ANGER AND AFFECTION - 1

When the next day came, half of the town gathered at the cemetery to see the son of the Mayor for the last time in the pouring rain. To Gilbert and Sybil, William was their only son. But to the rest of the boys in the village, he was their friend — their brother.

Wearing nothing but raincoat, Thomas held a calm expression on his face amongst others. There was no tear or any emotions that represented his true feeling as he was seeing his best friend go. Nothing could describe how it hurt him, more than it hurt William's parents, knowing that the boy would be forever gone. He did not foresee William's sudden death. Why did this happen to William? Whom would Thomas have to play with from that day onward?

His black eyes stared hard at the coffin. He pressed his lips together.

His mother stood next to him, grasping his shoulder gently with her hands. She knew what William meant to his son. She had known the boy for so long that he and Thomas were both more than just good friends. Their relationship was stronger than that. Watching them growing together, Thomas' mother was as sad as others. It was as if, she had lost her other son.

"He was a good boy. I'm sure he will rest in peace." His mother, Sophia, whispered on his ear, hoping to comfort her son. Even though she noticed he was calm, she was aware of how painful it was for him.

Sophia could not read or write like any other woman. She did not find out about the death from the newspapers but she heard from her neighbours of how the boy died. Since then, she had been hiding it from Thomas as she did not want to scare him. It was tragic the way the boy died. It got her worried, somehow, that something similar could have happened to her son.

She grimaced at the though of losing Thomas. Her hands curled forward and she hugged her son from behind, not wanting to let him go. She could feel what Lady Sybil felt right now. Having their only son murdered in their own house, it must be so unbearable and traumatic.

"Thomas, promise me you won't go anywhere far without being accompanied by me or your father." She stated. Her voice was as low as a whisper. She did not want other villagers to hear about it.

Thomas did not respond. Instead, he kept staring at the coffin that was lowered down and the men started to cover it up with soil, burying his best friend forever to rest in peace.

It was then when the pain started to come to the surface, pricking his heart and weakening his knees. Slowly, he started to fall on his knees. His eyes began to wet as he bursted into tears.

"Oh, my dear!" Sophie crouched down to hold his son who broke down. "It's okay, Tom. You can cry." She murmured softly and let her son cry to his heart content.

Thomas was not the only one who wept out over William. Neil, Brandon and others were crying as well. They could not believe that their friend had gone.

Amongst them all, one boy was looking perplexed. Compared to others, he was much younger and he could not yet to understand what was going on there. His hand clutched on his father's raincoat, staring at the grave in front of him. He then lifted his head up and darted his eyes between his older brother and other boys who were sobbing. His eyes turned to his father as he gently pulled the raincoat of his father down, to get his attention.

When he got his father's eyes on him, the boy said "What happened, Papa?"

The man lowered himself to be in his son's level and spoke lowly to him. "William has just gone, Edmond. He will no longer be with us."

"Where's he going, Papa?" Asked Edmond, having no clue of what was really happening.

After hearing about the shocking news of William, Angus had yet told his younger son about it. He told Jill and Neil only. Neil was one of William's best friends. It was only fair to let him know the truth, but Edmond was too young to understand about it.

"He goes to heaven." Uttered Angus with a sad voice. Somewhere deep inside Angus's heart, he felt sorry for what happened to the boy, remembering the commotion occurred few days ago when he nearly forced the boy to go to the forest with him to find Edmond. He wished that he could take it back of those horrible things he said to the Mayor and his wife. He did not wish them to feel what he felt when his son was gone. He did not mean it.

"Like Mama." Edmond turned his gaze back to the grave that was now having a grave marker made out of stone with William's name on it. His brow knitted together as he shifted his gaze towards another grave that was not far from William's. The grave of his own mother.

As the ceremony was done, people started to depart one by one. Angus's family was one of the last three families that remained, along with the Mayor's and Thomas'.

Sophia was well acquainted with Sybil. She knew the lady far before she became the wife of the Mayor. Sophia approached Sybil with Thomas on her side. She had wanted to come to see her and express her condolence for her loss.

Right behind Sophia, Angus and his sons followed her with the same intention.

"Lady Sybil." Greeted Sophia, bowing to the woman and her husband. Thomas did the same.

Sybil lifted her head unwillingly from her son's grave and looked at the persons who were standing next to her. Her eyes fell right on Angus and his sons, instead of responding to Sophia who was standing in front of Angus.

"Are you here to laugh at us, Mr. O'Connor?" Sybil spoke, her voice was taut with anger.

Gilbert looked at the man who caused a trouble at his home few days ago. He blamed the man partially for what happened to his son. If the man did not come looking for his young son, William would not have to go through a punishment. He would not have known of the girl's existence in the forest. Everything would still have been alright.

Angus took a deep breath before he said, "I'm so sorry, Milady. I'm really sorry for your loss. William was-"

"I don't need your sympathy, Mr. O'Connor." Sybil interjected. Her eyes were glaring hard at Edmond who was clutching at his father's hand, frightened of the lady's unfriendly stare. "You have your son back. You must be happy."

Sophia was totally confused with the sarcastic behaviour the lady had towards Angus. Her eyes darted from Sybil to Angus, trying to understand what had happened between them. As far as she knew, Angus and the Mayor were always in a good term.

Gilbert put his arm on his wife shoulder and spoke. "Let's go home, dear. It's not good to create a scene here."

Sybil snorted but did her husband told her. She looked away from the two families and walked away from them as Gilbert led her to the carriage that took them back home.

Sophia and Thomas left after them. She bid her goodbye to Angus and his sons; whereas Thomas glared at Edmond just like Sybil, causing the boy to look down. Angus exhaled loudly and announced to the boys that they were leaving as well.

Just before they left the cemetery, Edmond caught a sight of a woman with long brown hair waving at him. The smile that was on the woman's face, warmed his heart, making him smile at her in return. He halted his steps immediately and pulled his father's hand to get his attention.

"Look, Papa!" He said to his father, tilted his head up to look at him. "There's a lady…" When his head turned to see the woman, the woman had disappeared.