Followers

Thursday 7 June 2012

Circle Quartet: 34


Chapter 34

Black. Vampires love black. Black is a symbol of night. Most of the nocturnal creatures love black. Black is very related to us, vampires. Our cloaks are black because we can hide easily in the shadows. Black is also a symbol of elegant. Those who wear black considered as rich.

But the black that I wear today is not a symbol of elegant. It’s a symbol of death. Everyone, who attends this funeral, wears black. I used to like the colour black, even I asked Dad to buy me a black coffin, but today, I hate wearing it.

Today is the funeral of Jeff. After what happened last night, everyone is in shocked, especially my family. I’m standing between Ace and Sable, who are still sobbing since early this morning. Mom also can’t stop crying since she lost one of her children. She haven’t stop calling Jeff ‘my baby’ when we brought his dead body last night.

The funeral takes place at the Academy, the underground level, where the dead bodies are kept. Luminous candles are being put around this chamber; the Chamber of the Death. This chamber is quite huge, I think, because most of the clans gather here for the funeral. All of them are wearing black and they are all very sad of Jeff’s death.

I don’t listen to what Uncle Anders is saying – he’s been chosen to be the Priest tonight. I can’t help but stare at Jeff’s cold body. His face looks very calm. I remember every single word that he said to me before closing his eyes. Tears stroll down on my cheek, again.

Few minutes later, Jeff’s body is put inside a black coffin with silver carvings. Everyone mutter the death hymn as the lid is closing. I mutter the hymn too, but I can’t stop my tears from falling down. I begin to sob. This is the last goodbye for Jeff. I wish I can bring him back alive. I wish I didn’t say I hated him when we quarrelled over an itsy-bitsy thing.

When the funeral ends, everyone slowly departs upstairs, leaving my family and the Silvers. Dad ushers Mom upstairs and Ace and Sable join them next. The Silvers too, leave the chamber except for me and Stefan. I stare at the coffin, hoping that Jeff will come out and tell me that this is only a prank, a joke, or whatever it is that will make me surprise and start to scold him. But the lid doesn’t budge.

Stefan and gently touch my shoulder. I turn to him and hug him tight. I cry as long as I want. Stefan strokes my back without saying anything. I know that he too, is sad because Jeff was very close to him.

The next day, my family and I go back to Sewra. I’m having a break for two weeks since Alse won’t be around for this time being. She drank the false blood that night. She’s supposed to drink my blood and then Stefan – this is according to Grandma Zelda when she told us before the funeral begun, but she drank Jeff’s instead. Jeff had used the forbidden spell to turn himself as me and tricked Alse. That’s why Alse melted horribly that night. Grandma Zelda said that she might not be able to turn out for a long time. After all, her seal hasn’t broken yet.

I lock myself in my room, not talking to anyone. I even turn off my cellphone. I take my supplies to my room and I just sit near the window, looking outside. No one dare to console me, not even Mom and Dad. They know that I need time to heal myself to become normal again.

I spot some pictures in the frames on my table near the bed. One of them is the picture of me and Jeff when we celebrated my 16th birthday. Jeff came back from the Academy and bought a CD-Player for the present. That’s the thing I wanted the most, back then.

Jeff was the most cheerful person in my family. He liked to crake some jokes with Dad and spent most of his time with me, before Ace was born. He liked to venture outside of the house, went to the pond to catch some tadpoles, and he always dragged me along.

And when we played with Zayne and Stefan, Jeff never left me behind. Once we climbed up to the top of the tree to search for a bird’s nest and I nearly fell down. Jeff carried me on his back after that so that I didn’t fell. Of course I won’t die falling off the tree but it’s going to hurt lot.

Jeff loved ice-cream, strawberry flavour. He always bought a box of strawberry-flavoured ice-cream and kept them in the fridge for the whole week. He said that he couldn’t live without strawberry ice-cream. Mom sometimes forbade him to eat those because he always skipped brushing his teeth before going to sleep. That was one of the bad habits of Jeff. He also liked to pick his nose, like I did. He’s the one who taught me that. An absolute pleasure according to him, which is true.

He liked to play baseball. We played pitch-and-toss every evening. Sometimes he brought me to the baseball park to watch him play, while I waited for him at the bench with Stefan. We’re too small to play with the bigger guys. Jeff was good pitcher. His throw was very fast. Dad said that he got strong hands.

Jeff hated cockroaches. He despised them as he was afraid of them. He always screamed when he saw a cockroach running around on the floor, especially in the bathroom and I was the one who rescued him, because I’m not afraid of cockroaches. But when the cockroach flew, both of us will scream in terror, running like a headless chicken.

But Jeff was the bravest when it came to fight. Dad trained him martial arts when he was young and he didn’t scare of his opponent, until he died. I heard from Beatrice that Jeff took the risk to trick Alse even though it will cost his life. He said to Beatrice that he did that because of me. He knew something that I don’t. And he was really good in keeping secret.

I walk to the window again and sigh. The evening sky looks beautiful today. I can see Maddison, Lacey and Sabrina are merrily playing with their puppies. They look happy even though they know that Jeff couldn’t play with them anymore. Jeff was always played with them when he was around. Jeff loved kids very much and kids love him too. Three of them cried when they heard the news about Jeff but they manage to overcome their sadness.

I think I should be like them. Even if I cry all day long, I can’t bring Jeff back to life. Life must go on; I still remember what Grandma Maegan said during the funeral. Everybody is still sad about the death but they still continue their normal life. And I think, this is the time that I should get out from this room, go outside and face the world, make everybody happy because that’s what Jeff wanted me to do.

As I open the door, I hear a sound of music filling the hallway. Someone is playing the piano in the music hall. I walk to the stairs and the sound is getting louder. I know this piece. It’s Ode to Joy, the first piece that I learned from Jeff. Jeff loved this piece very much. I hurry to the music hall, wanting to know who’s playing the piece.

I slowly enter the music hall since the door is widely open. I see a guy plays the piece with a smiling face. My eyes start to water. This person knows has lightened up my sorrow heart. When he realizes that I am approaching him, he gives me his sweetest smile and his fingers are still connecting with the keys. Tears can’t stop flowing down my cheek as I hug him tight.

“It’s good to see you again, Alice,” whispers Stefan as he hugs me in return.

I can’t utter a word. I cry once again in his embrace but this time, I cry because I’m happy. I’m happy because he came and tried to cheer me up. After that, I let him go and wipe my tears.

“Thank you for coming here, Stefan,” I sniff.

“Ace told me that you didn’t come out from your room since you came back here. He didn’t know what to do so he asked my help. Everyone is worried about you, Alice,” says Stefan.

“Yeah, I know. I just…I need time to…,”

“Hey, it’s okay,” he caresses my cheek. “I know that you’re strong to face all these. I also feel the lost of my good buddy.”

We talk for a while before Mom and Dad come and greet me with joy. I told them that I’m sorry for making them worried. Stefan stays here for dinner; Aunt Ada is very delightful and I think she’ll cook some extra meal for Stefan. Aunt Ada loves guest, especially the guest that will be the part of the family. Besides, Uncle Anders and his family arrive surprisingly as we are preparing for dinner. He only brings 4 children with him, including his lovely wife, Aunt Ramona. Everyone is delightful on his arrival. This dinner is going to be merry.

Uncle Anders is very happy to see me back to normal again. He says that he’s worried about my condition after the tragic incident. I tell him that I’m fine now. Deena, Andrew and Harold have something to do so they couldn’t come and join this wonderful dinner. There are lots of thing that I want to talk to Deena. Well, I guess I’ll just send e-mail to her. It’s been a while since I had a last chat with her at the Academy. She’s too busy with her tasks but sometimes she bought some time to spend with me and Abbie.

After dinner, Stefan excuses himself to go back home. He says that he’ll come again tomorrow to play with my cousins. I also need to rest my mind after being thinking too hard upon Jeff’s death.

“Alice, can we meet you for a while?” calls Amanda as I’m going back to my room. She seldom talks to me as she’s a very shy person. Her brother, Marc, is standing next to her.

“Sure. You can come to my room,” I smile and usher them to my room. Luckily, it’s not too messy. At least they can sit comfortably on the soft carpet. I wait for them to explain rather than reading their minds.

“I want to show you this,” Amanda takes out a piece of drawing on the table.

My eyes widen as I see it.

3 comments:

Parmita said...

Alice is a strong girl. With everyone's support she'll definitely get back her spirits. I am sure that Jeff's sacrifice will not be in vain. Alice and the others will definitely beat Alse.

I was very touched reading the recollections of Alice's memories of Jeff. The one thing I loved the most about this story was Alice and Jeff's relationship as a sibling.

Stefan is so sweet and caring. He'll be a pillar of support for Alice.

Your story has moved me deeply Feilong. You are a great story writer. Keep it up dear pal!

Ciklong said...

Alice need to find out the truth about Jeff's death and this will be revealed in the next chapter. Stefan will always be the best supporter to Alice, don't worry.

I also didn't realize that I can write this story very far and I have developed an interesting plot.

by the way, well come back to the blogger world, Sui :)

4 Bestari 2014 said...

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