(2 years later)
"God of
mercy,
as we mourn the death of Miranda Kinley
and thank
you for her life,
we also remember times when it was hard for us
to understand,
to forgive, and to be forgiven.
Heal our
memories of hurt and failure,
and bring us to forgiveness and
life
in Jesus Christ our Lord."
"Amen."
Jon stood by the coffin staring blankly down at it tears streaked his cheeks. He felt a hand on his shoulder but didn't look up at Alfred.
"Why?" He asked. "Why did he do it?" Alfred looked down to his nephew a sad look on his face. He was grieving just like Jon was, but tried to hide it. "Why didn't the police help her? They where there."
"Sometimes Jon…" Alfred paused not knowing how to explain to the boy. "Sometimes people make mistakes."
"Police don't make mistakes." He said. "Dad doesn't make mistakes." He said.
"Things happen. Things out of your control." Alfred sighed and took Jon's hand.
Jon looked to his father. He stood in his black suit looking blankly at the coffin as it was lowered into the ground. He moved to his dad and hugged him. His father didn't even look at him as he pushed Jon away moving away from the coffin towards a black car.
"Dad?" Jon asked. The man didn't answer him as he got in the car. Jon's tears ran down his cheeks harder. "Dad?" He called out. Alfred put his hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay." Alfred said. "Your father just needs some time. You can stay with me tonight."
"He thinks it's my fault." Jon said almost as if he had come to the conclusion. He shook his head. "It was my fault."
"No…" Alfred said. "No it wasn't your fault."
"It was my fault…. If I hadn't….."
1011011001101
"Jon!" Jon looked up from his book. He sat on his bed reading a copy of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' by Victor Hugo.
"Yeah?" He called.
"Come down stairs." Came the woman's voice again. "I have a surprise for you!"
"Coming mom!" Jon put the book on the side table and ran down the stairs. He practically skipped into the living room and paused when he saw his mom.
"What's that?" He asked going up to her. She looked down at him and smiled.
"It's a kite!" She said pulling the sticks out of the wrapper. "We'll take it out after supper."
"Can we go out now?" Jon asked excited. "I wanna see it."
"No, we'll eat supper first. I'll take you to the park after."
"Please…… please?" He begged. His mom sighed.
"If you promise when we get back you'll eat your vegetables." She said. Jon nodded.
"I promise."
They quickly put the kite together and made their way to the park. Jon ran with the kite and threw it up into the air but to his dismay it crashed into the ground. Jon looked at it upset. His mom laughed and picked it up.
"Let the string loose some and go farther away." She said. "I'll throw it up and you pull on the string." Jon unravelled some of the string and ran down the field.
She watched as Jon ran and lifted the kite up. Once the string pulled a little she threw the kite up.
"Pull Jon!" She laughed as he pulled on the string of the kite. The wind caught it and it lifted higher and higher.
"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Jon said laughing. There was a sudden scream from a nearby house. There where police sirens off in the distance that got louder and louder by the second. Jon stopped pulling on the kite string the kite falling to the ground after a few moments. His mom ran up to him.
"What's going on mom?" He asked.
"I don't know." She said as she put her hands on his shoulders. "Lets go home." She said. She gently ushered Jon back onto the path towards their house.
"My kite!" Jon said half way down the path. He moved out of her hands and ran down the path.
"Jon!" She said. The sound of gunfire echoed through the air. "Jon!" She screamed and ran to her son. Jon grabbed the kite as his mother ran up to him. She grabbed onto his arm. "Lets go. It's danger-" She was cut of as another shot of gun fire echoed.
"Mom?" He asked. He turned to her to see her kneeling next to him staring at him her eyes wide. "Mom?" He asked. She didn't say anything a few moments but looked as if she where trying to. The words didn't form as she fell sideways onto the ground. He knelt down next to her. "Mom!" He asked. "Mom get up!" He said rolling her onto her back. "Mom?" Tears ran down his face. "Mom wake up! Please! We have to go home!"
Jon moved away from her falling backwards over the kite. "Mommy?"
1011011001101
"Jon, it wasn't your fault." Alfred said. "You couldn't have known." He said. Jon looked away from Alfred.
"I wanna go home." He said. "I wanna be with my dad."
"I think it would be best if you stayed at my house tonight." He said. "Alright? We can watch your favourite movie." He said. "We can go home and I'll put on Little Nemo and serve some ice cream. How would you like that?" Jon whipped his nose on the sleeve of his suit. He shook his head. Alfred sighed quietly. He didn't know what to do to help Jon. In less than a week he lost both of his parents. One physically one mentally. He'd talk to his brother-in-law about Jon. But the man didn't seem to want anything to do with the boy. He didn't even look at him.
"Come on. I'll take you home." He said leading him to the car.
1011011001101
"Jon!" Rachel said running up to him. It had been a little over two years since she's seen him. "Jon I heard about your mom." She said. "I am so sorry to hear that. I don't know what I'd do if-" She paused realizing that Jon wasn't responding. "Oh I'm sorry." She said sitting next to him. "Do you….. do you wanna talk about it?"
Jon shook his head.
"Oh…."
"Where's Bruce?" He asked.
"Upstairs in his room. He's not allowed out when you're here. Not after you ended up in the hospital for a week cause of what happened."
"Oh…. I won't be staying long anyway." He said. "I'm moving back in with my dad tonight."
"Oh…." She said silently. "Will you come back and visit?" Jon shrugged.
"Where are you going?" He finally looked up at her.
"I'm going to Boston." He said. "My dad can't afford the house he's in anymore. He bought an apartment there." He looked back down.
"Well promise me." She said. "Promise me that you'll come back one day. We can be pen pals if you want."
Jon nodded. "I'd like that."
"Do you promise?" She asked. "That I'll see you again one day?" Jon smiled slightly.
"I'm sure I'll come back. And the day I do…. I'm sure we'll have a blast."
TBC…. Get it….. blast….. kaboom….. hospital…… nm….. bad joke xD