Daniel and Jason walked into the funeral home and stood nearly paralyzed at the door. “Why couldn't you have come alone?” Jason asked. “I hate funerals of people I don't know.”
“You didn't have to come. And I need reinforcements just in case she's still alive,” Daniel said.
“How do you know this girl?”
“Kristen was my first college girlfriend. We dated for six months when I was 19 and we had kind of a…tumultuous relationship,” Daniel explained.
“What do you mean?”
They started approaching the room where the casket lay but were walking very slowly. “Tumultuous as in abusive. She used to beat me up.”
“You got beat up by a girl?” Jason snickered.
“A freakishly strong girl. And it's not funny. Five weeks into our relationship she broke my arm.”
“How'd she do that?”
“I told Kristen she should go to anger management or therapy or something because of her yelling and punching me and apparently that was the wrong thing to say so she pushed me down the stairs,” Daniel revealed. “Doctors were shocked I didn't break my neck.”
“God! And you dated her for six months?” Jason asked.
“Yeah. Part out of fear but mainly out of love.”
“Love? You loved her? How can you love someone who pushes you down a flight of stairs?”
“I made her happy and in between the screaming and the hitting she was a really caring girl. She had a bad home life before she left for college and just about everyday she told me just how much I improved her life. She wanted us to get married right after freshman year so she could start being the best wife in the world,” Daniel said, tearing up a little.
“Did you want to marry her?” asked Jason.
“Yeah. I was all for marrying her. I wanted to be that guy who completed her. I was romantic to her, sent her things, wrote her little love notes and endured everything because I did love and wanted to marry her.”
“Weird,” Jason sighed, shaking his head.
They now stood just feet from the casket. Daniel's left leg was shaking uncontrollably. Jason gave Daniel a slight nudge and he inched up to the coffin and looked at the girl laying in it. She looked exactly has she had five years ago. Her shoulder-length blond hair was down and although her eyes were closed Daniel could easily picture the sparkling blue looking at him. A slight smile was on her lips and she was wearing a necklace that he had given her. Kristen's arms were on her side instead of crossed across her torso.
“Jesus, Kris. Why'd you have to do this? You could've gotten help…” Daniel began to cry as he placed his hand on the side of the coffin and covered his mouth. He cleared his throat and turned to Jason. “The most romantic thing I ever did for her was appearing at her window in the middle of the night. It was raining and I knew that someone coming to her window in the rain and declaring their love was one of her fantasies.”
“That's really nice. What happened?”
“She got mad at me. She thought I had cheated on her and was guilty. She punched me in the nose-broke it. A couple days later I told her to get serious help or I'd leave her. Again she got mad and punched me in the nose breaking it again. I never spoke to her again. Didn't answer the door or answer her phone calls. Finally she mailed me a letter about a month later apologizing for everything, that she was getting help, that she wanted me back in her life, that she was sorry for making me angry at her. I never wrote her back but prayed that she'd be okay.”
“You still love her don't you?” Jason asked.
Daniel nodded. “I feel pretty responsible because what if I was the one thing she needed?”
“You did the right thing. No one should have to go through something like abuse no matter how much you love that person,” Jason said. “How'd she die?”
“Suicide,” Daniel said just barely over a whisper. He took a deep breath. “Good bye Kristen. Your pain is over now. I'm not angry anymore…”
