The Melting Man: Prologue

Prologue

Sonja Norton was holding onto her mother's arm, helping carry the weaker woman. The older woman was in her early fifty's, but her body was frail, due to her feelings of depression. Sonja herself felt just as sad, but for this older woman's sake she did her best to remain strong. One of them had to, and Sonja knew she had to be the one. This woman, her mother, Laura Norton had been as strong as she could be throughout her life, and since Sonja was born her mother has been the strongest person she had ever known.

Now as they headed up the church stairs, Sonja felt as if she had to carry the weight of her mother, who suddenly broke down onto her knee's and began to cry. Sonja did not sigh, thought she had wanted too. How she wanted to grab her mother and slap her, hoping that she would snap out of it and became the same strong woman she had always known, but that would not make things better.  Instead she bent down and put an arm around her mother's back.

"Mom, please be strong," she begged. "You have to make it through today. It is just for today. Please for dad."

Laura wiped her eyes and looked up at her daughter. Taking the time to brush a strain of blonde hair with a strong mix of salt and pepper throughout. "I don't know if I can do this."

Sonja picked up her mother with enough force as to not hurt the woman. She send her mother a smile, and her mother's bottom lip began to quiver and shake. Then she broke into hysterical fits of tears. Sonja realized how hard it must have been for her mother to look like her. she was well aware just how much she looked like her father. She had the same red locks, and the black iris's that she knew she mother loved to glance into. She had even been told by her Aunt Alice how she had the family's nose and grin.

Sonja tried to ignore her mother and carry on to inside the church. She didn't want to point any wrongs out to her mother, but her mother had to pull herself together. If just staring at her own daughter who happened to look like her husband bothered her, how was she suppose to move on and let the man rest in peace. Once they were inside the Church, Sonja spotted her Aunt near the front of the church. She waved them down, but an expressionless face was their greeting. She set her mother down, and then joined her beside her.

Ahead of them was a coffin, planted up above them on the church's stage. The coffin was locked already and no one was able to look inside. Laura didn't dare look up at the coffin, and neither did Alice. Sonja was not frightened, but rather looked upon it with pride. Her father was inside. And while she was grieving inside she was not letting herself show it on the outside. She knew her father would not want that. He'd want her to get what she needed to get done first. And that would be coming soon enough.

With the priest greeting them and beginning the ceremony, it didn't take long for them to call upon Sonja. Her head first looked up in surprise, but then she got up. She glanced at her mother for a moment before she stood, and headed up onto the stage. With a smile sent to the priest, he moved, giving her the podium. She stood there frozen for a moment, staring out at the crowd of people who were there. There were not many, only just the families closet friends, and family. Maybe twenty people were present. This number made Sonja very sad. She knew that some people were frightened by her father in life, but this was the few amount of people who knew of his kindness. 'Shameful.'

"I first want to thank all of you for coming here today to pay respects for my father. It means the world to my mother and me," she started, pausing to lick her lips. "My father was a person who was beyond just unique. As many of you know, my father has, had, very extensive burns on his body from a fire very early in his childhood, but that is not what made him so interesting. No, what made my father so special was that fact that he was able to see the good in everything."

She paused again, letting her eyes stop on her mother. "My father, Damien,  believed in always telling the truth when it came to eulogies at funerals. And he taught me the importance of speaking your mind about someone who dies, because they are gone, and before you put them to rest you should tell the world about them. I loved my father, and I want to do this." She turned her attention back to the small crowd of people in the church. "My father was a hard ass when I grew up. Hell, he chased away most of the boys that I brought home as a teenager. I know he was just protecting his little girl however, and for that I am thankful. " She paused to think for a moment about what else she could say about Damien. "He loved my mother so much. I don't think I have ever seen two people more in love. They fought like cats and dogs, but they always made up. They made time for each other every day, and when I think about them being apart, it just doesn't seem natural. As some of you know, my parents met at the Adam's family Circus, which stopped running five years ago. They ran that Circus together since before I was even conceived, and I grew up with people telling me how nothing was ever going to get between these two people. My parents will both tell the story differently however. My father would tease and tell me how my mother fell in love with his good looks and charms." Sonja paused and laughed. "While my mother would tell me..."