys to the front, he let them kiss their mother and Jack Harper away to everyone's surprise. He sat them back on the chair when they began to cry.
It was made obvious that he was emotionally connected to him as well. Harrison wondered if he knew after all that his wife was no normal woman and that this was no normal circumstance. The astounding part was that even though Harrison knew a great deal more than everyone else he still couldn't make a correct assumption as to what happened to Jack Harper and Tru Davies-Vance. It frustrated him that the missing piece of the story and 'what ifs' were what he would have to wrestle with for the rest of his life. It had to have been August 20th. August 20th, the day of their murder was the key, a day that saw two deaths prior to their own, a day that held more mayhem than the mere mortal would have known and a day that most likely or most definitely happened more than once.
