Sometimes, life just fucked you over.
But if you were Arminius Corelsti, life always fucked you over.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bid farewell to our dear sister Adriauna..."
Arminius stood silently in the rain, along with two or three dozen of the townsfolk, as the priest intoned his blessings over the coffin bearing the body of Adriauna Corelsti, Arminius' mother. The boy stood stock still, a single white rose clutched in his shaking hand. Pale white eyes were opened wide as they listened to the priest's words... and cursed the damned fool for thinking that God even existed or gave a damn.
Mother... Arminius closed his eyes, as tears threatened to flow. He could trace his life out on a river of tears, it seemed. Mother, mother... why you?
He'd been in bed, already, when he heard a garbled cry from somewhere near the kitchen.
"Mother?" he called out, already swinging his legs out of bed. He felt his way towards the door, and out into the hallway.
Choking, garbled cries were all that he heard.
"Mother!" he shouted, quickening his pace and feeling along the wall, the bitter taste of terror rising in his throat. "MOTHER!"
The sounds increased as he made his way; terrible gasping breaths and cries for help that gradually grew weaker.
"MOTHE-AHH!"
Arminius cried out as his ankles caught on something soft and unyielding, and he tumbled to the ground, supporting himself on his hands as he fell.
"Mother!" He shouted, blind eyes open and fearful. "Oh God!"
She reached out and grabbed hold of his wrist, shaking, and Arminius uttered a scream as her feelings rushed out to him in a wave of terror and pain.
"...for now we see as through a glass darkly, but then we shall see clearly face to face."
Jenna Gutien, for whom Adriauna Corelsti had made many a fine dress over the years, gently reached out and tapped Arminius' shoulder. The boy raised his eyes ever so slightly, and she led him slowly towards the coffin, where he laid his white rose on the lid gently.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
He'd begun screaming, for he felt her agony, her pain. His chest burned with an icy fire, if such a thing were possible, and his heart felt as though it leapt and cavorted in spasms of total distress. He kept screaming as he saw through her eyes, saw the world spinning, saw vision fading, felt the sudden pain of a vein in the eye bursting from the sudden rise of her blood pressure, and the vision go red and blurred.
"...Rest in peace," Arminius said softly, lying his hand against the smooth wood and the tears spilled over. "Mother..."
"MOTHER! NOOOOOO!"
At last, the vision faded, and her hand fell from his wrist as the last breath escaped her body...
And then he was alone, clutching the lifeless body of his mother, while a child's evil laughter echoed all around him.
He toppled to his knees as sobs wracked his body...
