And then I was standing in the rain. Not a single breeze disturbed the air of the afternoon, so the raindrops fell perfectly perpendicular to the ground. I was standing in a cemetery, and a congregation of people dressed in black were gathered 50 yards away.
I walked across the graveyard, careful not to step on any of the tombstones for some reason. The rain fell right through me, and the grass beneath me showed no signs of pressure being put upon it. As far as the living world was concerned, I no longer had any effect on this place or the people inhabiting it. Then why am I here still?
The distance between myself and the funeral was halved from where I had originated, and I could now make out the ceremony clearly through the downpour. A coffin was suspended in a pulley system over an open grave, with an American flag draped over it like a tablecloth. To the right were seven police officers from the force standing at attention. They held rifles in their hands, with the butt of the weapons resting on the wet grass. Jared was the officer standing closest to me, and I could see the pain in his eyes.
To the left, a crowd of about 70 people stood watching. Most of them were just folks from the police force; a few of them I had only met a few times. The rest of them were family and friends. Their clothes clung to their damp skin like lovers embracing. My mother and father were nearest to me. My mom had her head on my dad’s shoulder, and he held her close with his left arm as she silently cried into his shoulder. Her hair was a very pale brown, and had been for many years since she refused to dye it. A strand of it held tight to her wet cheeks, so my father took his index finger and dragged the hair out of her face. My father’s hair had once been a very light blonde, but his age had caught up with him and stolen the life from his follicles. He was a mess, with stray hairs all over his head sticking up at angles that seemed to defy physics. His face had seemed to have aged ten years, with two deeps pockets of sleep below his irritated eyes. I had never seen my father cry before. It broke my heart.
To their right stood Aurora and Amy. Aurora had a black veil draped over her face, and it masked her emotions from the world. She had her hands on Amy’s shoulders, who was standing directly in front of her. The poor girl was trembling from head to toe, with sadness radiating from her like heat from a fireplace in a mountain-top cabin. Aurora held her tight, and the two of them together created the saddest scene imaginable. Slowly, I made my way in front of them, my eyes fixated on Aurora. Once I was a few inches from her, I could see into the veil. Her eyes were focused on the priest, who was standing on a podium overlooking the open grave. He began to speak.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have come here today to mourn the passing of Adam Foley. His life was tragically taken from us one week ago. We are here not to dwell on the present, which is most certainly full of heartbreak and sadness. No, we are here to look back on the life of Adam, who touched so many lives with his kindness. From the time when he was a little boy, Adam had always wanted to grow up to help people. At first he wanted to be a doctor, that helped sick children recover from illness. Then he was to be a fireman, so he could rescue people and animals from danger. By the time he graduated from high school, he had decided to spend his life serving as a police officer, protecting friends and strangers alike. Everyone who knew him knows that he didn’t have an ounce of hatred in his entire body. He had the biggest heart around, and was always willing to break off a little piece of it and give it to anyone he encountered. But the two biggest pieces of his heart, the ones he had been waiting his entire life to give away, belong to his beautiful wife and daughter, Aurora and Amy. Nothing was more important to him then these two, and I can guarantee he is looking down on them right now with a smile on his face. That’s the type of person Adam was; always a smile on his face. The world needs more people like that in it, not less. He may be gone, but each and every one of you here still has a piece of his heart inside of your own right now. Take comfort in that, and let us also take comfort in the fact that his soul is with God now. Please, take a few moments in prayer, as we lower the casket.”
An elderly man steps forward from the crowd, and starts to turn the crank on the pulley system to lower the coffin into the open grave. Jared shouts out the commands, and the seven officers point their rifles to the heavens, and ring out the salute. Amy flinches at the crack of each gunshot as she watches my body enter its final resting place. A dull thud resounds in the air as the casket touches the bottom of the grave. Members of the funeral home begin to pile dirt upon the coffin. Shovel-full after shovel-full of dirt accumulates atop the container, and soon it is no longer visible. After a few minutes, the grave is full. Four men carry the tombstone, and place it upon the grave, making sure it is stable. The priest raises his hands in the air to gain the congregation’s attention, and says, “The ceremony has come to a conclusion. Thank you all for attending. May Adam rest in peace.”
The people in attendance pay their respects at my grave, say their goodbyes to one another, and leave the cemetery. I stood transfixed in the same spot, in awe of everything occurring. Before long, only my parents remained with Aurora and Amy. The four of them stood together, with their arms around one another, eyes closed, praying. When they had finished, Aurora turned to my parents and said, “Could you please take Amy with you to the memorial? I just need a few more minutes. I’ll be right behind you.” “Of course,” said my father. He took Amy’s hand, and the three of them traversed the hallowed grounds to their vehicle. It was just Aurora and I left in the rain.
I stood behind her, afraid to look into her eyes and see the suffering. I could hear her crying softly as she stared at my final resting place. And then she started to talk.
“Adam…I still can’t believe you’re actually gone. If you can hear me right now, wherever you are, there is something I want to tell you. You once told me that I would always have a piece of your heart to keep for myself. But I gave you my whole heart, and I need you to know that you’ll always have it. I don’t need it, knowing it’s safe with you. I love you.”
Aurora pressed her hand to the surface of the tombstone, held it there for a few seconds, and then pulled it away. I finally gained the courage to step forward and look into her eyes. I circled around her right side, until she was right in front of me. The sadness in her eyes pierced my soul, but there was something else there. Something that I saw in her every time I looked into her eyes when I was alive. I could see the love in them. And then she smiled. I turned around to look at the tombstone. It was shaped like an arch, with an inscription on it that read:
ADAM FOLEY
1983-2009
BELOVED SON, HUSBAND, AND FATHER
LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES, NOT EVEN IN DEATH
I felt the heavy hands of death lift from my shoulders, and then everything was perfect. I turned to look at Aurora one last time. She was smiling still. Perhaps she could feel that I was finally at peace. All the good feelings I had ever felt in life rushed through my body at once. My hands turned transparent directly in front of my eyes, and I felt myself leaving this world forever.
And then everything went black…
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