The services for Hunter and Stephanie were held at the same place and on the same day. Their families knew the couple's wishes in terms of being buried together. They just never expected it would be so soon, and at the same time.
Their caskets lay side by side at the funeral home where the wake was held and then at the church. The McMahon family had to hold a two day period for the wake, due to the hundreds of people that wished to pay their respects.
Linda and Patricia were the worst wreck of all, never leaving their childs' casket. People from across nearly every country were grieving the loss of these two amazing entertainers. It was the first time in decades that the World Wrestling Entertainment business would not have any shows, whether it be televised or a private house show. The top athlete in the company and the billion dollar heiress to the McMahon throne were dead. Nobody would have wrestled under those conditions.
Oily marks appear on walls, where pleasure moments hung before the takeover, the sweeping insensitivity of this still life. Hide and Seek. Trains and sewing machines (you won't catch me around here). Blood and tears. They were here first...
Stephanie felt a gust of wind scoop her up and felt herself being whisked away, somewhere up high. She opened her eyes and looked around her. She screamed when she realized that something almost invisible was carrying her thousands of feet above the Earth's ground.
"You
need not to worry, my child," said the spirit, its voice soft
and calm.
Stephanie looked up at it, her eyes swimming in
confusion, with a trace of terror. "Who are you? What's going
on, where am I?" she asked in a frenzy.
The spirit shushed
her. "You're in heaven, my child," he smiled.
Hunter
woke up feeling completely flawless. It was almost as though he were
sleeping on a cloud. But alas! He was sleeping on a cloud! He sat up
in a flash and jerked his head from side to side.
"Hey!"
he shouted. "Hey, somebody? Where the hell am I, where's my
wife?"
A rather tall and slender, airy figure appeared
out of nowhere. Hunter looked up at her strangely.
"Who're
you?" he asked, studying this odd person, who wore a ghost-white
sleeveless gown, and had a crystal halo shining above her flowing
golden hair.
The woman smiled at him. "My name is Araiya,"
she said.
"Is this a dream? Or are you supposed to be my
nurse or something?" he asked her.
"No, I'm your angel,"
she sweetly replied.
"I remember a crash," he slowly
recalled.
Hunter paused for a moment, before looking up at her
again for answers. "What do they have me on? And where is my
wife, is she even here? Was she hurt?"
"You mustn't
worry yourself so much at a time," she told him.
"Just
tell me what happened to my wife and what hospital she's at right
now," he impatiently replied.
"Your wife is feeling no
pain right now, Hunter. She is most peaceful, and this is not a
hospital," Araiya giggled.
"Then where the hell am I,
where is she?"
"Heaven," she replied, "You
have both been brought through the gates of heaven."
He
stood up and looked at her like she was out of her mind. "What!"
he exclaimed. "What's your real name and you better not tell me
this is an institution for crazy psycho's like yourself!"
Hunter
felt the cloud swiftly move beneath him. He looked down and felt as
though he might lose his balance. "Whoa," he shakily
muttered, stretching his arms out at each side.
"I tell
no lies because I have none. I have been forgiven of my sins for a
long time now, and I am pure as God intended me to be," she told
him.
He quirked an eyebrow at her and then suspiciously gave her
an up-down glance. "If you're an angel like you claim to be,
then how come you don't have wings?"
"I do," she
said, turning around just enough to show the tips of them. They were
so white that you almost wouldn't notice them. "It's more
difficult to point out when you're a newcomer."
"What do
you mean, newcomer?" he asked.
"This is Heaven, Hunter.
I told you. Your wife is here too."
"Don't bullshit me!
Where is Stephanie, what have you done with her?" he
demanded.
"Please, you do not want to disturb the
heavens," said Araiya. "You will be seeing Stephanie soon
enough, I give you my word. She is probably having the same
introduction with her own angel right now."
Hunter paced back
and forth on the cloud. He rubbed his eyes harshly, in hopes of
waking himself up now. But it was of no use.
He looked up at
Araiya sadly and asked, "I'm dead, aren't I? We both are, me and
Steph. How did this happen...why, why did this happen?"
Araiya
walked closer to Hunter and put her hand over his heart. "Destiny
chose you both the night of your accident. The lord didn't want to
take one of you and leave the other to face life alone, without their
other half. He knew you could not handle that," she explained.
"You should take this time to grieve your own death, it comes as
a shock, I know. But soon you will understand and in time you will
both adjust. I promise, you will be happy here one day. Probably
sooner than you know it."
Hunter just sighed heavily, but still he felt lighter. The reason for that was because now, almost all of his mortal stress had been taken away. He didn't know what he would do without his old life. No family, no familiar surroundings to go back to, and even worse...no career that he held so dear to his heart. He had worked so hard for all that he had achieved in life.
"What about wrestling? And our family? Stephanie and I,
we want a family of our own. We never even got the chance!" he
cried.
"That will all be resolved in time, Hunter. Just like
all the rest. You will see. Heaven does not exist to take away those
happinesses from your mortal life. It just means making a few
adjustments. Give Him a chance, give the angels a chance. Your
mission from now on will be about getting your wings," said
Araiya. "Now I must go, but first lead you to your living
quarters."
"Will Stephanie meet me there?" he asked
hopefully.
"No, not at this time. But very soon you will be
able to share quarters with each other, just like when you were
mortals, if you wish. Another thing we don't do here is take away a
happy sanction of marraige like the one you and Stephanie share."
He
didn't say anything. All he kept thinking was how could that be true?
His first arrival and they had already taken away so much.
