When Death Did Them Part

  WHEN DEATH DID THEM PART

  By Edua Erasmus

  Published by Edua Media

  Copyright 2016 Edua Erasmus

  Front Cover Design by Edua Media

  Disclaimer:

  This is a work of fiction.

  The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or persons. Any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  The rights of Edua Erasmus to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the South African Copyright Act of 1978 (as Amended)

  Despite being together for eight years, Alex never met Josh's parents for some unknown reason and Alex always thought it might be that Josh never came out to his parents. He appeared to be as straight as an arrow and though he never spoke about girls, his parents always hoped that one day he'd meet a nice girl to settle down.

  Instead, Josh moved to the big city, met Alex and settled down. He was never much one for the party scene and was delighted when he met a guy who felt the same - someone who'd much rather snuggle up in front of the fireplace with a book than prance around in the neon lights of a club.

  Josh never spoke much about his folks back home - something that made Alex always wonder what his family was like, but he hardly brought it up anymore. He brought it up in the past and it always turned into a massive argument. The arguments usually started when Alex accused Josh of being ashamed of him and hiding him from his parents and ended with Alex sleeping on the couch for a few nights.

  Never in a million years did Alex think he'd be sitting on a train on his way to a small countryside town to meet Josh's parents. He just wished Josh was there beside him for the trip.

  You see, Josh died in a car accident about a month earlier and didn't leave behind a last will or testament - which meant that if Alex wanted to administrate the estate of his life partner, he'd have to get the next-of-kin to sign a form to allow him to act as the executor of the estate.

  It wasn't just losing his partner that gave him permanent butterflies in his stomach, but the idea of outing his partner to his parents in Josh's absence? all just for a stupid paper that needed to be signed.

  He stared out through the window at the countryside as it went rushing by and it reminded him of the time he spent with Josh; no matter how precious it was, the time flew by much too quickly and no matter how hard he tried to grasp onto it, the past rushed by and disappeared into memory.

  The doctor prescribed anti-depressants to keep his mind off the thoughts of suicide that popped in every now and then. After eight years of sharing his bed with the man he loved, it was easier to face the blade or hangman's noose than an empty bed.

  A sign reading World's largest bed rushed by the window and sparked a memory in his brain of when Josh told him about visiting the world's largest bed when he was younger. Josh always said that you see the most peculiar things on a cross-country road trip? the world's largest this? the world's smallest that. Josh was lucky enough - or rather bored enough to stop at one of these museums once. He said that the bed was as big as a house and was made up of one continuous mattress.

  Josh always wanted to take him on a road trip and stop at every World's largest sign along the way, but Alex's work always got in the way of them hitting the open road.

  The train pulled into a small station that time forgot and then the passengers all got off. Alex stood on the only platform and stared at the sign and its big, rusted letters that welcomed him to Petersburg with a population of 200.

  'Probably won't be too difficult to find his parents', Alex thought.

  The town was quaint and consisted of a main road that led past the station and was lined with a few shops and the rest of the neighborhood decorated with lush trees, bushes and white picket fences - a neighborhood that would be favorable to Michael Myers, but quaint nonetheless.

  There was only one car parked on the side of Main Road in front of Dotty's Diner and Coffee Merchant, so Alex decided to start his search there. He had no idea who he was looking for, only that their last name was Muller.

  The doorbell clanged as he entered the diner and the three patrons glanced up at the stranger as he walked over to the counter where Dotty was preparing a coffee for table number two.

  "You lost?" Dotty asked as her eyes skimmed him.

  "Sorry?"

  "We don't get too many strangers in here." She said and finally made eye contact.

  "I'm actually looking for someone."

  "All the way out here?" She enquired, "Did somebody die?"

  He dismissed her prying and said, "The Mullers. Do you know them?"

  "Martha and Dave." She said with a nodding head, "They live on the outskirts of town about a mile south from the station. What business do you have with them?"

  So the rumors were true; small-town folks were extremely nosy and it was something he despised.

  "Private business." He said and turned to leave.

  She could see that she had offended the stranger, so Dotty rushed out from behind the counter with a scone in her hand.

  "Wait." She said and held out the scone, "I didn't mean to pry. It's just-"

  "You don't get too many strangers? so I've heard."

  He looked down from her smile and glanced at the scone that was clearly baked fresh that morning and decided to accept the peace offering on his way out. The scone was succulent on the inside with a brown crust on the outside and tasted like heaven as he bit down.

  There were no car rental agencies in town - most of the businesses were family owned and there was no sight of any big-name corporate businesses selling weak and overpriced coffee. As he walked down Main Road and glanced into the window of a little nostalgia shop owned by the Brown Bros, he wished that they'd visited the little town while Josh was still alive. Alex loved the cozy feeling one got from the absence of big city landmarks.

  He wondered whether Josh was close to his family before they had the falling out. Alex never was close to his family and hardly knew his extended family. They never visited his cousins, aunts or uncles and when his mother and father found out he was gay it turned into a massive argument that led to him running away from home when he was just sixteen. He'd rather live out on the street with no food in his belly than under the roof of people who wanted him to be something he wasn't.

  He lived in shelters for the first couple of weeks and then met Josh who changed his life forever. His life changed for the better with four simple words; 'move in with me.'

  A cool breeze tugged at his shirt and long hair slid back as he walked in the direction of the Mullers' house and before long he reached the old farm house situated at the edge of a pine forest. He took a deep breath and stared at the man on the rocking chair as he walked up to the front porch. His palms were sweaty and his heart was beating fast. He hadn't quite figured out what he would say to them and as the man stood up, Alex decided to start with a greeting.

  "Hello." Alex said as he put down his suitcase.

  "Morning." The man was tentative about the stranger on his lawn.

  "I'm looking for Mr and Mrs Muller."

  "You're at the right house. Who are you?"

  Oh, boy. How should he break the news that he was their dead son's lover? There was no easy way to tell someone such news and based on the fact that he didn't see them at the funeral it was quite possible that they knew about their son's lifestyle and disowned him. It's sad how heartless some parents can be when it comes to gay children and Alex knew it all too well.

  "Are you related to Josh Muller?"

  The man's face drained of color and Alex knew he hit a nerve - a sensitive to
pic the man wasn't ready to discuss with him. Alex waited for some kind of retaliation, but he gestured with his hand that Alex join him inside.

  "Come in." Dave said as he opened the screen door.

  Alex was led into the living room and glanced at the doilies that covered most of the furniture and the small porcelain figurines on the fireplace mantelpiece.

  As they sat down, he could tell from the expression on the man's face that he was preparing himself to give Alex bad news - news that he probably already knew.

  "I hope I'm not the first person to tell you the sad news," Dave said, "But my son passed away about a month ago. We didn't hear about it until a week after the funeral"

  "I know about his passing. I'm Alex."

  He paused in anticipation and hope that Josh might've told his parents about him, but it was evident from his blunt expression that he didn't know who Alex was. This was an uncomfortable situation to be in, but Alex decided to pull the Band-Aid off as swiftly as possible.

  "I was his lover." Alex blurted out.

  The man's eyebrows shuttered, but there was hardly any expression of shock.

  "So you're the one he was seeing?" Dave said, "I knew for a while that he was gay and tried my best to accept it, but my wife kept trying to convince me that he just hadn't met the right girl yet. She is visiting her sister this weekend."

  Alex nodded and fidgeted with his fingers as he built up the courage to ask Dave to sign the form. What if he objected? But then again, he was never really part of his son's life so what stance does he have for not wanting Alex to be the executor of Josh's estate?

  "Are you close to your parents?" Dave asked.

  "Nope. Haven't seen them in years. Haven't seen much of any of my family in years."

  "That's sad. You should try and stay in touch before it's too late."

  Alex hesitated and then said, "I came here to ask you to sign some legal documents."

  He reached into his suitcase and retrieved a folder which he opened and then handed a page to Dave.

  "What's this?" Dave finally asked after examining the paper.

  "Since I'm not directly related to him, I need your permission to become executor of his estate. There isn't much? a bit of money in the bank, his car and some other possessions we accumulated."

  Here it comes? the protest? but to Alex's surprise, Dave signed the document and handed it back to him with a smile; though it was clear that sadness hid behind the smile.

  "You made him happy." Dave said, "You were there for him when I couldn't be."

  "Thank you." Alex stared at the signature.

  "I bet you want to get out of here? get back to the city. It's a long way."

  "Yeah." Alex chuckled uncomfortably as they both got up.

  Dave walked him to the front door and it was while walking past the hallway wall covered with family portraits and photos that Alex spotted an old photograph that stood out to him. He stepped closer to inspect it and realized that it was a picture of his mother and him as a young boy.

  "That's my sister." Dave said, "We hardly ever see each other anymore. The last time we spoke was when her boy ran away from home."

  Alex couldn't tear his eyes away from the faded photo that pierced his soul and sent chills running down his spine. He was related to Josh. They were cousins.

  All thought escaped Alex's mind as he stood there staring at the photo for what felt like an eternity. He thought he knew everything there was to know about Josh and yet he didn't know they were cousins. Did Josh know? Is that why he never wanted Alex to meet his family in fear that he'd see the photo? Maybe Josh found out they were related and because he loved Alex too much he decided to keep it a secret?

  That one photo brought up millions of questions that would never be answered.

  He forced a smile onto his face and greeted Dave before making the long return journey back to the city. Home would never be the same again. His memories of Josh would never be the same again - they were tainted by the ominous fact that they were cousins who had sex with each other.

  You didn't know, Alex kept telling himself over and over in an attempt to convince himself that neither he nor Josh knew they were related.

  The countryside that rushed by as the train sped towards the city fused together with his crumpled up thoughts and memories of Josh and though he didn't quite know what to do about the situation, he still wished to come home and find Josh on the couch as he had wished so many times before. Josh would've known exactly what to do.

  THE END

  ABOUT THIS SHORT STORY

  Sharing your life with someone is a big step to take and I sometimes find myself wondering what secrets I have yet to uncover about my partner. You might think that you know your partner better than you know yourself, but at the end of the day the only person who really knows you? is you.

  As always; if you enjoyed this short story, please leave a review on the website from which you downloaded this free copy? reviews are like applause to writers and help us to write the type of stories you want to read.