Like It Or Not, It's A Funeral

Things settled down that night, with Dad helping Ernesto and Grace find a perfect place to bury Korin. Now that I wasn't riddled with adrenaline and violent thoughts, I finally came to understand how terrible of a way he ended up dying.

Death was at my firsthand account now. I understood what it was like to watch somebody die. Gruesome, almost to the point of not being able to stomach it. It was like watching something shrivel up and die so weakly.

The funeral was arranged in hopes of bringing peace to Ernesto and Grace. A lot of things were said that night that nobody meant, so after Korin's parents were calm enough, we all apologized. Niko was placed into one of the middle classrooms to deal with what he did. Killing Korin may have been different, but Niko desecrated his body too. He shot him once more than he needed to and spat on his corpse.

Niko exemplified exactly what Korin would've done to anybody else in my eyes. Korin was rude up until the very end, and had he killed me and stabbed me how he wanted to, I was sure my body would be desecrated too. My first encounter with death changed me. It's weird, death was always at a distance, and instead of being grateful it wasn't me, I'm only thinking about when it will be my turn.

Any foldable chairs or classroom chairs we had were put out on the playground and a nice, wooden casket made from some other trees in the forest behind the school was designed to house Korin's body. He was covered up, and Ernesto stood up on a makeshift stage that was the platform to the playset with sorrowful eyes.

"Hello everybody... I figured I should start this little speech of mine out with an apology. I know, it's a crazy way to start a funeral, but it's been in my attention for a very long time that Korin just was a terrible kid. I know what he did, how he acted, and I couldn't do anything about it. Trust me, I've been through the five stages of grief in these past few weeks, and I've come to terms with it," Ernesto said. He nervously bounced around on the platform, looking up at the sky, out toward the fences that we repaired and reinforced.

Each fence had tons of bolts in it to keep it stable and from being knocked over. It was unbreakable at this point, even with a few zombies that piled up a week ago, it didn't budge an inch.

"Anyway, Grace and I are okay now and wanted to apologize for the way our kid affected everybody here. Thank you, for allowing us to take this time to mourn, but we want to officially come out and say that we're okay and ready to get back to it," Ernesto told everybody. I nodded in the back, standing with my sister and Mom and staying far out of reach from him. I didn't feel bad, but it also wasn't my place to interfere with his speech.

"Korin was quite the kid. He was capable of a lot of bad things, but he also performed some good acts too. He saved his mother's life on his way out of Vincent's little base, and he promised us that our daughter's death by him would be avenged. He promised a lot and did what he thought was necessary. Whether good or bad, I have to give it to him, all that he promised he'd do ended up being goals that he always fulfilled. It's impressive, one way or another. Korin was my boy, and I regret not being able to raise him the correct way. He did cause a lot of trouble, but what fourteen-year-old doesn't? Right? Maybe I tell that to myself to help cope. I wanted to publicly apologize as well," Ernesto said. He bent his head down while talking about coping, and then turned back up toward me while leaving his hand out to point.

"Leon, the one who took the brunt of the damage, is a brave young man. He tried to be Korin's friend when nobody else did and brought great peace to him before his death. I thank you, for welcoming him, regardless of the way he acted. That alone takes bravery, to go head first into a person whose tough nature is hard to break through," Ernesto told me. He then thanked Cody and Connie for doing the same thing as me but with different words. The thought sat in my mind for a moment while I considered what Ernesto had told me.

I had been so focused on the bad that occurred between Korin and me that I forgot about the twisted meaning of the friendship we had for the past six months. It was like all that time of appreciation and collaboration we experienced died with him.

I was conflicted, asking myself a ton of questions. Do I sit with this information? Do I learn from this experience? Do I forget our good times to only remember the bad ones?

The surge of violence from Korin wouldn't have stopped, but I thought to myself, with everything good between us, was it the right option? I wanted to ask Dad, or Mom, or somebody... but would they understand?

I felt myself starting to cry a little, thinking about what happened in the past few weeks. I didn't cry once, not until all was said and done and the funeral started.

With the help of Dad on the opposite end, Ernesto finished his sweet speech and lowered Korin onto another shelf, of which Papa and Jason helped him fully set Korin into the ground to peacefully rest.

Initially, Dad was worried about Korin turning into a zombie if the bullet didn't hit the right spot, but Niko did technically end him properly when he shot at Korin for a second time. It was a whole trial that went on, but Niko confessed to not even thinking about it. He was extremely angry that Korin shot at me, and didn't think about the zombie thing at all. It was a genuine intent to kill, and then some.

With Korin set into the ground, Dad and the others started to pile dirt back into the grave, and people started to leave the funeral to continue their duties. It's weird, how we gave Korin the time of day to set him into the ground, but just like that, we had to continue. I wonder if Korin can see me from anywhere, thinking about how things have changed or will change.

Or, what was to come in the future.