OMG! I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to update! I'll update again in a few days.

Again, I would like to thank you for all of your wonderful reviews. They are truly a joy to read. The responses are at the end of the page.

Now, without further ado, let us begin!

Romen

Disclaimer: I own nothing but all of the original characters, so you can't sue me! Buwahaha!

6. The Funeral

Swish, swish, swish. Susan swirled the water as she scrubbed the dishes, her blond hair tucked neatly beneath a crisp, white bonnet that shaded her face from the warm afternoon sun. She was no longer allowed to wash the dishes indoors after the 'incident' that had happened a few days ago. She was now confined to do this duty out-of-doors, and Will was certain that she liked it better that way.

"Here; dry it." Susan handed Will a plate, not even looking up. Her sentences were always short and curt. He took it from her, looking back down at the book that he was reading as he did his duty.

It was probably better that Susan chose not to speak with him like Elizabeth did. She wasn't really someone that Will would want to consider as his friend. She was constantly talking back and grinning deviously to herself, as if she always had something planned. No wonder she had such a bad reputation.

"Read it."

"Hmm?" Will looked up, surprised to see Susan staring at him gravely.

"Read it," she repeated, "out-loud."

He cocked one eyebrow higher than the other, setting the plate down on the cloth that they were sitting on. "Why should I?"

"Because I told you to!" She paused, continuing in a softer voice. "Besides, you don't have to do as much work as I do because you're spoiled."

"That's not true," Will retorted, even though he knew it was. Governor Swann definitely favored him, and he was sure that he had asked Margaret to assign him less chores. Still, that didn't mean that he had to do whatever Susan wanted him to.

"Please Will," she pleaded. "Just this once. I am so terrible bored!"

"Why don't you read it to yourself?" He was about to hand the book to her when she shook her head.

"It will be much more interesting if you read it to me. Besides, the sunlight reflecting off of the paper hurts my eyes, and the wind will blow the pages around, and I will get them wet and ruin it."

Will sighed, running a hand over his face. "All right, but you may not find it interesting." He cleared his throat, looking down at the only book that he owned: The Holy Bible.

When he had told Susan about this, she had taken on a look of disgust. "Your mother didn't even give you one of the illustrated ones for babies? She gave you an adult bible?" He was now very surprised that she was asking him to read it aloud to her. Despite this, he began to do so.

"'Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites - everyone whose heart God have moved - prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerus'"-

"Will!"

He looked up. Elizabeth was running towards them, tears streaming down her face as she held a limp figure in her arms. He walked over to her, followed by Susan, who would have taken any excuse to stop working.

"What is wrong?" he asked hurriedly, putting one hand on her shoulder.

Her lip wobbled and she broke into another sob. "It's dead!" she finally managed to stutter, moving her arms ever so slightly so that Will could see that she held the lifeless body of a rabbit. "Cook's dogs killed it!"

Susan gently lifted it from her arms, setting it on the ground and observing the wounds. "Well...It shouldn't have gone over to them."

"Susan!" Will's eyes grew wide as Elizabeth started crying even harder, covering her face with her hands.

"What? It shouldn't have. If it had kept to itself it would still be alive." She picked it back up and handed it over to Elizabeth, frowning. "Did you see them do it?"

She nodded, her brown eyes overflowing with tears. "They broke its n-neck. They were going to eat it but I took it away. They bit me." She rubbed her forearm.

"What!" Will cried, taking her arm in his hands and looking at the bite marks. "They don't have...rabies, do they?"

Susan rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Cook treats those dogs like her own children, which means she would have already killed one of them if they were sick."

He grimaced. "How many are there?"

"Three of them, all being cocker spaniels." She wiped her hands off on her apron before untying her bonnet. "What are you going to do with it, Miss Swann?"

"I- I don't know." She sniffed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, the rabbit slumping down between her elbows. "What do you think I should do?"

"Bury it," Will said, as Susan answered; "Give it to Cook and let her make stew out of it."

Elizabeth blanched. "I don't want to let Cook make stew out of it!"

"Then I have to agree with William; bury it, although it will take much longer."

"Where do you want to take it?" Will asked softly, ignoring Susan's blunt outlook.

Elizabeth's lip quivered. "I don't know, just somewhere the dogs won't dig it up again."

"Oh, I have an idea!" Susan cackled devilishly, rubbing her hands together. "Let's bury it under Cook's rosebush, so"-

"Susan." Will shook his head, his lips pursed. "Where do you want to bury it, Elizabeth?"

"Over there." Elizabeth pointed out beyond the servant's quarters. "That way no one will get to it."

"All right." He nodded empathetically. "Do either of you know where we can get a shovel?"

"Margaret has a shovel." Susan crossed her arms. "It's small, but we could use it."

Susan went inside to get it as Will and Elizabeth made their way out into the field, Elizabeth crying softly as Will tried to silently console her. It wasn't long before their companion was back, her cheeks red from running so quickly.

"Who's digging?" Susan looked at Will, her eyebrows raised expectantly.

He sighed, taking the shovel from her and beginning to up-heave the earth. He should have known that Susan wouldn't have wanted to do it. He was convinced that she would do anything to get out of working.

It didn't take him long to dig a hole just deep enough to lay the rabbit in. Susan handed him the body. He was surprised at how limp it was, how it hung in his arms. The glazed eyes, like empty black marbles, reminded him of his mother. Instead of laying it down, he felt his arms give way, watched it fall to the ground and lay still.

"I'll cover it," Susan said meekly, taking the spade and piling the dirt over the body until it became a small mound. She stood, her hands clasped in front of her. "Is anyone going to say anything?" Again, she looked to Will.

"Uh...Rabbit," Will began awkwardly, staring at the mound, "we don't really know how long you lived, or if you had a family or children...or something. We just hope that your life was happy and that you were never hungry...or sick. Amen."

They stood for a moment, the silence only broken by Susan coughing into the back of her hand or Elizabeth sniffling. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, as if someone was standing and watching them. The hair stood up on the back of his neck and he looked around, relieved to see that no one was there.

Even though he had not lived at the abbey very long, he had been there long enough to see several people die of pneumonia. Since they had all been homeless and had no claim to any land, their bodies had been burnt. Still, he always had an eerie feeling similar to the one that he felt now. Several of the nuns had said that the residue of the soul still lingered. He had always wondered if this was metaphoric.

"Well..." Susan's voice drew him from his thoughts, and he tore his eyes away to look at her. "We should get back to work."

Will nodded, finally finding his voice again. "You're right. We don't have much time to finish."

Still, his feet felt planted to the ground. Susan began to walk back, but Will stayed by Elizabeth, holding her hand. They stood that way until the evening.

TBC...

Okay, the responses:

Jenn1: Yes, poor Will. That will not be the last that we here of that blasted cross.

Coollilyflower: I hope that you liked this chapter. Ugh It took me so long to get it out here!

RoXySuRfEr12: Exactly, I agree with you on the awards totally. They should have taken away one of Selma Hayeck's. She presented 3 times! And Al Pacino's extremely long speech about...about...uh...Oh yeah, I fell asleep lol. Anyway, sorry about how long it took me to update. I hope to update in a few days!

williz: Yeah, I don't like Susan either. She's a brat. And those old gossips...

Please keep reviewing! And I promise to have another update soon.

Romen