“The bombs went off, and people died by the thousands. Are still dying. We won’t know the full death toll for months, if not years. Kari was just another one.
“You all know she died in the Eight-Twenty-Three attacks, just like thousands of others. She’s no different from them, no more important. There are funerals being held all over the country today for those lost, and she’s just one. To ninety-nine percent of the country, she’s a no one. A nobody. There are hundreds of people who died who are more important than her, and thousands who suffered worse and longer than she did. She died quickly, so she was one of the lucky ones. Just another death.”
The murmur grew a little louder. People were growing agitated at her words.
“Except, out of tragedies, heroes rise. And Kari was a hero. To me, she was the most important person. When the bomb went off, and the world was nothing but smoke and screams, she came charging out of the chaos, dust covered, bloody and screaming.
“Right toward me and this little girl here. Like an avenging banshee, she was there, then she was crashing into us.
“Lila flew out of my arms, even as I tried to hold onto her. I found her through her screams.
“Once she was safely back in my arms, I turned to confront the woman who had attacked us.
“She was half-buried under the rubble of a wall that had been weakened, and then collapsed. Her body was crushed, and there was blood coming out of her mouth with each breath.”
The audience had gone silent.
“I stared at her. She looked at me, eyes not white, but red with busted blood veins, and then her eyes went to Lila, safe in my arms, and she gave me a weak thumbs up, and smiled. The next second, she was gone. I didn’t even know her name.
“I knew her face, though, and when the newspapers published the faces of those who had died, I recognized her immediately, got her name. I found the funeral notice and here I am.
“I’m not surprised by everything I’ve heard today. Someone who would sacrifice her own life for someone she doesn’t even know is some one special. Rest in preace, Kari.”
She kissed her fingertips, and placed them on the coffin, and her daughter, who couldn’t have been more than a year old, and won’t remember this at all, did the same.
Hers was the last. The stranger that no one knew, whose life interacted so briefly with their own. Everyone started filing out, silent and slow, speaking in hushed tones, or not at all.
A sea of black. Women in dresses- different cuts, different styles, different labels and values, but all the same color. Men in suits. Dark, black, all the same.
I was looking at the coffin, at the girl so revered and honored by those who knew her, so it’s probably excusable I didn’t notice the figure at the back of the room. Everyone was wearing a dark suit. I mean, it’s a funeral, right?
The height- at least eight feet, probably closer to nine, if not more- should have given him away. Like I said, I was distracted though, and no one else looked at him either, despite his astounding height.
Oh, and the lack of face. I should mention that, too. Tall, thin, dressed in a black suit with no face.
Ladies and gentleman, please allow me to officially introduce you to The Officiant.
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