Graves And Death

Emma slept so well that night that she even woke up late the next day. Her chest felt lighter as if a heavy burden had been lifted after she had a clearer direction in searching for her family.

She would be patient and carry out her plans with Haoran. She would wait until she could contact AWA and go to the Moon.

***

Their activities for the next two days were more relaxed with various visits to Fontainebleau Palace, Jardin des Tuileries, Montmartre market, and the Rodin Museum.

During their free time on their last day in Paris, Alex invited his friends to visit the most famous cemetery in France, the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

There were many famous people buried there, such as Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Door; Edith Piaf, legendary French singer—famous for her song La Vie En Rose; John Keats, the famous poet; the legendary composer Frederic Chopin—a renowned writer Oscar Wilde, etc.

"Did you guys know this is the most visited cemetery in the world," said Alex, enthusiastically leading the way to Père Lachaise. He even prepared a grave map of whom they should visit there.

"You're weird, huh..." Haoran commented. "A tomb tourist."

"You may find this strange, but a graveyard's an interesting place to visit. And since we're in Paris, of course, I'll not miss visiting the world-famous Père Lachaise. By the way, does anyone know what's the most famous grave in the world? Every year, millions of people go there to visit," asked Alex while observing his friends with a mysterious expression. "People say this is also the most beautiful grave in the world."

The group exchanged glances before shaking their heads. Emma frowned and tried to say something, but Alex immediately gave her a sign for her to keep quiet.

"If you can answer what's the name of that grave, I'll treat you to a popular ice cream store after we leave this cemetery," said Alex. "Emma isn't allowed to answer because I've already told her this before. Also, no one is allowed to open the internet."

"Ish... the prize isn't worth racking my brain," grumbled Haoran. "I'm out."

"What did you say?" asked Alex, glaring. "You don't like ice cream, eh? Don't take my ice cream when I buy one later."

Haoran dismissed Alex and strolled around while observing the graves with his hands in his pockets.

Dinh seemed most eager to get free ice cream from Alex, so he tried to think hard to find out the answer while David and Eric just shrugged.

"Elvis Presley's grave?" David asked.

Alex shook his head.

"Princess Diana's grave?" Eric tried to answer too, but his answer was still incorrect.

Alex shook his head again. Seeing his friends ready to just recite the names of any celebrities came to their minds, Alex hurriedly raised his hand and stopped them.

"You certainly won't be able to guess it. The most famous grave is the Taj Mahal," said Alex.

"Eh, the Taj Mahal is a palace, right? How can you call it a grave?" Dinh protested, but Alex immediately explained further.

"Although the Taj Mahal indeed looks like a palace on the outside, it was actually built to be the tomb of Queen Mumtaz Mahal in Agra, India, by the King of the Mughal, a kingdom in India hundreds of years ago. The King's name was Shah Jahan; he loved his Queen so dearly. When the King's wife died while giving birth to their 14th child, he became terribly devastated and inconsolable, so that in the memory of the late Queen, Shah Jahan ordered his people to build the most magnificent building he could for his wife's grave. The construction lasted for 22 years. And after he died, he was also buried in the Taj Mahal, beside his wife."

Alex puffed his chest, feeling proud of his knowledge. "Taj Mahal is one of the world's most prominent cultural heritage sites, and even now, it's still a symbol for undying love. Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal were engaged since they were 14 years old, but they were still very much in love with each other until Mumtaz died at the age of 38. Imagine, loving one person for almost your whole life!"

The group was impressed at Alex's explanation.

"Wow... I didn't expect that at all. I thought the Taj Mahal was just a beautiful palace, and that's it," Dinh said admiringly. However, his expression turned sad. "So, we don't get ice cream?"

"Buy it yourself." Alex waved his hand.

The group then proceeded to explore the cemetery and looked at the tombs of famous people on Alex's list. He repeatedly posed to be photographed in front of a grave to be posted on his social media.

"Why do you like graves anyway, Alex?" Haoran asked.

They had left Père Lachaise to take a break at a café that sold ice cream. They finally enjoyed ice cream on Haoran's treat.

"Why do I like graves? I don't know. I just find death fascinating," said Alex, shrugging. "We'll never know whether or not our life meant something to others, after we die. Once we leave this world quietly, and nobody feels lost, or nobody is missing us, that means our lives were in vain. We didn't leave an impact. It's meaningless."

"You make death sound poetic," Dinh commented as he devoured his ice cream.

"But it's true! You know what, when I die, and we're still friends, I would truly appreciate it if you visited my grave and performed some rituals such as the Poe Toaster, for example," said Alex.

"Toaster? With bread?" Eric asked in confusion.

"Not a bread toaster, you uncultured boy! Toaster, like people who drink alcohol and make a 'toast'," Alex glared at him.

"Sorry for my ignorance, ol' wise one. Not all people share your enthusiasm about graves and deaths," Eric said in his defense. "So this toaster means people bringing alcohol and drinking it?"

Alex nodded. "This Poe Toaster was very famous in the past. The renowned writer—Edgar Allan Poe—who died hundreds of years ago, would always receive three red roses and a bottle of cognac every January 19th, his date of birth, since 1924, from a mysterious person.

That person would make a toast to honor Poe's legacy and then leave his/her cognac bottle and the roses on Poe's tombstone. That person did it for 75 consecutive years! But that stopped after 2009. And although many people had tried to photograph this mysterious person. No one had ever managed to find out the person's identity."

"Wow, you know a lot about this kind of thing," David commented. "If only your interest in school is as high as your interest in graves, I'm sure you would have been in Class A by now."

Alex shrugged. "Whatever, man. Anyway, what do you guys think? Exciting, right? If we make a pact like that, I think dying won't look too scary. When I die, all of you should come to my grave every end of year and toast for me."

His friends nodded.

"Of course. But don't die too early," Dinh said, hitting Alex on the shoulder. "You're making me shudder by talking about death on such a nice sunny day."

Emma had heard from Haoran that all five of them had been friends for more than twelve years. And seeing their closeness never dwindling, she had no doubt they'd continue being friends until they were all adults—even grow old and gray together.

She could imagine them gathering with their hairs gray and wrinkled faces at the grave of whoever died first, and drink together, as Alex wanted.

"In the event I die, I don't want to be buried in a grave," Haoran said, shrugging. "I want to be a tree. Just bury me in a garden and plant a nice tree on top of my grave. That way, I can be useful."

Dinh's spine shivered at Haoran's statement.

"Hey, hey... why the heck do you all keep talking about a gloomy subject? Let's switch topics. I'm getting creeped out," Dihn said. "Let's talk about shopping for souvenirs. I want to make time to buy souvenirs tomorrow morning because later that evening, we'll go back to Singapore."

Emma quietly smiled at them bickering. She was glad they had decided to go to Paris and not to the study trip in China. They made her enjoy this visit to Paris in addition to finding clues about her parents.