The Black Canvas

Gray

It had been a regular ceremony. Every person in the room was wearing the color of night. Words were spoken throughout the church, respect was woven from person to person, and condolences were sent to the still corpse in the casket and to the family who once nurtured that body.
Then everyone filed out to the graveyard where the coffin was lowered into the ground. Silence fell as the last prayer was spoken. A proper silence, an appropriate silence, a comfortable silence. The best things in life are happiness and thrills, but when it comes time to greet life's infamous twin sister, it's much obliged to be quiet.
The bridge on road 15 was shut down as of four days ago, when the incident happened. The current of the water below is strong and if someone was ever as unfortunate to fall into it, would not survive. It's not hard to avoid falling in, so what happened was not an accident whatsoever. Somebody wanted to jump in.
The boy's name was Alexander Havel. He was 20 years old when he jumped. In two months he would have been 21. Alexander has had a drug addiction ever since he was 16. He would buy off the streets, any joy inducer you could think of, and loose himself until his brain would melt and then mold back again. His only happiness. The smoke wouldn't let him see the real meaning of life, but then again, not a lot of people see it.
The unfortunate event unfolded Tuesday at 8:30 pm. Alexander's parents were cooking dinner and making the table for the meal. Alexander's grandparents were over to visit and they were spending time with his younger brother, Oliver, in the living room. Nobody noticed that Alexander had gone out four hours ago and still wasn't back yet.
The police called them when they were all playing board games.
Dinner was never consumed that night.
The coffin was lowered into the ground and the grounds men worked to fill the hole back with dirt. An eerie silence remained in the air, along the many sobs, the shovels hitting the ground, and the dirt pebbles hitting the wooden casket. When the work was done, everybody slowly trudged to their cars. Some of them gently placed flowers by the grave. The parents of the boy walked up to the grave and cried again as they read the words. The mother kissed the grave and the father laid down Alexander's favorite stuffed bunny from when he was a baby. And silently, they left with the crowd.
All but one remained. She stood in the back, not strong enough to look at her dead friend. Well, friends were what she always wanted to be with him. But he never noticed her much. This girl was shy and never spoke up, but loved Alexander with all her heart. He would smile and greet her in the halls back in high school and that was all she needed to get through the day.
Her eyes were a baggy, darkened mess and her face was smudged with ugly salt tears. Emotions ran through the girl's mind like birds stuck in a small room, longing to be free. One of the bigger emotions she felt was anger. She was furious. Alexander didn't deserve this. If anyone did, it was her. She would take his place in a heartbeat, and she doesn't look like somebody who kids a lot.
A note was pathetically crumpled in her left hand and shook with her nerves.
The girl walked to the grave and bent down to read the stone.
'A brave soul who was taken young. Never forgotten son, brother, and friend. Alexander Ross Havel. 1996-2017'
She weakly stood up and uncrumpled the note. She grimaces upon noticing her hands violently shaking. She was unable to hold the note still. With a weary smile, she spoke.
"Hi..Alex." Pause. "This is ridiculous. I-I can't even talk to you properly still. Even though you're dead and I'm reading off a guide."
A laugh erupted from her throat, more out of pain, torment, embarrasment, nervousness, than of joy.
She swallows and continues. "You meant a lot to me. I apologize for not saying anything before. You probably thought I hated you, but I didn't, I never did and I never will." She breathes, shutting her eyes and bowing her head. I should have never came, the thought stings her mind.

"Why didn't you read at the viewing?" A voice startles her. It was deep and gravely, but had a gentle tone to let her know he meant well.

For a second, she feels her whole body freeze. Everybody had gone home already, or so she thought. She turns around and sees a man standing a couple feet from her. He wore a traditional tuxedo with a black tie hanging from his collar. He looked flustered with a wet stained face and a couple strands of his black locks sticking to his tan cheeks. He mirrored her distress exactly. The wind gently blew against the both of them.

"I can't speak in front of people." She replied truthfully.

"You're speaking to me now."

"It's not the same, you are one person."

Silence. "How did you know him?" The man asked after a moment.

"He was a friend." She lied, looking down.

"Mine too," He smiles, "We went to the same school back when we were 13. He left a year later and never came back."

"I'm so sorry," The girl found herself getting closer to the guy, it was most likely because the winds have picked up and they sort of have to yell to hear each other, "To have your friend gone for years and then hear that they're dead." The guy shrugged.

"So, what was your story? Did he leave you without a trace?"

"I don't think that question is appropriate right now." Tears were building in her eyes once more. She bent down and placed the crumpled note in the dirt in front of the grave.

"I'm sorry, I just don't deal well with emotions." The man's voice cracks and the girl's heart went out to him. "I just...I'm so angry. He shouldn't have done this. People loved him."

The girl nods and talks in a soft tone as a way to comfort the man. "Yes they did. Alex just wasn't in his right mind. We may never know why people do certain things." She sniffs away some excess mucus and rubs at her eyes.

"I guess..." The guy said after a minute, "It makes you realize how precious life is."

The girl nods in agreement and looks across the field from the church. There was a ranch in the distance and a child was brushing a copper mare. It stood there carelessly grazing from the pasture.

The two sad humans in the graveyard make eye contact again and gently smile at each other.

"What's your name?" The guy asks.

"I'm Marisole. What's yours?"

"Ellis."