“UNFINISHED BUSINESS”
Following a dignified service, the mourners had filed out of
the church after the coffin, which had now been lowered into the grave.
Stephen stood beside the grave and looked around at the
hypocritical presence surrounding him.
He could have laughed, but he refrained.
He was aghast at how so many people could be so brazen as to show up at
the funeral of someone that they had previously treated with such appalling
disrespect.
The rain was pelting down, but he could not feel it. The sky was as grey as the faces of the
mourners standing at the graveside.
He looked at his mother and felt a pang of heartbreak as he
saw the tears flowing from her near-bloodshot eyes. His sister, Joanne, was standing next to her,
practically holding her up by the arm the that she had wrapped around her.
Unsurprisingly, there was a sombre tone to the occasion but,
more than anything, Stephen was overcome with a sense of anger. He was incensed that one man in particular
had decided to make an appearance amongst them.
Scott Danielson was unashamedly lining up behind one of
Stephen’s old friends, Gabriel Michaels, preparing to participate on the
formalities that involved throwing a handful of earth onto the coffin in the
grave before paying his respects to the grieving family. Stephen gritted his teeth and stared at him,
but Scott did not look his way.
After a few seconds, Stephen scanned the rest of the
gathering. His Uncle Harry was
whispering something to his cousin, Donna, and his Aunt Deborah was speaking to
the Vicar. Then he caught a glimpse of
an unfamiliar face.
There was a woman standing beside his Uncle, someone he did
not recognise. She stood out from the
crowd as she was wearing a beige knee-length skirt over a white blouse and a
grey cardigan. Everyone else was wearing
black. He was surprised he had not
noticed her earlier. She was
mid-thirties, pretty. Moments later, the
mystery woman noticed that Stephen was staring at her. She smiled.
Taken aback at her acknowledgement, Stephen blushed. He looked away, embarrassed as she began to
approach him.
“Morning,” she said to him.
“I’m Maria.”
“Stephen,” he blurted after a brief moment of hesitation.
“How did you die, Stephen?”
Stephen scowled. “I
was murdered, but it was made to look like a suicide.”
“I’m sorry,” Maria said.
“So, you’ve got unfinished business too, huh?”
“Too right I have.”
He looked at Scott once again and glowered. “I got knocked out in a fight when I found
out that my best friend had been sleeping with my fiancé. She’s not here today, but he’s had the
audacity to show his face. Turns out I
was found on the bathroom floor with my wrists slit. I didn’t do that.”
“That’s awful.” Maria
turned to see who Stephen was glaring at.
“Is that him?”
“It is.”
“What a nerve,” she said.
Stephen shook himself and looked Maria in the eye. “Anyway, what happened to you?” he enquired,
realising he was being rude by not expressing an interest in his new-found
acquaintance’s situation.
“Car accident. Two
weeks ago now.”
“And you’re still hanging around?”
“We’ve all got unfinished business to take care of,
Stephen.”
“I suppose,” he said.
“You learned anything about haunting the living since you passed?”
Maria looked in Scott’s direction again and grinned. “Sure, I could teach you a few things.”
*
