Personal Narrative: Two Deaths

As the residue of the Kleenex fibers covered her red nose, her body shook as she tried to muffle the rawness of her sobs that filled the church. Her irises were threaded cerise, I could tell there was nothing left inside of her. She didn’t want to be helped, she just wanted her chance to break down for all the times she kept it together when everyone else was distraught. Things felt so somber and I felt numb to it all as if I was too young to tell what was happening. Deaths don’t matter unless it’s someone who matters to you, or anyone relevant with a touch of talent so you remember their wake longer than a week.

I didn’t cry because I didn’t want to lose myself in a moment that wasn’t meant for me. The rivalry was within everyone's speech, but it’s in one ear and out the other because you think about yourself with that person. As they try to one-up each other I put my head down hearing my mom’s now faint sniffles, but you could still feel the open wound. Kids begin to squirm in the pew, their attention withering, and my hopes of not crying dwindling downwards with them. An usher cracks open the front door as the gushes of cold air wraps itself around me like a blanket. …show more content…
The brightly colored stained glass windows contrasted the desolating and melancholic mood. I thought I could see her breathing, her chest rising up and down in rhythm, but it was only my mind trying to imagine her still being here. I start crumpling the template in my sweaty palms my anxiety rising; I feel suffocated. The silence makes my ears ring and I feel my chest getting tighter, but I couldn’t leave. Out of the corner of my eye I see a correctional officer enter the church, no one notices but