Chapter 4

Juliet watched as they lowered her mother's coffin into the ground. Not a single drop of tears left her eyes as she watched. Her eyes were empty as she watched, then slowly started to cover the grave, but her heart was the contrast. Her heart hurt so bad as she watched, and she wanted to rip it out of her chest so it would stop hurting… But she couldn't, and it only made it unbearable for her to watch. One of the men working asked her a question, but she couldn't process his words, so he understood and let her be…

Florence, on the other hand, was a mess. Her eyes were completely swollen and red, and she was sobbing behind Juliet. Juliet sighed and turned to look at Florence. One would mistake her as the daughter at one glance. She patted her neighbour's arm, trying to console her, and it only made her cry the more

Flo was the only one who had shown up. No one from the wake yesterday showed up, and she preferred it that way, but she wondered if her mother was sad that no one showed up. Her mother had been nice to them, but she realised now that all of that didn't matter to people. They were just bad if they chose to be…

Was her mother watching now and regretting why she was nice to them? Juliet knew her mother too well, and even though her mother was given a chance at life once again, she would still be nice to the same people who didn't show up for her burial…

“I can't believe she is gone. She was such a nice person” Flo said in between her sobs, and a slight smile appeared on Juliet's face. That she couldn't deny. Her mother had been nice. Way too nice for her liking, it had caused a lot of disagreements between them when She was alive.

She would always get mad when her mother was nice to someone who wasn't ever going to reciprocate it. “Yes, she was. Way too nice” Juliet muttered As they walked away…

“You should have moved already but I would have taken care of everything myself. I feel bad that you couldn't move because of everything that happened”

Florence shook her head as she sniffed.

“How could I leave? I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I did” Good people still existed, Juliet thought. She was happy she had met someone like Flo, who cared…

Florence stopped in her tracks and held Juliet's hand in hers. “I'm worried about you Julie…are you sure you are fine…” Flo said, worry laced in her voice…

Florence's eyebrow was scrunched in concern for Julie… she wasn't showing her pain and keeping it within her. Flo had learned that about Julie. She loved to keep to herself, but sometimes it was good to let it all out. It worried her deeply…

“To be honest, I'm not…but I've decided not to think too much about it” Juliet replied. She knew she was far from fine but she was used to dealing with her problems on her own and hated being a burden to people… Especially Flo… she didn't want to be a burden to her, she had done more than enough…

Florence gave her a warm hug and patted her back. “I can't tell you everything is going to be alright Julie… it's hard to forget someone…if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm always a call away okay…”

Juliet nodded. She knew Flo was sincere…

Florence offered Juliet a ride but she declined politely, saying she needed some time alone, which Flo understood…

Juliet walked slowly, her eyes on the busy street of the city. Office Workers chattered as They walked past her, and she guessed they were on their way back from their lunch break. They all looked happy, unlike her. She was like a gloomy weather close to a rainbow as she crossed the street… her heart ached…

She stopped just by an alley and took in a deep, steadying breath. Her stomach had started to hurt, and she was tired from walking… her hand travelled to her stomach as she glanced at her feet…

She had jogged down the whole bottle of wine on an empty stomach and woke up with the worst hangover and now her feet hurt… plus she was starting to develop a headache… it didn't help that it was hard to catch a taxi around this side of the city during the mid-day, the taxi’s preferred to work during the evenings and night because of the closing rushing hour.

And she had missed the bus earlier because she wanted to walk, but now she was having second thoughts. She should have accepted the ride from the flo, Juliet regretted…

Juliet sighed deeply when her eyesight started to become blurry with tears, which she wiped away before they even had the chance to roll down her cheeks… it was really hard to be strong…

She wiped the rest of her tears and continued on and finally after walking for more than an hour she got a park. Juliet stopped in her tracks when her eyes fell on a bench. It was the same bench from last night where she had sat with the nice stranger.

She walked to the bench and sat on it. Her shoulders slumped due to tiredness…

Her eyes slowly started closing as the afternoon breeze blew her hair around her face. She could hear the rustling of leaves, and it somehow comforted her…

“Hi” a voice caught her attention, and her eyes immediately flew open abruptly. She turned to see who the voice belonged to and found a man seated at the far end of the bench staring at her with concern in his eyes. It didn't take long for Juliet to recognise who he was… “You…” she muttered… her eyed growing wide…

what was he doing here…

She could see his face more clearly now…

Before he could say anything, Juliet got up and started to walk off, and from the side of her eyes, she could see the man standing up also. “Please don't follow me…” She muttered and hastened her pace, but he didn't relent and walked after her…what did he want?

Just as Juliet was about to make a turn so she could avoid him, the world started to spin around her, and the next thing she knew, everything became blank…