Welcome to Gaia! ::

This is a story that I am doing for a contest. I hope you guys like it and I want to send a big thanks to Desi the fuzzy fluffhead for betaing this for me. I really appreciate it. :3 And without further ado. Here it is.

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It was a cold, rainy winter day. The sky was almost black from the weight of the clouds and the rain was biting cold. Rain splattered onto a large group of people dressed in black who where standing around a small mound of dirt. They were shadowed by a massive tombstone, an angel with an upturned face standing atop a large stone. A priest was standing in front of the stone solemnly reading a passage from the bible. Tears mixed with the rain, but those gathered hardly noticed, their sorrow too deep. Everyone gathered had been affected tremendously by the lose of their bright sun, their shining Sara. Yet none were affected more than the stoic blond man standing between Anna, a brown haired woman who was sobbing loudly, and Alex, a man with shockingly red hair.

Richard could hardly hear the priest giving Sara her final words, sending her soul safely to heaven, he couldn’t hear the woman who was sobbing loudly next to him, he couldn’t even feel the cruel rain pounding on his soaked skin. He felt nothing, he heard nothing, nothing could have reached him through his sorrow at that point. Not even if the heavens opened up and lightning descended around them all. His pain was to great, to heavy. The sorrow roared in his ears, cutting him off from the world.

The sermon ended and Anna, Sara’s mother, threw herself upon the grave. Her body started shaking as she screamed for her child, her nails raking against the soft earth. People looked away from the shameless act, pity and sorrow clear on their faces. Two men pulled her away, helping her to the chapel before she hurt herself.

Alex, the red haired man, put a soft hand on his shoulder, his brows knitting together and a frown of worry on his face. Richard didn’t move though, his eyes transfixed on the ground, the space where Sara was buried. Alex watched him for a few moments, watching as those sea-green eyes deepened in color. He knew he would break soon so he decided to wake him from his silence.

“Rick, let’s go man. Everyone already left.”

Richard didn’t move. He just stared at the grave. His thoughts were like a whirlwind, whipping around in his head, confusing him. The only thing that was solid at the center of the storm was that she was dead. Dead, gone, never to be seen alive again. There was no question, there was no doubt, there was no way for him to dream it all away. That thought brought a crushing weight down on Richard and he felt himself cringe away from it, but he couldn’t escape the reality, the cold hard truth. Not after what he had seen.

Alex watched in silence as his best friend’s previously emotionless face erupted into pain and unimaginable grief, something Alex couldn’t begin to fathom. The way he felt was bad enough and he hadn’t even been close to her. He couldn’t begin to touch upon the amount of love that the two shared. That’s why, when Richard refused to move, when he blatantly ignored him, he made no move to pull him away. He hoped he would be able to find some sort of comfort in his revelry.

Sara…Richard couldn’t stop that name from filling every space in his mind. Such a beautiful name, a wonderful name, a name that would forever be the cause of his unending pain and sorrow. He didn’t want the memory of his, yes his, beautiful brunette to cause him pain, but after what had happened he couldn’t stop that pain from appearing. His sun, his world, the reason he lived and breathed, had been ripped from his hands then stepped on and thrown in front of the worst the world could hold and he had seen it all. Richard had watched his lover die and he couldn’t do a thing to stop it. He had tried to shield her, tried to make her understand, but he had failed. He had let her die.

Richard didn’t notice the tears that where running down his face, not until a sob forced itself out. After that his sobs grew to cries and soon they were loud enough to reach the chapel, his screams of anguish chilling everyone inside. He fell to his knees in front of the grave, his fists balled in to the fresh grass as he screamed his sorrow to the heavens.

“Why Sara? Why did you leave me?”

He couldn’t stop himself from feeling betrayed, abandoned, discarded by her, the one woman he had ever loved. He had been left on the earth to deal with the pain while she slipped in to an eternal slumber. He didn’t understand why fate was so cruel that he hadn’t died along with her. Richard knew it wasn’t her fault, knew she simply wasn’t strong enough and that he shouldn’t blame her, but the pain wouldn’t stop just because he knew that.

The minutes dragged on and his cries could still be heard from the chapel. After half an hour the cries grew quieter until they couldn’t be heard over the sound of the rain. Richard had his head on the ground, his hair fanning out in to the dirt. Tears fell from his eyes and his body shook. His throat hurt and his was aching and cold, but he didn’t budge from his spot.

His life had no meaning, no purpose. He had done everything for Sara. He had left his father’s company for her sake, he had given up smoking for her sake, he had stopped his scoundrel ways, he would have done much more if she had asked, but she never did. She never asked him for anything.

A hand touched his back again and he almost jumped, his head whipping around to face Alex. He had almost expected Sara to be standing behind him, a smile on her soft lips and in her amazing, blue eyes. He was disappointed as he looked in to the worried face of his best friend.

“Come one Richard. It’s time to go.”

Richard nodded weakly and stood up, brushing himself off futilely. He turned to walk to the chapel, but stopped and looked back. The statue looked just like her, but unlike what he remembered, she was cold and hard stone, beautiful, but untouchable. He looked down at the inscription. Under her name and dates was a phrase that her mother had decided to write. It read “Our sun, Our love, Our angel. May you rest in peace and happiness and shine in heaven as you have upon this earth. For our beloved daughter, wife and friend, we will miss you.”


Alex had helped Richard back to the chapel where some people were waiting. Most of those attending had left after giving their condolences to Anna. Only close friends and relatives were left. Anna was sitting down next to Tiffany, a woman with brown hair who was patting her back as she sobbed into a handkerchief. Richard could hardly look at Anna because she resembled his beloved so much.

Tiffany, Anna’s best friend and Richard’s mother, looked up when he entered with Alex. She stood up from where she had been sitting with Anna and walked over to him. She had remained beside Anna for most of the ceremony, watching how both her and Richard were torn apart by the tragedy. She knew her son had help from his friends, but the look in his eyes, one she had been ignoring, was so apparent it made her want to cry.

Richard looked at his mother and tried at a smile, but it turned in to a grimace. He could fake being okay when he was around them, but he couldn’t at the funeral. He had known, had known without doubt that she was gone, but this had just squashed any hope. It showed. He knew it. And that’s why his mother stared at him with so much pity and regret.

Her arms wrapped around him and she hugged him tightly. He returned the hug, holding her as he buried his face in her shoulder. She was small, smaller than he had thought as a kid, but she was strong and he knew she wanted to be strong for him. Tiffany patted his back, wishing more than anything that she could take her child’s pain away. He was far to young too be a widow.

When the two separated Tiffany looked up at him, smiling weakly. A few tears had escaped as she looked at him and she patted his cheek lovingly, trying to relay that she was there for him. She would do anything for him. When she spoke it was weak, but unwavering.

“You’ll get through this. It’ll be okay.”

Richard nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Is there more? I feel like it ends very abruptly. I for one was kind of hoping for more.