Forty Days: Epilogue BONUS EDITION!!!!! PLEASE READ!!!!

The air that day was still and heavy, quiet and sad. The sky was gray and cloudless. It seemed as though the earth were mourning something, and indeed, people were grieving the loss of someone.
In a small cemetery a group of people dressed in black were gathered for a ceremony. The person speaking had a slow, quiet voice and everyone stared solemnly towards the ground. Not many people were there, for the person who had died didn't have much friends or family. A few people were crying.
"Sophia Thompson lived a long, difficult life, but through it all she remained brave for the future. We can only hope that she is happier where she is now."
"Is that true, Robert? Do you think she is happier now?" Sophia's niece wiped away a tear as she spoke to her husband.
"Of course, Susanna. I know things are much, much better for her now."
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10 Years Later
A young girl and her mother walk through an old cemetery. Weathered headstones stick up from the mossy ground, reminders of people gone, but not forgotten.
"Mama? What was her boyfriend's name again?"
"Josiah. She would talk about him all the time. He...they were going to get married, and then he died."
"How did he die?"
"Someone killed him. They never found out who it was."
"Oh. That's sad. Was Sophia sad when he died?"
"Yes, yes...very, very sad."
They stop walking in front of a small headstone tilting slightly to one side. Carved into it are the words:
SOPHIA THOMPSON
1925-1998
Although her love was doomed to die, she
held his beloved memory with her always.
"There it is, honey. Great-Aunt Sophia's grave."
"Is she really under there?" For the little girl, it is the first grave she's ever seen.
The mother chuckles in spite of herself. "Yes, she's really down there, Lauren."
Lauren gazes at the headstone intently. "Hey, Mama?"
"Yes?"
"Was...was Sophia happy?"
"Happy? Well, it depends what you mean...I guess she was okay sometimes. But other times...she wasn't so happy."
The girl turns away. "Oh." Lauren studies the writing on the headstone, as if an answer to her questions lies hidden in the stone.
"Was she pretty?"
"I don't know about when she was older, but she was supposed to be very pretty as a young woman. Long brown hair, big blue eyes--she always had those--high cheekbones. Everyone loved her."
Lauren forms a picture in her mind of Great-Aunt Sophia, with silky chocolate-brown hair and clear sky-blue eyes. She was wearing a long ballgown that matched her eyes.
"Mama?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think--do you think Great-Aunt Sophia really loved Josiah?"
Her mother draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, considering the question. Her eyes seem wet. Lauren wonders what's wrong.
"Mama, what's the matter?"
Her mother hugs Lauren close, as if just holding someone else will stop her tears. And indeed, she is crying, long streams creeping down her face. Lauren can feel her mother's chest shaking with sadness. When she speaks, her voice is soft and uncertain.
"Yes, honey, she loved Josiah. She-she really...she loved him so much, it hurt her. She loved him too much, sometimes. She-she wanted to forget that he was dead."
Lauren is silent. She wonders when it could be bad to love someone.
Hand in hand, the mother and daughter turn and walk towards the gates to the cemetery. Lauren takes one last glance to her Great-Aunt Sophia, then walks out into the bustling, sometimes tragic world that was waiting for her.
The End

-Olivia Asta