Malcolm could not get the images from the funeral out of his mind. They kept coming back flooding into his consciousness. He saw the flowers falling onto the coffin deep inside the pit that had become the final resting place for Leonora. Loose soil was sprinkled on top of her coffin. The flow of these vivid images seemed to be stretched out as if his memories were running back in slow motion. There came the digger driver who hastily filled the grave with soil. The smell of diesel replaced the earthy odour of the freshly dug grave and the fruity smell of the flowers, and even the lingering smell of heavy perfume was now barely noticeable. The industrial perfection with which the digger driver carried out his work, fast and efficiently, while just waiting to move on to the next plot made the scene look so ordinary. As if nobody could wait for Leonora to vanish forever. Business as usual. Not so for Malcolm.
The last time he had seen Leonora was about eight weeks ago. That’s when they had broken up. Now she was gone. Gone forever. All of Malcolm’s senses reverberated with an intense pain like he had never felt before. His eyes felt wet but he could not really cry. He was trying to fight back the pain. As soon as the grave was fully covered with soil the digger driver drove away to the next place. Malcolm felt an unsettling sense of emptiness.
He stared at the computer screen waiting for a response from the search engine. Was this the right website? He knew there were tons of memorial websites on the web. This one was meant to be special. One that went deeper than any of the others. Finally, it appeared on the screen.
There was the usual blob about keeping memories of your loved ones, preserving shared moments, having an online presence that does not fade after death. N
