He slowly approached my body and pressed his fingers to my neck, seemingly wanting to verify that I was dead.
I wondered whether he would cremate me. The urn was right beside me, so he should understand what I wanted. Of course, there wasn’t anything I could do if he pretended not to know and went against my wishes.
I floated in mid–air and played with my fingernails, feeling bored. Then, I caught the gleam of tears in Gary’s eyes. I widened my eyes in shock, unable to believe what I’d just seen.
Was he crying? Seriously?
I took a closer look at his face. His eyes were red, and there were tears in them. My boredom returned after the novelty passed. Who was he putting on such an act for?
Gary bent down and buried his face in his hands, letting out muffled sobs.
1/2
+25 BONUS
Chapter 6
This was my first time seeing him cry. When our parents had died, he’d always had his back to me, perhaps because he didn’t want to look at me. So, this was also my first time seeing his weak side.
Was the weakness because of me? I couldn’t understand it. I’d never felt a trace of warmth from my family since my mother’s death–the only kindness I’d received was from strangers. They helped to shine a light on me in the darkness that was my life.
I recalled how I’d stared into the distance after getting my photo taken earlier in the day. I’d smelled something tasty in the distance, so I’d followed it to a stall that sold hot cross buns. I slowly approached the stall.
The owner was so busy that she didn’t even look up. “Good afternoon! What would you like to have?”
I looked at my empty wallet, feeling embarrassed. Just then, the owner had looked up. She was slightly taken aback when she saw me but still asked, “Would you like some hot cross buns, miss?”
I shook my head awkwardly. “Uh, no thanks. I… I don’t have any money, and I’m not hungry.”
My stomach rumbled just then, almost as if it wanted to prove me wrong. I lowered my head in shame and was about to leave when the owner stopped me.
“Wait!” She turned to get two hot cross buns. Then, she handed them to me. “Here you go. You can come to me again if you run into any problems. I might not be able to give you much, but at least you’ll have something to eat.”
Tears had streamed down my face again. I smiled through them and took the buns, thanking her profusely. The warmth of the buns had reached my heart.
