A/N: Hey readers. As you know, this had initially started as a one-shot, but it's now a multi-chap fic. I just got this massive burst of inspiration out of nowhere, and had to continue it. I have most of it planned out, I just have to figure out some things here and there.

Also, I want you to know that I don't know how long it's going to take between updates. Why? Because I leave for a residential school this Sunday. It's also an advanced school, so with all the school work I'm bound to get, I have no idea when I'll have the time to write. Sorry people.

Anyways, enjoy this chapter.

She had already been bracing herself, so Clare wasn't shocked when she got the phone call the following morning. Eli Goldsworthy had passed away in his sleep at 1:37 A.M. No pain, no suffering. Simple as that. She held the phone limply in her hand, lost for words, as the nurse explained that the body had been moved down to the morgue, and it would remain there until they received word of a funeral or cremation. Clare mumbled a soft thank you before setting the phone down and sitting on her bed, staring out the window.

Even though she had been expecting it, there was nothing she could have done to prepare herself for the void that had seemed to appear in her heart, nor prepare herself for the weeks that followed.

Elizabeth, their daughter, flew in as soon as she heard the news. No words could explain how Clare felt as she saw her daughter try explain what had happened to her sons.

"Does that mean Grandpa isn't coming back?," asked Cristian, the younger of the two.

"No, honey. Grandpa is in a much better place now. Where he is, there are no problems and no worries," Elizabeth explained softly, her eyes brimmed with tears.

"But we'll see him again someday, right?" Cristian's voice was full of hope, and Clare couldn't stop the tear that made its way down her cheek at the heart wrenching sight.

"Maybe someday, sweety. But that's a long time from now, understand?"

Clare was relieved to have someone to accompany her in her mourning, for she didn't know what she would have done if she didn't have Elizabeth to help her deal with everything. But Clare knew this wouldn't last; she'd be left alone as soon as Elizabeth had to return to British Columbia.

The reading of Eli's Last Will and Testament took place a week after his death. As expected, he had divided his possessions between his wife and daughter, with the lone exception of Morty, his hearse. He left Morty to his eldest grandson, Elliot. Elliot was only 9, but he would receive Morty when he turned 18. As Eli had put it in the will, he had left Morty to Elliot because "someday he'd meet the girl of his dreams after accidentally running over her glasses with it". Clare smiled at that, and it felt good to be able to genuinely smile again.

Eli had also specified in his will that he didn't want a funeral, wishing to be cremated instead. Elizabeth was a bit disappointed at this, but Clare already knew that was what Eli wanted, for he had told her when he was alive, a long time ago. She smiled bitterly at the memory.

"Wouldn't you want all your loved ones to bid their last goodbyes?," Clare had asked Eli, when they were in college, at the age of 22. They had been writing a Psychology essay in which they had to give insight and express their views on mourning, when suddenly Eli had expressed he would rather be cremated than have a funeral.

"You know the only family I have left are my grandparents. You think they'll stick around enough time to come to my funeral?" he replied, raising an eyebrow. So he had a point there.

"But what about friends?" she asked. There was another unspoken question in there, What about me?

"Well if they were really my friends, they would have had plenty of time to see me before I died. I don't want people I didn't even know to show up at my funeral, offering fake condolences."

Clare supposed that made a little sense, but there was still the hint of sadness in her eyes as she thought of Eli's body being incinerated to nothing but ashes. Eli took notice of this. He tilted her chin up so she was looking at him squarely in the eyes.

"Hey, don't think about it. It's going to be a long time till we have to worry about that anyway," he offered her a small grin. "Let's try to finish this essay. It's due tomorrow and even I think we've procrastinated enough."

She gave him a small smile. And with that, the topic was forgotten and they got back to writing.

The day after the cremation took place, Elizabeth bid her goodbyes to Clare, saying that she had to return home. Not long after that, Clare had fallen victim to insomnia and lost her appetite. What was worse, she had nothing to distract herself with, spending all her time consumed with loneliness in the house. She could no longer visit Eli, and Alli had been put into a retirement home.

So Clare spent all her time thinking, wondering when it would be her turn to leave this world and join Eli. She knew it couldn't be so far, because as each day passed, she could feel Death's bony hand closing in around her wrist.

And right she was again, because precisely three months after Eli's death, the sand in her hourglass had run out. It didn't happen in some extraordinary way. She had gone to bed as she usually did, right after bidding goodnight to a picture of Eli and her on the nightstand, and attempted to fall asleep. The only odd thing was that sleep found her rather quickly, unlike every other night, when her insomnia wouldn't let her as much as blink an eye. She did not know that sometime during the night, as she slept, her life had slipped away to another world. When she "woke up", she wouldn't be in the living world anymore...

Did you like it? Hate it? What are your thoughts? Tell me in a review!

And in case you're wondering where I'm going with this story, I'm planning on writing about the afterlife, Clare and Eli being reborn, etc. I'm still working on it, but keep an eye out ;)