A Dragon's Crimson Cry

By: Tippi

Ch 20 The Funeral

That day the clouds hung in the sky all day blocking out the sun. The weather reflected the mood of the day, this was the funeral day.

Friends of the assorted family members gathered around to give their last respects.

All were dressed in black reflecting the mood just like the weather was.

Loa stood next to Jake; both were sheltered in the forest of people. Loa had on a black robe with gold trim, used only for special occasions; this was special but not a happy one. Jake was dressed in a black child sized suit. Black jacket, pants, with tennis shoes and white shirt, his necklace tucked underneath his shirt. It was the same suit he was made to ware for three occasions in the past two years. The occasions went as a 2nd cousin's wedding, a piano residual and family photo. On all three occasions he had wished he'd have a sudden growth spurt so he get out of wearing it and his mom wouldn't have time to get a new one.

How Jake hated the suit but he'd ware the thing a thousand days again if it would end this nightmare and let him see his mother again.

Whispers from those attending floated around like tree leaves in the wind and Loa could hear every one.

Some pitied Jake and said things like, "He's so young, Can't image what that's like, Lucky he survived, is he, He's got to be so alone, at least he has his grandfather," and "I don't know what I'd do."

Other had suspicion and said things like "I hear his going to be picking up a big fat inheritance, Odd how the grandfather was missing during the incident, I heard the grandpa tried to get the detectives to drop the case, maybe he was thinking about what his grandson went through," and continuing with "Or coving something up."

As the preacher talked on Jake was sinking into a sea of solitude.

All the noises and people seemed to melt away leaving Jake alone with the dead. It seemed the entire world turned to black, with only two lights. One light was on Jake and the other on the caskets.

The seclusion was only ended by the lowering of the caskets into the earth.

Then everything came back and the tears Jake had blocked from his eyes spilled forth.

The sky itself could no longer hold its tears letting its own rain down.

The attendants opened their umbrellas, or anything they could use as a cover from the rain, then jogged away to leave the cemetery.

Jake wasn't moving till Loa put his hand on his shoulder motioning they leave. They got in a cab; their nice clothes soaked by the rain, and went home.

The rest of the day it continued to rain. The small family of three was left in a slalom mood, oddly all preferred solitude to togetherness the rest of the evening.

Later that night the rain changed to a thunder storm. The flashing lights and booming noises that made the windows shake, kept Jake edgy. Jake hid under the red blanket of his bed wishing it away. But it wouldn't let up and Jake's pill kicked in sending Jake into a restless sleep. It was plagued by nightmares he couldn't wake him self from.

The next morning Jake was happy to finally awake despite the fact he was really tired. He was asleep but the various nightmares kept Jake from getting the right kind of sleep needed to revitalize his body and mind. The medication was made to put him to sleep and would usually be able to jerk him self awake if the nightmare reached above an 8 on his bad nightmare scale (10 being the worst). But being at the funeral had caused a few chemicals not usual in his body to mix with his pill making him unable to wake up till it wore off. And until this morning at 9, all he could do was sleep and let his nightmares get worse each time.

Jake sat at the kitchen table every now than then taking a spoonful of cheerios. He still ate like a bird but at least he was eating now.

Due to last night every now and then he started to nod off nearly falling face first in the milky bowl, before he jerked awake again.

His grandfather was distracted from his breakfast by his drowsy grandson. He kept watching him as he ate in case he didn't wake again and accidentally drowned in his cereal.

All morning Jake was on the edge of conciseness. Loa had an engagement to attend to and was having Fu make something to forced Jake into sleep's embrace.

"Here you go one cold sleeping potion with a pinch of good dream additive" Fu said in a whisper as he handing off the bottle to Loa at the bottom of the stairs. "Any reason you wanted me to chill it in the fridge."

"So it would mix in well with a cold drink" Loa said uncorking the bottle.

Loa looked over at Jake sitting in a zombie like state on the couch watching the TV. Loa poured the potion in a glass of juice. Once the potion was in the drink Loa gave it a quick stir before walked over to his grandson.

"Jake, how about a cup of cherry juice" Loa said setting the glass down on the table in front of Jake.

Jake was thirsty and he didn't want to fall asleep maybe some juice would help keep him awake. Jake took the glass and took a sip. It tasted different not a bad kind of different. It was kind of sweeter than normal cherry juice. Jake took a sip then another, he kept trying to find out what was giving it that sweet tastes. Before he knew it the glass was empty. Jake felt fine till he set the now empty glass back on the table.

Jake started to feel slightly light headed and his eyes felt heavier than ever. The very next minute Jake's eyes fell closed and he was asleep before his head hit the couch cushions. Jake's small form now lay still across the old couch with the steady breathing of sleep.

"And you wanted to use a sleep potion on the kid why" Fu asked seeing to boy go out like a light bulb.

"I'm going to see the dragon council, I can't take Jake with me but I couldn't leave him here alone with the dog" Loa said looking at Fu as he pulled a blanket over Jake.

"So you're going to leave him asleep and alone with the dog" Fu asked.

"I don't want to find out how he'll react to me being gone and how hard is it going to be for you to watch a sleeping child." Loa told the old canine knowing Fu's limited dependence. "You can watch a sleeping child right?" Loa asked.

"Of course how incompetent do you think I am?" Fu asked.

"What happened when I had you watch the shop that one time 6 six years ago?" Loa brought up.

"Okay point made, I'll just sit here with the kid and watch the TV. I'll do nothing else, and Jake will be asleep for the next 6 hours." Fu promised.

"Well, it's almost noon, I'm sure I'll be back before 6 to night," Loa said about to leave. "And don't do anything stupid" Loa yelled at Fu before closing the door.

"O come on what he think I was going to do play with matches" Fu said taking his cell and sitting back in the arm chair. "Hey, Big Ernie I'd like to make a bet on the centaur race" Fu said into the phone as he switched the channel on the TV to a magical sports channel.

A/N This may get confusing later on if it isn't already so any questions just ask. Review