Val

The clouds tiredly dragged their tear-filled selves across the sky as rain pelted down. The sun had been covered up the entire day, as if it too were mourning. Valorie placed her hand on the coffin, her head hanging as tears streamed down her face, colliding with the raindrops as she stood in a muddy graveyard. The other funeral guests stood solemnly below a tent as they watched her say her last goodbyes. 

The love of her life, Ross, was dead, and all he had to show for it was an expensive funeral, half-hearted guests, and a mourning girlfriend; his own parents didn’t even show. The only guests there were a couple of friends Ross had made during his short life, some of his co-workers from the hospital that he threw his whole life away for, and his little sister who is only thirteen.

Valorie heaved a sobbing sigh, she had been dating Ross for over  three years, and now that he was dead, everyone seemed to think she’d just move on. She’d already been pestered by his parents to hand over his bank account and all of his assets, including his manor that he had bought with his own, hard earned money. However, due to her being the only person in his will, they legally were unable to force her to hand these things over. Valorie had already resorted to threatening legally if they didn’t leave her alone, yet they still insisted; like parasites.

Valorie had decided to move into the mansion that Ross had loved so much, she couldn’t bear the idea that it might be left to rot if she left it                                                                                      alone. In all of his twenty-seven years, he had never been as happy as he was when he was in that house. Valorie had met him four years ago, while on a walk in the forest near her home; he was moving into a crumbling mansion in the middle of a lush forest when she met him. He had been carrying boxes one at a time by himself. Valorie had felt bad for the man, so she decided to help him, in return he offered the story of how he decided to move into the abandoned manor. 

Apparently it had been his childhood dream, ever since his uncle had told him that it was his grandfather that originally owned the manor. The problem was that Ross’s family was poor, so they had no hope to repurchase the mansion. Ross had then come to the conclusion that if he got a scholarship to college, got a well paying job, and managed to save up enough to buy it. He never looked happier. He had finished repairing it within the first two years that he lived there, and he had shown it off to every walking passerby that he could