Chapter 284Fall to Fire

Despite the numbness of my mind, I did realize the significance of Muriel apologizing. Part of me knew, or thought at least, that she'd never done that before. Never questioned her orders. Well, maybe she did question them in the back of her mind, but never acted on them until now.

Of course, knowing it's significance, did not mean I actually valued it as such. She was still partly responsible for...

The bodies...

"We need to get rid of the bodies somehow." I spoke softly, mostly thoughtful. My mind was still mostly numb and operating purely on basic logic.

Muriel looked at me with some curiosity and nodded. "I've got fire with me. Even slow fire."

Fire... cleanser of our kind.

It would do. "Alright, but not here." I interrupted her, she was already grabbing for something at her belt. "Can you carry Valerie while I carry Khuna?"

Muriel glanced at the sky. "Do we have time?"

I looked at her with a piercing glance. "We're not leaving them here."

Muriel smiled, at least the corners of her lips went up. "Alright. You lead, I'll follow."

I nodded and stepped to Khuna's body. Her alabaster skin almost translucent in the soft light. When I picked her up, her body holding the foetal position, her lightness almost scared me. But she was gone already, this lightness was just the shell of her, no life, no blood left. It was like holding a statue filled with helium or something like that.

Her weight truly posted no problem as I slowly rose up in the air, looking back to see Muriel dutifully behind me, holding Valerie neatly in her arms, almost the same way as me. We flew through the air in a direction I hadn't moved in a while. Part of me just clicked with the thought of my destination. I hoped it wouldn't be a problem at this time of the night, but I was sure it could be done.

We arrived at the church within minutes, the church where there was a grave that would be the perfect resting place for Valerie. Khuna would simply join her with her parents and stay part of a family. A wish she'd surely make. Of course as we neared it, I made sure to keep my ears open and verified we would be the only ones here.

We were.

Gently gliding to the graves of Valerie's parents, I nodded to the ground while I placed Khuna there as well. Muriel neatly and silently placed Valerie beside her and looked at where we were.

"A grave?" She asked with a soft politeness.

"Valerie's parents."

Muriel appeared to think for a few moments while she retrieved something from her belt. It was a small plastic bottle with a clear liquid inside. She also got a lighter. "I suppose this is a good place then."

She looked around at the ground and nodded to herself. "It should be alright."

I was slightly intrigued. "What should?"

Muriel sounded serious, almost businesslike. "It shouldn't spread, if we carefully apply it, only the bodies and the ground directly below it will burn. But it will only be a light surface burn and won't turn into a fire."

I hadn't thought of that and was glad she did. "Can you apply the ... liquid then? But I would like to light it."

She nodded and moved over the bodies with the liquid. It wasn't as I expected, not gasoline or anything but a thick, syrupy liquid that she only applied with a thin layer on the top of their bodies, following the curves. It glistened in the night. The lighting here was much more than on the roof, obviously. Some lights, close and far, made the fluid glisten ominously and, strangely, quieting.

It was time.

Muriel handed me the lighter and stepped back.

Stepping forward and brushing the hair off their faces on the both of them, a sort of goodbye ritual, I stepped back with a light sadness on my face and lit them by their legs. My mind was still reigned by numbness, far from being aware what was actually happening. I knew I'd pay for it later. But now the two of them slowly burned away in silence. It was a proper farewell. They both would be part of the earth and at peace.

No one would be able to soil their bodies, find them or know of them anymore. They will have disappeared into the face of the earth. Held safe within our memories and the grounds embrace.

Goodbye.