Nervousness seeps in the day before the funeral.

Chapter 11: Pre-Funeral Jitters

As nightfalls, Manny was sitting in front of Oak Sung's house looking really nervous and also still in the midst of coping with his parent's death as the funeral reaches closer and closer. It was hard to believe that it had been almost a week already since they died of River Fever and didn't really know what it might be to say goodbye to both of them.

Soon enough, he sees Kiba, Toboe, Hige and Tsume walk by to him and the looks on their faces were full of condolences and sympathy for him and he said, "Hey, guys."

Kiba was the first one to come in and he stuck out his paw, hoping to shake it and Manny was a little nervous thinking that he might bite him and he slowly reaches his hand towards his paw and when he grabbed it, he shook it and it was like instant respect came in and Kiba said, "I'm Kiba and I've heard a lot of things about you already...like your parents' death. My pack members and I want you to know that we're really sorry for your loss."

Manny lets out a deep sigh and he replied, "Thanks. It's been really hard these past couple of days for me because it just happened so quickly."

Toboe comes in and he walks up to Manny and he said, "It's like a big surprise for us because we never even met them, but when I saw their bodies for the first time, it was like a scary sight to see and when I saw you, I just reached out and wanted to be there. It's what we do for ourselves as well as other people."

Suddenly, in comes Musaki coming out of the house and he sees Kiba, Hige, Toboe and Tsume around Manny and he didn't expect them to come, but they were glad they did anyway and he said, "Hey, guys. What's going on?"

"Hey, Musaki. How's it going?" asked Hige.

"Going fine, actually." Musaki replied, as he sat down next to Manny.

Tsume takes a deep breath and he said, "We're coming to the funeral tomorrow and Kiba said that it might be a good thing to just be there for Manny. We've been like family in this valley for several years since we arrived and you've been like family to us very quickly."

"Yeah, sometimes we wish you could live here." Toboe added.

That comment really stuck to Musaki a little bit and he said, "So do I."

Then, Musaki turned to Manny and he could sense that he's getting really nervous about the funeral and he puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "It's gonna be okay."

"I know. It's just that...me seeing my parent's dead corpses in a coffin might be too much for me to endure. Seeing them die is one thing but seeing their dead bodies in front of everyone for the last time...I just don't know if I can handle myself because I might really lose it at the funeral." Manny said, while pacing around and just putting his hand on his head in frustration.

Kiba could sense that grieving over something like this would be hard for Manny to get over and he said, "We all share the same pain you go through."

"How?"

Kiba then explains to him, "When something happens to one person in an emotional blow, we all share the same thing and experience loss in several ways and we feel sorry for that one person and that our condolences go out to their family."

Manny blinked a couple of times before getting all misty-eyed and he said, "I guess so. But I'm still not sure how to get over this."

Toboe reached out and put his paw on Manny's shoulder and he said, "It always happens all the time because we've seen our sights of death on somebody before and it's usually someone you're close to. Death never comes with an instruction manual because we never know when it hits us until it does, but it's a natural part of life."

"Toboe's right...for once. Sometimes the people you love won't be there anymore, but it doesn't mean they'll leave you forever for their spirit will always be a guide over you. What matters is that you've got the people you love the most right behind you and they'll always be there to pick you up when you fall. It's the most important feeling you'll ever have." Kiba added.

Looking at all of these wolves, each of them have a sense of meaning about things like this and Manny could sense what they're saying and then he turned to Musaki for a bit and Musaki tells him, "And we'll be right there for you in the funeral tomorrow."

Manny's eyes were flowing with tears as he quickly wipes them from his eyes and he said, "Thanks, you guys."

"Anytime." Hige added.

"Your grief...is our grief." Kiba said.

Was that awesome or what? Next up...the funeral!