Dressed in Black (pt 2)
Ava woke up that morning with an awfully pounding headache. Her clothes still unchanged from the day before. The night before the funeral service, she and her mother in law, Helena, shared stories, reminiscing moments with their dear Alex over a jug of wine.
One jug turned to two and two turned to three and so forth. As Ava scratched the back of her head, she pondered how much she had to drink. Recalling the late night, she chuckled to herself. It was the first time in many days she had managed to go to bed without tears. To be fair, she could tell from the state she was in that she had passed out before having the chance to cry herself to sleep again.
Getting up out of bed to get cleaned up, she immediately felt the after affects of her previous night's antics. Her stomach turned and she staggered to put her weight on the nearby dresser, hoping the nausea would pass. 'Ugh,' she thought to herself, 'why did I let myself drink so much.' 'Oh yeah, I shouted out that I would drink not only for myself but for Alex as well.' She laughed at herself in amusement. "What an idiot," she whispered to herself.
Just as she thought her stomach was about to settle, the sudden urge to clear herself of last night's drink had her rushing to the vase just feet away. She had just managed to make it in time, throwing the flowers to the floor, when a knock came at her door.
"Lady Ava, may I come in?", asked a concerned voice from behind the door.
Hugging the vase, Ava shifted herself over to the door, cracking it open just enough to see Helena peering down at her. "You poor dear, I had a feeling you wouldn't be alright this morning with the amount you drank last night." She paused for a moment, hers eyes shifting to see vase Ava was hugging by her side. "Miss Thalia, please come help Lady Ava get cleaned up. And send for a cup of ginger tea."
"Mother Helena, I'm sorry for you to be taking care of me like this on the morning of your son's funeral." Ava felt guilty for her actions the night before leading her to this state this morning. Alex's mother has to bear the pain of burying her own child, and yet here I am, taking away her time due to my own stupidity.
Tears began to form in Ava's eyes. Sensing her pain, Helena entered the room and began stroking her hand across Ava's back. Gently patting, she let out a sigh, "Ava, darling, yes I have lost a son, but you have lost your husband too. It is painful for both of us and will be for some time. What is most important is that we're here to support one another while we get through this."
Ava looked up to meet the eyes of her mother in law, light brown and filled with the depth only years experiencing life could bring. The crows feet on the sides of her eyes tilting up when she smiled and said, "Now let's get you ready for the day, you can cry all you like later, but Alex wouldn't want us to be sad and puffy when we lay him to rest. Let's try to have as much fun as a day like this could allow us, in honor of his memory, hmm?" Ava nodded along, wiping the tears away from her eyes.
"You're right," she responded, a little smile forming from her lips, "we'll celebrate his life to the fullest, so he'll have no regrets on his way to the afterlife."
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Having gotten cleaned up and her stomach calmed with the ginger tea, Ava shuffled over to the mirror to fix the black veil the maids attached to her hair. After securing it more tightly to her hair, she took a moment to look at her clothes in the mirror. She hadn't expected to be wearing the same mourning clothes again, she'd thought the next time she'd have to adorn mourning attire would be in her middle ages, after ones body underwent the usual changes. But here she was wearing the same clothes as she had worn when burying her father not only 3 years ago.
It was odd to wear such black clothes, especially when laying Alex to rest. He was such a cheerful person, and he always enjoyed showing off his colorful tastes in the beautiful flowers he'd arrange in the bedroom every week. She frowned at the look she was wearing, knowing how dreary Alex would think they'd all look, cramped into the Great Hall as a sea of black.
She noticed a dried rose next to the bed on the floor, the maids must've missed it when cleaning up the vase mess she left earlier. Luckily, it was still quite in tact she thought to herself. She managed to attach it to her chest, a way to add a small pop of color to her otherwise completely dark ensemble. "There," she said to herself quite pleased. Alex would love the dramatic effect it would make on her presence in a room full of black, the deep red color of the rose also being one of his favourites.
Ava made her way downstairs to the front doors of the castle. Helena came to greet her and took her hand in hers, "Oh a dried rose! How poetic, Alex would've loved that," she remarked. "Yes, I hope so," Ava replied with a woeful grin. And with that they stepped outside to make their way to the Great Hall.