Red or White Rose
an excerpt

“We are gathered here today to remember the life of a cherished child, sibling, and friend,” a priest spoke to the group gathered around the beautifully decorated coffin. They stood, circled around the wooden box, in a grave yard on a sunny but chilly fall afternoon. Each person was holding a flower to leave for the one they loved and lost. The one they loved, each, in their own way. Classmates, teachers, neighbours, friends and family were all rapped up in warm jackets and bundled together for warmth. It was not the cool breeze that they were protecting themselves against but the coldness that was entering their hearts. “The tragedy of such a young person's death hurts us all but we must remember them for the life they led and the joy they brought into all our lives.”
As he continued, a mother, dressed all in black, cried into a tissue for her child as her husband tried to comfort her. With a sad but proud expression on his face, a father laid his arm around his wife as they both placed their flowers on the coffin of their child. He was a smart man, one who could fix anything, a true engineer. His soul was strong but this, the death of his youngest child, was something he found he could not fix. Beside the father were two girls, truly sisters at heart. One, just older than the other, wiped away the tears of the other as together they mourned this terrible loss. Two more flowers were added to the pile. A couple were standing beside the two girls, the boy was on crutches and had a cast on his foot but was stable enough to put his arm around the younger of the two and still hold his fiancées' hand. Just from looking at him, you could tell that a part of him had died and was being buried along with the coffin. With more trouble than most of the rest, he presented the flower with a smile and a tear for the one he lost. He was strong and knew that they would want him to live on, he squeezed his fiancées' hand for reassurance as she placed her flower on the coffin. His life would never be the same. Looking at the golden band on her finger, the girl with him still had sorrow in her heart. She mourned the loss of such a person and regretted not knowing them better. She returned the squeeze; He would need it more than she. On the other side of the coffin were four more people. In the middle was another couple. Perfection together, they held each others hearts in their eyes as they prayed and laid down their flower together, hoping to pass some of their love on beyond the grave. Dressed up for once, a boy, with so much sorrow in his eyes, stood with his hat on his heart. “How could this have happened? I should have been able to do something! How could this have happened?” he asked himself over and over again, a mistake that he could never forgive himself for making. He paused holding his flower. On the other side of the couple was another boy with a completely different look. He would never regret any moment they spent together except one. With his fault alone, he had ruined their friendship. It had been a miracle that brought him forgiveness. “How could I not have known?” With that question he went over to the other boy and together, they let go of their flower. Many more people were gathered around this group. They each brought a flower but they couldn't even compare to the anguish that was stored inside the hearts of this group. What each of them knew was their own, each had a story to tell and none had the heart to tell it right then.