Emilio placed the cold corpse beside the candles. The room was silent, as if everyone was waiting for Violet's chest to begin rising and falling again. Her closed eyes looked as though they could flutter open at any moment.
A 14th tally mark was placed on the wall.
"What do we do now?" Elizabeth asked.
"We shouldn't keep her near Matthew. Germs are already against us with the floor as gross as it is, let alone a dead body. Even if it's just for a couple of days," Masina noted.
Emilio looked back towards the doors. "Should we just keep her outside?"
"No!" A chorus of incredulous voices sounded in unison.
He shrugged his shoulders defensively. "Bloody hell! It was just a suggestion!"
"We should put her in the back." Elizabeth pointed to the seats where Victor liked to brood.
"We could put her in the projector room," Donovan suggested. "Although, it would mean that we'd need to walk out of the auditorium again. That might be a risk."
"We've got like ..." she peered at the tally sheet, "two days left. Probably less. I don't mind housing her with us for two days. It's the safest for us." She looked down to the corpse. "It's probably the safest for her too. We don't know if the demons can smell death."
Emilio went to move the body but Elizabeth stopped him. She thought it would be best to say a few words before they shoved her to the side.
The group crowded around the body, except for Matthew who lay behind them. He looked at the ceiling. It felt like her eyes would just open to look at him through the feet of the bystanders. Wrapping a half-eaten cookie in a napkin, he called Donovan over. The crumbs trailed through the air as Donovan took the biscuit with the hand that Tanda was not grasping on to, and gave Matthew a confused look.
"At the funerals of my family, we leave food with the bodies. Something about the soul having something to eat." He weakly smiled. "I'd rather just be safe."
Donovan nodded and put it down beside Violet's corpse. "I'll make sure it follows the body."
Silence fell uncomfortably as everyone searched for something to say. Gowan looked to Victor who shook his head faintly without really taking his eyes off the corpse. The burdensome absence of one of their own loomed heavily over their heads.
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Elizabeth cleared her throat. "We didn't know Violet for long, but she was ..." she looked over to Matthew, "exactly what we needed. She was a gift. From what I knew of her, she was hard working. She was caring. She was smart and compassionate and..." she thought back to their talk at the top of the cinema. Her ears rumbled as she fought back her wavering voice. "Violet was complex. Not in a difficult way. In the way that one could appreciate a wine."
Sniffs and small sobs popped through the crowd. She asked if anyone wanted to add anything, but she was met with shaking heads. Gowan began to softly sing Amazing Grace and a few others joined him.
Over their singing, Elizabeth closed the small memorial. "I don't want Violet going out of the world without acknowledging who she really was. Lord, please watch over Maya Padua."
Tanda gasped, "Maya Padua?"
Tingles crawled up Elizabeth's neck. "Yes." She tried to smile kindly at the child, hoping the smile would help change the tone of her voice to a kind one, "She can't be your mum though."
"Why not?" Tanda asked.
Elizabeth remained standing. She did not kneel down to the child's level. Her feet slowly shifted from side to side. "Well ... When was the last time you were with your mum." Relief broke out across her face and she felt her chest relax as she averted the crisis.
"Six years ago."
The tension was sucked back into the room.
The small girl let go of Donovan's hand and began to make her way towards the warmth of the candles where the body had been placed. Feeling the body at her feet she knelt down.
The group watched on, entranced.
Pulling herself into a ball, Tanda placed her mothers arm around herself and closed her eyes for a brief moment. After a deep breath she maneuvered herself to place both hands on her mother's chest, just above her heart. "Mama? It's time to go now."
Tears silently fell from the crowd.
"Mama?"
Donovan stepped forward to lead the child away. He placed his hand gently on Tanda's shoulder. "Come on, you can come and-"
Violet's eyes opened. She blinked for a moment and looked at Tanda serenely.
"Mama. It's time we go now. You don't need to be sad anymore."
Violet steadily got to her feet. She didn't even acknowledge the others in the room. There was no fear in her voice now, "Yes, baby. It's time to go."
She calmly took her child's hand as together they slowly wandered through the crowd and onto the smooth slope of the cinema aisle. The double doors at the top of the room appeared to have a shining light behind them. With no hesitation, they continued to walk as the double doors opened. It was a smooth movement. There was no clunk, no bulk of the doors, and no shudder of the frame.
A gentle smoke flowed out of the white light, covering the back of the theatre. As the smoke made it's way to the remaining 7 figures, they noticed it was a lavender colour. It smelled like vanilla cookies and honey. They weren't scared of the scene anymore.
Violet and Tanda stepped into the smoke. Violet bent down and picked up her child, holding her up in the air.
"I love you so much, mummy." Tanda giggled.
The last thing the group heard was "I love you too" as the doors closed gently behind the pair. The smoke dissipated as those left behind were left to wonder what this meant for their remaining days on Earth.
Once again, the smell in the room soured back to the reality they had found themselves trapped in.