Chapter Four: Death is only the beginning of life

The lights suddenly went black and the room was dark. "Ahhh hey what happened???" Karen screamed from the back room. She opened the door only to stumble over and fall on jack "Ow, hey that hurt." "Sorry jack but I cant see any thin" "Ahhhh what the." "Daddy" Jeff began to cry a blood-curdling scream as large thuds could be heard all around the store. "Jeff, hey what's going on?"Jack said "Jack I'm scared." Karen yelled as she clung to jack even harder, the two lay in the corner buried in darkness. Light filled the room in an almost flow motion, like fire inching around the walls as the door was thrown open and the sunlight poured in. All was quite. The site the two were left with was quite a horrific one as blood lay splattered across the walls leading to the walk way out side, with Jeff laying on the ground strewn on the pavement, dead.

The ceremony was quite as the towns folk gathered at the side of the church. The coffin was brown with golden trim and family and friends gathered around it, before finally setting it down in the soil next to the mayors of the town and other deceased people that once bathed in the rays of the mineral town sun. On that day, Jeff, father of Karen, and husband of Sasha was dead due to brain trauma, to the head. "He will be dearly missed by all" The mayor read. "But not forgotten, and although in the event of his untimely death his cheerfulness will not go unnoticed, not go unappreciated." Karen and Sasha wept and held each other next to the grave as jack watched from a distance from under a near by oak. He kept to himself at this time, because although he did not show it he was also deeply hurt by Jeff's death. "So on this day let us pray." The mayor continued. "That Jeff's death not go in vein, his purpose was fulfilled, to teach each and every one of us how to have a better day, and his words of "goodbye come again" As he used to say around the store, never let them die in your ears. " Death is only the beginning of life, and so Jeff will live on in each of us, for eternity, Thank you." After the mayors speech a few more relatives spoke. Soon the once packed reception dwindled to those only members of the family, Except for jack who stood silent under the oak, until finally arising to walk over to the other folks, but still keeping his distance not to be noticed.

Finally the reaming people there left, all but Karen. She stayed there next to the grave, not crying, just with an expressionless face, cold, and heart full of emotion, but none apparent. Jack let a hand rest on her back as she turned around and looked at him. She stood up and buried her face in his chest and cried.

The night was cold that summer, Colder than any one had ever been before.