Mary woke up to Alex screaming and ran as fast as she could to his room. She entered the room and found Alex's sweet face stained with tears. She sighed as she looked at Alex. He had bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep and ruffled Greasy hair because he hadn't showered. Mary walked calmly over to the boy and hugged him tight. She didn't say anything because this had happened before. The nightmares. They started the first night he came to stay with her. The first time it happened Mary tried to get Alex to talk about it thinking it would help but the boy wouldn't. Now it has become her alarm clock. He always seemed to wake up screaming at six every morning. Every morning she does the same thing she hugs him for a few minutes then starts the day. Mary knew today would be one of the worst days for Alex because today was his parents funeral. She acted as if it was any other day and ordered Alex to go clean up. They both showered, ate breakfast, and went to get dressed. When Mary was walking to the front door she heard Alex's voice for the fist time that week. "Mary would you please help me with my tie I want it to be perfect for mommy and daddy" Alex asked. Mary felt a tear drip down her face. She sniffled then quickly brushed her tear aside before Alex saw. "Of course sweetie" Mary walked over and bent down to fix his tie. "Now Alex today is going to be a little tough and if you want to cry you can don't let anyone tell you differently. Your parents were beautiful people I know you know that in your heart. So hold your head up high today." Mary looked up to Alex's face and saw his eyes were watery. Before she could say anything else Alex choked Mary with a tight hug, then they were off to the graveyard. Every turn brought them closer and every turn made Alex's stomach twist. They finally made it to the graveyard and Alex was thinking that he was doing fine...he hadn't lost it. Mary grabbed his hand and they walked over to everyone. A few people had already shown up. Alex recognized most of the people. He saw family's from the neighborhood, friends that had come over, Business men that his dad had worked with grandma and gran....wait granny. Alex ran from Mary and almost tackled his granny with a hug. Alex looked up and saw his granny who had watery eyes. He looked around and everyone gave him looks of pity and sympathy. He looked over and spotted two caskets. That is when Alex realized that he was sobbing. He felt his legs give out and he fell to the ground. Mary rushed over and squished him into a big hug. Mary whispered in his ear "deep breath Alex its ok." He collected his thoughts and stood up slowly as if he couldn't trust his legs. Mary handed Alex his mothers favorite flowers and lead him to the caskets. Alex looked to his mothers closed casket with one thought running through his mind. "Please wake up mommy....I need you...". Alex took a deep breath and placed the daisies on the casket as tears streamed down his face. Mary watched him as he stood there, he seemed not able to move from his place in front of the casket. She then took his hand. That brought him comfort and gave him the strength he needed. Alex then let his feet bring him to his fathers casket. He grabbed the letter from his pocket and placed it onto the casket. Alex murmured a quick "I miss you daddy" as more tears followed his words. Mary walked them to their seats for the service while everyone watched their every move as if the both of them would break any second. Soon the small sweet voice of a friend reached Alex's ears.."I'm so sorry Alex". He turned around to see his neighbor and friend Katlyn. As soon as he turned around she wrapped her arms around him and didn't want to let go. Alex had lost his words and felt as if he couldn't respond so he just hugged her back.
*** after the funeral
Mary was holding Alex's hand and they were walking down the gravel road to the car when he heard granny call them to stop. Mary turned around surprised because they had already said their goodbyes. "I need to talk to you alone Mary" granny said. Mary told Alex to go stand by the car and wait for her. She watched as Alex scurried off to the car then turned back to Alice. "So..what did you want to talk about?" Mary asked. " I am just going to get straight to the point. You are unfit to take care of my grandchild. I will not have some maid raise him. You probably can't even afford two meals." Alice smirked.
Mary clenched her teeth but realized she was made the godmother of Alex. So there was nothing the grandmother could do. "Look Alice I am Alex's godmother I will raise him whether you like it or not. Rose obviously thought I would be a good godmother since she put me in charge of taking care of her son instead of you." She spat out like the words were a disgusting taste in her mouth. Mary watched Alice, she started to imagine steam coming out of her ears and giggled. Which only made Alice even more angry. "Obviously Rose didn't know what she was thinking because she went insane and shot her husband." Alice yelled in Mary's face. "How about we let Alex chose who he wants to stay with." Mary's suggested. They both turned to look at the car where Alex was.....well was supposed to be. Mary's face paled as she realized Alex wasn't there and David, Alex's grandpa had already buckled Alex into their car. Mary turned back to Alice and was about to scream in her face but came face to face with an empty graveyard. Mary turned back to the car and saw Alice had slipped away unnoticed and was now getting into the car with Alex and David. Mary was putting all the pieces together in her head. Granny distracts me...Alex in car...Alex in car distracts me...granny gets away with Alex. When she put the final piece in place it had been approximately three seconds. On the forth second she heard Alex scream. Mary looked up quickly to see Alex opening the door to Alice's car and trying to jump out but they had started moving. Mary watched as everything seemed to go into slow motion. Alex was being ripped away from her. He was the last piece of Rose that she had. Rose was her best friend. She knew her better than she knew herself. She also knew deep down she didn't go crazy. Mary looked up to the car with watery eyes and felt a rush of sadness wash over her. The last she saw of Alex was him being driven away from her sobbing.
