Chapter 40 "The Funeral"

They entered Dr. Erik's private office, following his lead. It appears that he made a personal effort to prepare William for today's funeral for Owen.

It would be impolite to attend a funeral wearing nothing but a jumpsuit, so he asked William to wait a while as he opened his closet and looked through Dr. Erik's personal belongings to find appropriate attire for him.

After a short while, he pulled on a black suit and a white shirt that he had kept in reserve for when he was required to represent the Foundation outside the facility.

Dr. Erik gave it to William, "Try this. It should fit with you. I kept this just in case I needed another one for my job."

Without any further ado, William took the white shirt, black suit, and pants for him to wear later. He went to the office's bathroom to change his clothes while Dr. Erik waited for him to finish dressing.

William walked out of the bathroom with a clean look in a full black and white attire down to his knees. He was ready and dressed appropriately for the funeral later.

Dr. Erik nodded as he saw William's look, "My turn now, wait here for a moment." said Dr. Erik as he brought his clothes to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, both of them were fully dressed. Someone was knocking on Dr. Erik's office, and two guards entered the room as they were cleaning up their clothes.

"Doctor, your vehicle is ready in the garage. Waiting for your next instruction for today's agenda." said one of the guards.

Dr. Erik waved his hand, "Good, we'll be there in a minute. Just stand by and tell the others to get ready as we enter the car."

"Understood." the guard looked at William, that was standing in the office, and said, "Doctor, is he-"

Dr. Erik waved his hand without giving the guard to speak, "Don't worry, he's with me. I'll take full responsibility for watching him on today's schedule. Tell Klein and Jay to assist us for the funeral later."

The guard nodded, and both of them left the office. Followed by Dr. Erik and William left the office, making their way out to the garage, which was on the ground floor, the area that William never had the chance to look at.

They proceed to enter an elevator that could only be accessed with Dr. Erik's card with a higher clearance level. He pressed a button, and they were going up to the ground level.

It would be the first time for William to see the outside world since he wasn't able to get a quick glance at it when he first arrived in this world. He was a little bit curious about what was beyond the Foundation facility.

They had arrived at the ground level, with the two guards from before waiting for William and Dr. Erik to escort them to the garage to board their vehicle. They saw the black SUV car waiting for them.

Someone was already in the driver's and a front passenger seat and dressed in formal black attire. It seemed that they were also going to attend Owen's funeral today.

Both Dr. Erik and William went to the passenger seat in the middle, and there were only four of them inside the car.

"Good afternoon, doc. Everything's ready?" said the driver.

"Yes, Klein. We shall go straight ahead to the memorial park. Everyone is already waiting for our arrival there." said Dr. Erik as he looked out through the window.

"Understood." replied Klein.

The four of them left the facility and drove their way out to the memorial park where Owen's funeral was held. It seemed that they were in a bit of a hurry as they were going at a fast pace.

For the first time, William saw the sun and the outer world as he peered out the car window. Because he was an SCP, he had forgotten how long he had been imprisoned in the facility.

There were people walking down the street and cars driving by on either side like they were in any other regular city going about their everyday business.

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a local graveyard. Several people were attending the funeral that could be seen from a distance, and it seemed they were a bit late for the funeral.

Dr. Erik and the rest of the group parked their car on the side of the road and walked up to the crowd that was attending the funeral. They were in the middle of a eulogy, and all of them stood from the back.

A lady in her mid-50s gave her own eulogy to the people attending the funeral: "I was fearful of missing you, how I would miss your father just like before. But I couldn't hold back your desire that you wanted to protect both your mother and brother. I'm glad that you served your duty well until your very last breath."

The lady wiped her tears with a handkerchief and continued, "And thank Christ for me. Let him know how honored, fortunate, and grateful I am that he selected me to be your mother. I hope I did him proud. And until we are summoned to be with you, I will assist in guiding those whom you left behind."

The woman concluded her eulogy at that point and stepped away from the podium. She took a seat next to a young child as someone else approached the podium and prepared to deliver his own eulogy.

Dr. Erik was shocked by the scene, and William was a bit confused. Given that he was elderly, had a short beard, and appeared to be a prominent figure, Dr. Erik appeared to recognize this figure.

The man said in a hoarse voice, "Our country survived not only we were able to fend off those that pose a threat, because of those people who diligently gave them their lives to protect not only the country but also their loved ones."

"The bravery within those who are willing to put their lives on the frontline, keeping the normalcy so that we could live our life the next day. Those are the unsung heroes that we should always remember. Officer Owen gave his life to protect those who he believed to be special to him."

The man looked in the direction of William and continued, "There are many others that still are fighting to this day, but Officer Owen's life was never in vain. With his effort, we could only give him the greatest honor for his servitude to humanity."

"While the rest of mankind lives on the light, we must live with the dark to fight it so that the others may continue their lives. We work in the dark to serve the light. On behalf of the organization, we salute Owen and pledge that we will never forget. Thank you."

The man concluded his eulogy with that and stepped away from the podium. As they got ready to bury Owen's casket, the remainder of the crowd stood up. William and Dr. Erik went after the others.

Everyone gathered at the cemetery, and as Owen's casket was lowered to the ground, many people wept over his passing. The lady, who seemed to be his mother, can be seen wiping her own tears.

William saw the casket being buried from the back of the crowd while Dr. Erik was next to him. This was his final goodbye and will be the last time seeing Owen in this condition.

He turned his head to Dr. Erik, "Doctor, can I ask you one favor?"

Dr. Erik glanced at him for a moment and looked back at Owen's burial, "Anything as long it's within my reach to do it."

William remembered something when he and Owen first met at the canteen and said, "Could you keep his family on tabs? Helping them with their financial needs as he was the one who could only provide and support his family?"

"It has been already granted. The Foundation will give Owen's family financial aid for his service to the Foundation. They will be processed by the Treasury Department, as it was granted by the Site Director." Answered Dr. Erik as he glanced his eyes at the man that was giving his own eulogy before.