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"Cass can’t bring herself to watch her brother burn. All the websites say you should, and that you should also watch as they scrape the ash up and put it in the urn. That you should not take your eyes off your loved one at all.
She doesn’t understand how anyone could follow that advice.
She stays in the waiting area, sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs. There is a bereavement room with a couch and a small table where people can sit and weep in something closer to comfort, but to Cass it feels too small and… full. Full of sadness and confusion and the ache of stale loneliness. Her grief needs more space. Her grief is bigger than a small room already crowded with painful echoes.
The little man in the dark suit brings her the urn. Mr. Merchant? No, that can’t be right, and she can’t quite remember. He stands in front of her, his face a mask of smooth, professional sympathy.
"A Future in Ashes" by Matt Tighe
Haven Spec Magazine — Issue Fifteen, May 2024"
