New Life : A Second Chance - Funeral

“I tell Kay everything,” Kyle answered, nonplussed, “Just like she tells me everything.”     

“But when did you tell her?” Sayuri asked again, for Kyle had been with her the entire night till now.     

“Oh, that,” Kyle said, “Kay and I can communicate telepathically.”     

Sayuri looked at him and then shook her head, “Forget it. I should have known better than to try and make sense of that. After all, if you can be the reincarnated soul of a 40+ year old mother, what is telepathic communication?”     

“Sorry, I guess I should have warned you about that,” Kyle said, “And how we always share everything. It’s just that it is a part of me that I never think about. Does it bother you?”     

Sayuri shook her head, “No, it doesn’t. It just bothered me that I wasn’t told beforehand, that’s all. Kay’s your twin and is a part of you, I guess. So it’s only natural.”     

Kyle nodded, “Yeah, and you’re right. I’ll try and be more aware next time.”     

“This is just between the three of us, okay?” Sayuri stressed.     

“Don’t worry,” Kyle answered.     

Sayuri was silent as she thought of the events of the entire night.      

Then she stared at Kyle.     

“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he cleaned the plate.     

“I just realised … I had sex with a guy who used to be a woman,” Sayuri said, “Is that why you are so amazing at it?”     

Kyle nearly spluttered his coffee out.     

“Heck, no,” Kyle said, “Wait. Maybe. I don’t know. How the heck would knowledge as a woman in the past life have anything to do with how I move my d*ck now??”     

“So you do prefer having sex as a woman, or as a man?” Sayuri went on to ask relentlessly.     

“Good question,” Kyle said, “Both are great … though, I must admit.”     

“Admit what?” Sayuri asked, then saw Kyle edging closer to her.     

“How enjoyable it is, depends entirely on the party you’re doing it with,” Kyle said his softly, his lips close to her lips.      

“Oh?”     

“Oh,” Kyle replied, giving her a short, yet deep kiss before getting up just as Kay walked out of the bedroom.     

Sayuri was still left gasping a bit at the table and she silently cursed him.     

She wondered now whether this move of hers was a good thing … or a bad thing.     

She didn’t know yet.     

For now, it was good.     

Once she felt it was going downhill, she will step back and leave.      

She watched him straighten his back as he waited for Kay to reach them, then they made a move.     

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The atmosphere at the funeral parlour was sombre.      

Normally, the funeral would be held at home but since it the house had burned down, this was the only other logical place.     

A typical funeral would last between three to seven days, depending on the financial capabilities of the family. One day was not the norm, but it was accepted in some cases such as the family being too poor.     

In Kylie’s case, it wasn’t that they were poor, but rather, the circumstances didn’t quite allow it.     

There was so much to do and Stephan was distraught having to cope with the loss of his wife, his home and dealing with his grieving children as well.     

The kids had taken it so hard.     

Which was to be expected.     

What he did not expect was that his daughter seemed to have had a meltdown, as she screamed and cried while huddling herself in one corner. She would not respond to anything around her and all they could do, was simply to watch over her as she lay in her own little world.     

Stephan had to leave his daughter in the hands of his son, and luckily, those two clung to each other. Figuratively, though, not literally.     

Joseph also had this blank look on his face while he sat there, near to his sister who was wailing.     

The two extreme reactions from his children tore at his heart.     

Right now, at least, both appeared to have calmed down somewhat.     

Stephan looked at the open casket that lay at the front of the parlour.      

They had had to make adjustments to the normal funeral rites.     

As it was held in the parlour rather than home, there was no way that they could place the coffin with its head facing the inside of the house.      

There was also supposed to be a photograph of his late wife placed at the head of the coffin, but they had to cover it as Lianne could not see that without breaking down.     

They had also opted out of placing food in front of the coffin, an offering that is given to the deceased. Instead, it was placed at the side, with a smaller (and covered) picture of his late wife.     

Inside the coffin, a broken half of a comb was placed while the other half was being gripped by Lianne in her hands. The breaking of the comb is a symbolic reference of severance to all old ties.      

Though this was not meant to be that one would forget, but rather, to let go. Lianne was the one who was most affected and thus, holding that comb gave her some semblance of peace.     

Lianne gripped the piece in her hands tightly. To her, it represented her mother. By holding onto it, she could imagine herself still having some sort of connection to her mother.     

Though it was meant as ‘breaking ties’, Lianne saw it more as ‘maintaining it’.      

She didn’t tell her father this, of course. If she did, he would take away the comb as it defeated the purpose.     

Lianne stood there with her brother at the left shoulder of the coffin, staring at it in a daze.      

Her mother was dead.