A challenge issued to me. If you are not at least tearing up at the end of this...you are a coldhearted person! (Sobs)
Pippa found her brother at the Burgess cemetery. She wasn't surprised by that. Jack always came here on the Spring Solstice. She never understood why though. Yes, she often came here to say her piece, but she had known their parents for far longer, and she hadn't forgotten them.
Jack had very little memory of his mother, and even less of a memory of his father. But as his mind healed, his memory returned, and he felt obligated to visit their resting places at least once a year.
He knelt now in the snow covered mud, one hand on the cold stone that bore his parent's names.
James and Natalie Overland.
"You were always there for us, Father. Even in the worst storms, even when you scolded me for letting the sheep out that one time. You never failed to show us you cared. The last time we saw you...you didn't come home. You knew you wouldn't, I see that now. But we were hungry, I was ill again, and it was one day until my birthday..."
"James look at him. We have to get Jackie a present this year. If we don't he'll be devastated!"
"I'm sorry, but with the flock's losses, I can barely afford his Birthday cake, let alone that metal crook he wants so badly."
"I know. I know."
The man lifted his wife's chin, a sparkle in his brown eyes.
"Hey, after today's haul, I should bring back some venison. We'll give our Jackson a feast he won't soon forget!"
"Alright." His Mother laughed "Go. Make our son the happiest boy in Burgess!"
Little Jackson Overland, eight years old, watched his father go out to the fields, crook in hand.
The crook was the only thing that came back in one piece.
"A blizzard took you away, Father. Ironic, since I control them now, isn't it?" he sniffed, swiping the tears away before they froze.
His hands traced over his Mother's name, and he smiled sadly in silent memory. Unable to really form words this time, his choking voice lifted in a sad, mournful song, one with bitter but haunting tone as he dropped further on the ground, holding his stomach, trying desperately to recall a memory.
"Far away Long ago"
"I love you, Jackson Overland. Don't you ever forget that. Ever."
He snuggled into her warm embrace, his lanky body almost too tall for her to gather, but she smiled and drew his legs and arms into her chest.
"I love you too, Mother." He said as his eyes closed and he fell into a dream-ridden sleep, frail body finally relaxing, the last thing he felt was her hands stroking his brown locks, causing him to smile in his sleep.
"Glowing dim as an ember"
He remembered her voice, as she coaxed him out of a devastating fever. He remembered her touch, as she comforted him after a beating she knew he didn't deserve. He remembered her smile just before he took Pippa to the lake, as her voice told him to be careful.
"Things my heart used to know
Things it yearns to remember"
He felt a tug on his hoodie, and a small hand on his shoulder. He didn't look up, but pulled her close, where her soft voice finished his last eulogy as she hugged him, and they both mourned for love lost, and memories missed.
"And a song someone sings
Once Upon a Dece-em-mber."