Prologue Part 15
And so came Friday, the day of Isabella Dumont's funeral. It was five in the morning, the cold air blowing throughout the dark Solenne morning. Multiple convoys of carriages, private, public, noble and common, traveled through the streets, all headed to the same place, the Sunset Cemetery in the small town of Calmore, Isabella's home town. It was a rather large cemetery split into multiple zones, so it would take a while for them to reach the grave site. The first to arrive were the men from the funeral parlor, who led the convoy, carried the casket all the way to her grave site and set everything up for the funeral. Then followed the main family of the deceased, namely Thomas and Matteo Dumont as well as their extended family. Then came the friends and close acquaintances of the deceased, and finally the nobles, commoners and spectators who came to send off their Duchess.
Matteo's heart was beating against his chest and his entire body trembled, not because he was cold but rather, because he was scared beyond any amount of fear he had ever felt before. Today was the day he would be saying goodbye to his mother forever. Never did he imagine that such a day would actually come, he had known about the concept of death but never truly took it seriously until just recently. Even now despite everything that had happened he still held on to a slither of hope, hope that maybe his mother would wake up, or maybe he was having a nightmare. But with each passing second his hopes were being crushed mercilessly by reality, who slowly showed him that this was in fact not a dream, but real life.
But the cruelest thing reality did to him, was showing him that there was nothing he could do to change this. That what has happened has happened and there is no turning back, only moving forward, somehow. But how was he to move forward from this? How could he possibly live without his mother? What's going to happen to him once all of this is over? Who will take care of him? What will he do? No matter how much he thought of this, there wasn't a single answer he came up with that made him even the slightest bit happy.
Everybody wore black, white and red, red being Isabella's favorite colour. The service officially began with words of prayer for the deceased and her family. Then came the formal introduction where all the guests were welcomed and thanked for their attendance Thomas, who then gave a brief summary of his late wife's life up until her untimely demise.
After that, the MC said a few words of blessings, then came time for farewell speeches. First came Thomas who gave a heartfelt speech, professing his undying love for her one last time while breaking down trying to imagine a life without his beloved wife.
Then came Roselle and later the rest of the Duchess' friends and acquaintances, who all shared memories and experiences they had with Isabella before all grouping up together to say one last goodbye. And finally came Matteo, who walked slowly up to the casket and took one last look at his mother before placing a bouquet of her roses on her chest. But instead of turning around and leaving like he was supposed to, he just stood there, staring at her. Please mama, wake up, he pleaded, but no reply came. The mc tried to move him away but he wouldn't budge and after a few moments he was carried away by Thomas.
The program continued on and it was now finally time for the burial. A group of men closed the casket, picked it up, and then carried it to the burial ground. The ground had already been dug up and the casket was lowered down. The attendees all lined up with flowers in hand and dropped them onto the casket one by one. Matteo stayed right in front of the scene looking like a hollow shell both inside and out.
Finally, they dug up the grave while the whole of Callistéa hummed in unison. Matteo wanted nothing more than to stop all of this. With each grain of sand dumped on the casket, he wanted to scream for it to stop, to somehow convince himself and everyone else that his mother was still awake, that they were making a mistake.
Unfortunately, nothing came out. Not a single word, not a single movement, not a single change in his expression. A while later, the ground was fully covered again and the casket was officially buried. It was over. For real this time. And as if that wasn't enough, Matteo got dealt one last blow to the heart when he saw a large tombstone with his mother's name and title written on it.
With his last drop of hope now gone, Matteo looked as if he had lost consciousness. He still hadn't moved, his mind was completely blank and his expression did not change. He didn't hear anything, he didn't feel anything and he couldn't see anything other than the words on the tombstone. He had completely shut down, both inside and out.
Not long after the burial, the MC announced the end of the main service and everybody in attendance moved to the other side of the venue for food and the after tears part of the ceremony. Several people tried calling out to Matteo but no reply came from him. Thomas thought about carrying him back again but was stopped by Roselle before he could even try. And so everyone left without him.
A few hours passed. It was almost sunset and almost time for the funeral to finally come to its end. Matteo was still by Isabella's grave in the same manner he was left all those hours earlier. The only part of his body moving was his hair as the late afternoon breeze sent it swooshing along with it. The entire area was completely silent, until slow footsteps came from behind Matteo.
"Oh, there you are, my Lord." His personal servant Sylvia called out from behind him. But still he didn't respond. Sylvia joined him and they both stood side by side in silence as they observed the tombstone. Sylvia desperately wanted to say something. Words of encouragement for the future, offer her condolences or share a fun memory from the past, but once she saw the look on Matteo's face she effectively lost her voice, unable to utter a single word. Tears came rushing down her face as she wept quietly for a short moment.
After she finished, she took a breath and said, "Come, my lord. It is almost time for us to depart. Your…. Father is looking for you." Matteo still did not respond to her so after some slight hesitation, Sylvia took his hand and slowly walked him to where everyone else was. Unfortunately Matteo could not ignore that as his body had no choice but to move along with Sylvia. And as much as he might have wanted to, he just couldn't bring himself to stop her. And after only a handful of steps, Matteo fell on the ground after attempting to stop, and as he fell, two tears ran across his face before he was helped up by Sylvia and was once again forced to walk away.
They walked for a few minutes before finally reaching the opposite side of the burial ground, where loud music mixed with loud laughter, chatter and the smell of some of the finest foods in Callistéa. All these sounds and sensations awakened Matteo's awareness and he quickly scanned the area to see an uncountable number of people laughing, dancing and stuffing their faces, seemingly having a good time. As if somebody didn't just get buried, as if they didn't just lose someone important to them in some way. As one would imagine, this did not sit well with Matteo.
He balled his little hand into a fist and walked slowly to the center of the room where the music group was performing. He walked over to a man playing beautifully on a violin, snatched his bow and snapped it in half with his knee. It hurt but he didn't feel it at that moment. "Hey!" The man shouted at him and grabbed his shoulder but Matteo shrugged him off and gave him a nasty kick to his shin, sending him to the ground with a loud grunt. Everyone's attention turned to him but he didn't care. He then turned his attention to the group of nobles who were laughing like hooligans just a few seconds before, grabbed one of the bowls of hot stew at a nearby table and flung it with all his might at everybody sitting there. Naturally, their expensive robes were ruined and they had hot and freshly cooked stew all over their bodies.
They all screamed from the pain and some of their faces turned red from the burns. "Why you little!" one of the stew victims lashed out but Matteo had already moved past them. As he walked away from the table and set his sights on his next targets, he felt a hand grab his arm. "Matteo, stop it! What on earth do you think you're doing?" He looked back to face Roselle who immediately let go of his hand after meeting his sharp gaze head on.
He was about to continue terrorizing the place when he was grabbed violently from his side. And this time, no amount of struggle would help him break free as he was caught in the grasp of the strongest man in Callistéa and one of the most powerful men in the world. Thomas pulled Matteo towards him and gave him a mind bending slap to the face, sending him crashing to the ground.
But he didn't stop there, he gave him a few more slaps, each one harder than the last and sinking him lower and lower onto the ground. The effect of these slaps were so loud it wouldn't be surprising if they woke up the dead. Thomas stopped his rain of slaps but Matteo stayed on the ground, rolled into a ball while covering his face as much as possible, trembling slightly. "What are you doing Matteo, are you crazy?!" Thomas snapped at him.
"Answer me, what are you doing?!" Matteo did not answer, he stayed in his defensive position. Seeing that no answers were coming anytime soon, Thomas grabbed him again and pulled him closer to him. "No! No! No! Mama!" Matteo shouted, still covering his face. "I'm not gonna ask you again, what are you doing?" Matteo still did not answer. He chose to whimper instead. Thomas heaved a sigh through clenched teeth, then,
(Slap!).... (Slap!).... (Slap!).... (Slap!).... (Slap!)
"No!" Matteo screamed and cried. "Then answer my question!" Thomas still demanded. "Mama! Mama!" (Slap!) "That is not an answer". One of the people whom he splashed with stew earlier, a noblewoman, came forward. "Do you mind if I join in, Lord Dumont?" "Not at all."
The lady took her heavy, diamond encrusted purse off her shoulder and flung it repeatedly at Matteo. (Bam!) "You humiliated me,(Bam!) ruined my clothes (Bam!) and burned my delicate skin, you little rat!" (Bam!)
"Mama! Mama!" Matteo kept on crying.
Thomas grabbed him and pulled him closer once more, and this time, Matteo's hands were too hurt to serve as a shield. With no choice but to face Thomas head on, he finally answered his question. "I want mama." Thomas took a second to take his words in then
(Slap!) Sent him back down to the ground. "Do you not understand already! She is dead! Dead, you moron! We buried her just a few hours ago, she's not coming back! She's gone!"
"So then why are you all so happy?!" Matteo screamed back through sobs and sniffles. "Why are you all laughing and dancing and celebrating, when mama's dead!? Your wife died, and your friend died, and my mother died so why are you all so happy?"
"Because good riddance, that's why." Thomas said to him almost mockingly. "That brain dead fool slit her throat with a knife and killed herself, do you really expect us to mourn such stupidity!?" Matteo's eyes widened.
"And what about you, why are you still clinging to that woman? She abandoned you!"
"No she didn't!" Matteo screamed back.
"Yes she did!" Thomas continued, "she killed herself and left you all alone, all because of some foolish ghost she decided to make up in her mind."
"It's not foolish! The ghost is real, I saw it too with mama!"
"Then prove it." Thomas demanded
"I.… can't, " Matteo reluctantly admitted.
"I thought so." Thomas replied. He stood up straight, dusted himself off, then gave a powerful kick to Matteo's body, hitting wherever it landed. He then gave another one, and then another one, before stopping. "I don't want to hear another word of your ghost or of that woman you call your mother ever again, do I make myself clear?" Now officially defeated, Matteo had no choice but to reply, "O… okay." "Good. Now get up and apologize to everybody for making a fool out of yourself."
Matteo stayed on the ground trembling until Thomas commanded, "Now!" Matteo forced himself up, stumbling in the process before finally getting up, bowing his head and apologizing profusely to the guests for his embarrassing display of behavior.
After that, the final moments of the funeral service continued until it was time for everybody to go home.