A church…..Cole could not remember the last time he was in a church, he had spent , most of his time being religious in his grandma's Shinto temple which frankly speaking was an amalgamation of beliefs. This was the future, the idea of a singular influential religion had passed. These days if a dog is able to survive a car crash people would think it was a divine being.
The Night family has always been religious….just not…..so religious. Believing in a higher power than their own. This was so that they could keep themselves grounded, to not be so taken by greed and vanity. There was always a mountain taller and higher than the one you are standing on. The very air you breathe is a privileged, everyday you'd probably escape death a thousand and one times without knowing…..you have to be thankful.
Cole was doubtful, after everything he has seen and experienced he did not even know if God was real anymore. And even if he was, it was obvious God did not give two fucks about the Night family. Or perhaps there has just been too many sins on the hands and souls of this family for God's love to make any difference.
But then again it wasn't God's fault, seeing the hot mess that was the Night family, if Cole were God himself he'd really not want to have anything to do with them. But then again you cant choose your family and right now Cole had every right to ask God what was it they did so wrong that their lives had to be so shitty. Guess even bad guys feel pain.
But then again Cole was not a hypocrite, this position he was currently in right now, he has put others in. He has torn families apart, even when he realized that it was not a game and that everyone person he kills or have met was flesh and blood just like he was. There was no right for him to feel grief or rather he couldn't sympathize with himself. This was Karma, and each and every single member of the Night family was paying it.
"Dear friends and family… we are gathered here today on a rather sour note...we are all here to say goodbye. It is a tragic thing having to bury a father, mother, brother, in laws, grandparents and uncle. Aged they may have be, I believe this is not the way anyone of us would have envisioned we live this world. But to each his sins, and now we are left to pick up the pieces. It is difficult for me to say or do anything here, I am only able to lead based on the mandate placed on my faith.
It doesn't matter what sort of people they were in life, they are family. The patriarch and matriarch of one of the most powerful families in the world. We will have to learn from their mistakes and live on their behalf and make sure we do better. It is our prayer that they found peace, especially in the case of our beloved son, brother and uncle. We pray that he has found the closure he needs---"
Cole drowned out the rest of the words, and watched the burial with a tired look in his eyes. Unfortunately his grandfather and grandmother would not be buried in Abuja. The capital is where the family is based, but the Night family did not come from Abuja, rather they came from an Adjacent state called Kogi where the ancestral land or hometown of the Night family was. This would be a home coming as it was tradition that the sons of the family must be buried in the land of their forefathers.
His grandmother being the matriarch of the Night Family would also be buried besides her husband. So they were going home, back to where the Night family was first born, back where before their name became Night is was know as Ane...which was Igala for night. But hardly anyone knows how to speak the language again, which was why the literal translation became the family name.
Cole was like a drone, not that anyone expected him to smile, but he just went about everything with a rather dull outlook. From getting on the jet, to ignoring reporters, to being absolutely shocked by the massive turn out of people once they got to the airport in the next state. From the airport all the way back to the village of Oganenigu(Down The Valley) there were people lining the streets and holding plaques, welcoming his grandfather and grandmother home.
It was hard remaining despondent with this in his sight. Frankly speaking Cole has never been here, none of the times his grand parents and his parents had visited had he ever visited. So seeing how loved they were here shocked Cole, this place was primal. The river Niger cut through the state and there was still a lot of lands untouched.
But it was beautiful, there was advancements but the people here were simple…..and they were grieving. People were actually crying, many taking their clothes off and throwing flowers onto the convoy as they went past, some were even injured.
It was weird and stupid, with all of the fucked up choices his grand parents had made. The hell they had wrought on this earth and thousands of people showed up to welcome their dead bodies home for their final rest. How could such terrible people be so…loved?
But there was no answer forthcoming for Cole, with made his bewilderment much steeper.
He had expected that half the universe would actually be happy that those two were dead but this was more than he had ever expected. This did not change anything, but there was a sort of comfort for Cole, because this meant that at least his grandparents were not absolutely shitty people after all, and that was a good legacy to leave behind…..one that the rest of the Night family can finally be proud of.
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