Chapter 3 Six Feet Under

Derek Simmons 1990~2021

"I hate to leave you all behind, but we'll meet again one day."

Derek's gravestone made Celine cry even more. It's so sudden and she never thought that it could happen to one of them. Due to the pandemic, they weren't even able to hug each other. But now that he's gone forever, all she can think of is how to make up for their lost times together.

The funeral is very simple and only close family and friends are allowed because of social distancing. Since he died because of an incident, the government officials allowed him to have the traditional funeral. Most people who died because of the virus were cremated.

If only Derek's parents allowed him to be frozen. When the cryogenic technology is already available, he can be resuscitated. But they are very religious and they are against the scientific way of waking up from the dead. It's frustrating for Celine to even think that he will decay and turn into dust.

The moment she arrived at her place, Celine burst out in tears once again. She tried to stay calm for the entire process. Seeing the love of her life slowly going down six feet under makes her want to pass out. But she didn't and successfully cried in silence to pay respect to his mourning parents.

She no longer has to hold back herself anymore. Celine decided that she would cry her eyes out until she was able to properly mourn for Derek. Right now, it seems impossible to move on after losing him. But someday, time will heal her wounded heart and spirit.

A month has passed and Celine is still not holding properly. It may be because she lives alone and doesn't have anybody around to console her. She felt like she'd been abandoned. Her parents died in a car accident when she was twelve. It was just like any other people who got unlucky driving their car.

That's why she swears that she will never touch the steering wheel of a car ever. Even if she makes more money than she needs, the thought of having a car made her shiver. But now, she will be scared to go to the hospital because of what happened with Derek.

She's back from having a traumatic life now that her supposed to be husband is dead. He's already six feet under and there's no way that she can take him from death. That's why she became an atheist. She just wants to rely on science where everything is possible. It can even stop death and nobody will ever be left behind.

Her home looks like a dark place right now because of what happened. She's only using dim lights because she can't stand bright lights anymore. The place looks trashed since she doesn't have the energy to clean after herself. She thought that maybe if she live like this, she will end up dead without committing suicide.

Her phone starts to ring again like usual. It happens every day since Derek's funeral. But all she can do is stare at it and wait for it to stop. She's not done mourning and she plans to keep on doing nothing about it.

Depression feels like her comfort right now. Allowing herself to sink to it deeper and deeper, makes her feel numb. She wants to challenge her brain and see when it will give up. If she ends up crazy, at least she might be able to smile again.

Finally, after almost a minute, her phone stops ringing. She lazily looks at its location and even her phone looks dead. Charging it feels like a chore and she's not planning to answer it anyway. She decided to let it die like everybody else in her life.

Another sudden gush of emotions flooded her with that thought. She started crying but her eyes don't want to cooperate anymore. Having some tears fall is now labored. It's more painful now that she no longer has tears to shed. But before she started to become violent, she heard knocking at her door.

Celine looks in the door's direction trying to find hope from her current condition. But she knows that Derek will no longer visit in surprise. He can't escape his death as well as his grave. That's why she wonders who that would be? It can't be his parents since they are also mourning for their son.

Maybe it's death and it came to take her away. She wishes but she knows that it's a long shot or it may be just the delivery guy. But she didn't order anything. How come someone is knocking at her door? She didn't even bother to shower for a week now. How can she face another person?

Celine felt obligated because the knocking is not seizing. Whoever is on the other side of her door seems to be determined. She doesn't have a choice but to get up from her bed and get out of the bedroom. It feels like she has to walk a thousand miles to get to the main door.

After what seems like forever, she unlocked the bolts of the main door. She's living in a building so she doesn't have the luxury of having a gate. If she can afford that type of house, she would love to surround it with an electric gate and fence. That will keep out everyone and she can wallow in sadness forever.

"Thank goodness! You're still alive. It's been a month Celine." The tall and handsome man immediately said upon opening the door.

She opened her mouth but no words came out. It's an unexpected visitor and she knows his face even though she just met her once in person. Dr. Cole seems to defrost his expression a little but still cold to look at. She didn't expect to feel comfortable seeing his face after all!

"You look worse than I expected. Hurry! Take a shower and change with some decent clothes. We're going to the future today!" Dr. Cole instructed.