☤ — a memory of death/loss :)
past experiences help shape who we are currently, how we see the world. Send in a symbol and I’ll write a drabble of one of my muse’s memories. || accepting
☤ — a memory of death/loss
The first time Max had gone to a funeral was when he was seven.
It was raining, the landscape was tinted with touches of gray and Max was dressed in a little tuxedo– it was uncomfortable, but he liked how it looked. In fact, he liked how everyone looked at the funeral. He couldn’t stop focusing on the pretty dress his mother wore, or how nice and clean-cut everyone else seemed.
Stop staring, his mother warns. Simply look at the casket and be quiet.
And that’s what he did. Not because he wanted to, per se, only because mother told him to. He didn’t even know this man. The only indicator Max had of this man’s appearance was the framed picture standing by the eulogist, who was talking about a man named “Maxwell” to the somber crowd.
After all is said and done, an older woman approaches Max while his mother is away, facing him with a disapproving frown.
“Why are you here? I’ve never seen you before.”
“I’m Max Valois. Nice to meet you.”
“… Fiona. I’m Maxwell Valois’ sister. Why haven’t I seen you before?”
Finally, his mother intervenes, and her tone, cold as ice, cuts through, “he’s his son. They never met.” Before ushering him away from the crowd, from prying ears and eyes. She takes his shoulders and kneels down, keeping him from looking at the family behind them.
Quiet. A little tense, with the question waiting on the boy’s tongue.
“Mother… I didn’t know I had a father.”
“You did…” Acknowledgement. That’s all she gave.
“…Why did I never meet him?”
A soft smile– and a kiss to his forehead, inspiring a smile on the boy’s face. “Maxwell, my sweet, precious, darling boy,” she whispers, holding his face in her palms as though he were made of glass. “You’ve only ever needed me.”