SS #1 : Lu
The end of her long grey coat was blown slightly by the cool wind as she stood, spine rigid over his grave. He'd gotten what he deserved she thought, to be reduced to nothing more than the dirt that she would walk on. It was his turn to be lowered, his turn to cower in her presence as she had done for years in his.
"Samuel Coal," she read his name out loud for the first time without her stutter. They were the only words imprinted, other than the length of his life, on the grey tombstone. It did not say beloved husband as many of the others in the Stewn Cemetery did; there was nothing there to tie her to him. This was something she had to come to terms with after several months of therapy. He was no one to her.
"Lu?" her therapist who stood a distance behind her, observing, called. The therapist had watched her clutch and unclutch her hold on the flowers in her hand and was growing concerned that she would not be able to place them down on the grave. It was the final part of stage one in her treatment plan — letting go — and she has come so far. When she had just arrived at the Rose Water Rehabilitation Centre, she was ready to end her life. If she did not realize the innocence of the baby with whom she was pregnant, she would have done so months ago.
"I need a minute more." She called back, before her loose hold, fisted tightly the pure white petalled daisies, just as she remembered he'd held her throat. Perhaps if she'd known his story, she'd have some pity towards him. She did not know that his father beat him. She did not know that his mother stood aside and like a stranger ignored him. She did not know that his sister was defouled repeatedly in front of him.
What she did know was this, she would be his last victim. She would provide her child with the love that she was deprived and she would eventually get better. Better enough to not hold on to the flowers for over an hour, instead she would let them go in seconds.
