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I quickly shook my head and began walking. I could think about all this later, once I was gone.
I walked on the stone path in the direction of my uncle’s mausoleum. It was a short walk, and now that I’ve been here a few times, I could mindlessly find it without paying attention.
I approached the front of the structure, and my vision eyed theCastelletched in the top stone.
“Hi, Uncle Russ,” I whispered. After closing and dropping my umbrella, I stepped up into the open mausoleum. It was still clean, still polished, and still beautiful. I walked to one of the benches along the side and sat down.
My eyes were glued to the black vase that was neatly presented on the island.
“What are you doing here?” I quietly asked the ceramic container. “Why here?”
There was a deafening pause as I deeply inhaled.
“Therehasto be a reason why you chose this place,” I continued, talking more to myself than to his ashes. “If what Caius says is true, then therehasto be a reason why you would want to rest here.”
I could hear and feel the lump in my throat grow, the ache turning more uncomfortable with each passing moment. I thought about all the times Uncle Russ played with me as a kid; all the times he pushed me on the swings, the times he would color in my coloring books with me, and even the times when he would build sandcastles with me and Serena at the beach.
I can’t see a man likethatwanting to rest in a place likethis. Don’t we all want the sun on our skin, rather than the rain in our hair?
No matter how beautiful it is here, its underlying truth isn’t an ideal destination.
I instantly sat up as a thought struck me.Truth.
Who said Caius was telling the truth?
Maybe he was bullshitting me. Maybe he was trying to get a rise out of me, scare me off, or even just play a stupid joke on me. Maybe he was trying to get me to never come back here. He was doing well keeping this place a secret and completely under wraps, and he didn’t want a girl like me to ruin that.
Or, maybe he was confused. Maybe he thinks this place is Purgatory, but in reality, it’s just a graveyard.
It’s just a cemetery.
A small laugh escaped me as I moved to stand up. Any fear I had up until this point left my body, and I was able to convince myself that all I had left was lingering grief.
“I’ll see you next week, Uncle Russ.”
My fingers brushed against the smooth countertop as I said a silent goodbye. As soon as I walked out of the open doorframe, I stopped.
There he was.Caius.
“How long have you been there?” I asked.
“Not long,” he assured. “I wanted to give you your privacy.”
He stood at the bottom of the steps with his jacket on, hood up, and hands in his pockets. I watched his bright eyes through the rainfall, the strips of water clouding my vision.
“Privacy, right,” I nodded. I grabbed my umbrella and walked down the steps. “Is this how you give privacy to everyone who comes to your cemetery?”
The tone of my question was warm, but there was a hint of sarcasm in the last word.Cemetery.
His eyes locked with mine as I walked off the last step, opened the umbrella, and stood in front of him. I could feel his body heat through his clothes, radiating onto me, even though there were layers of fabric between us.
As he clenched his jaw and furrowed his brows, his voice hovered above a deep whisper. “You don’t believe me.”
I gave a sympathetic smirk. “I don’t.”
“Even though you saw it all with your own eyes?”
I shrugged. “Guess not.”
