<open> A silent memory is a awful flaw

[Hayley Williams]

"You would be proud grandfather, ever so proud."
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Upon the cemetery is a path of sorrow. Where many people had once wept long ago, where many people had witnessed a tragic death. Where many people had last seen their loved ones lifeless, and dead go down into the ground where maggots eat their remaining parts of their body, a final resting place. Where no one is completely happy here for no one knows the cause of the peoples death. Could it have been cancer? Could the kemo had made them soggy, and they were yet to say goodbye how they wished? Or could it have been of old age where no one yet feels completely sorrow full. For the elderly is now Young again some where skipping and dancing around as they flawlessly pleased? Or could it have been an accident. They were driving so fast they found themselves spinning on a sheet of black ice, and gave their lives because they new it had been a mistake.

We all have experienced the death of a loved one, and it kills us inside that they are no longer here. But Hayley Williams suffers from agony every day for the last time she saw her grandfather was in the hospital bed, his last words still remain in Hayley's memory. "Shoot for the moon Hayley. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." That once sentence had always made Hayley emotional, but even more so the one man who has said it was gone forever because of lung cancer. He was never the same after he suffered from the Kemo. All his hairs were abandoned from his body and the once 324 pound man weighed only 100 pounds of skin, and sorrow. He died when Hayley was fourteen, and her music Carree was she taking off. It was a sorry shame that she had not seen her become a successful musician. He had always had a love for music, even more Hayley's.

Now Hayley stood her mascara running, her eyeliner smeared as she cried. He tears where pouring down her face so harshly, any one would think that it was a small stream of salty tears and black makeup. Hayley laid some roses on his tombstone, near the angle that read "Fred Williams". The roses matched perfectly, with the color and she was pleased on how well the tombstone had came out, and how sad that she even had to buy a tombstone.

"Grandpa, my family misses you dearly. My music career had taken off after you left and you would be proud. Your the only one whom I knew of, that always drank a glass of water, but tasted it too".

[Nicolette O'Kieffe]

It had just been one of those days. Nicolette had gone to school and all the pressures of senior year had just piled right on to her. There were the college applications to fill out, the supplements, the tests, deadline; you name it and Nicolette still had to get it done. She had gone home loaded down with reams of paper with the lists of schools she was applying to in Massachusetts.

The house with its cozy interiors and sweet smelling herbs would have at one time been a welcomed reprieve from the everyday world but for some strange reason Deirdre and Kaitlyn were in a frenzy. Her grandmother had not yet adjusted to the wiccan way of life in Wenham--- she had once been far enough away in the country to do as she pleased--- and had used magic blindly. Kaitlyn was furious and lashed out at the old woman; now neither of them was talking to one another.

"Mom, I'll be back," Nicolette spoke softly, poking head out from behind the kitchen door, "I'll bring some milk home for you too. The board said we need some."

"Yes. Just be careful and no magic. We can't afford another mishap," Kaitlyn murmured, slicing a tomato and throwing the diced pieces into a large pot on the stove.

Those were the days that only one thing could set her mind at ease--- her father. Nicolette took the family car and drove around Wenham, picking up a gallon of milk and a bouquet of seasonal flowers before slipping over town lines and into Ipswich. Illuminate Lights Road loomed just in the distance; it's large wrought iron gate standing sentry over the tombs of loved ones who had passed on. Liam O'Kieffe lay at rest among those graves.

Her delicate, milky white hands gently pried opened the aged gate as the sound of metal upon metal rung in her ears. Locking herself in, Nicolette's pale blue eyes traveled over the expanse of tombstones somberly. All of those people had family too; some of them were visited often, others left almost disregarded. Nonetheless, her tiny feet made their way down the cobbled pathway as she took the same route she always did to visit her father. It had become a routine and Nicolette did the same today without thinking about her destination until the slab of white marble stood right in front of her.

Letting out a sigh, Nicolette crouched down in front of her father's grave and rested the copper-colored flowers at the base. For a moment she let everything sink in again as the tips of her fingers traced over the words etched in stone "Liam Brian O'Kieffe- Husband- Father- Son- Hero". He had died before his time taking an assassin's bullet for another human being. His name was immortalized and now he rested in peace with a police officer's highest honor.

"Daddy, I know I haven't been here in a while but please forgive me," Nicolette pleaded softly, resting her tapered hand on top of the weather-worn tombstone.

"I'm getting ready for college now and I've come of age. Gran says that I might be the next great---"

Her words seemed snatched away by the wind as Nicolette let the end of her sentence trail off. Resting her forehead against the cold stone, she sniffled quietly to herself.

"I miss you, Daddy."