Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 89: My Fault

When someone died in the town, their corpse was buried in the cemetery. When buried, they would have a plant growing on top of them as the corpses were excellent sources of nutrients for the tree.

Once a tree was large enough, which usually took over half a century or so, they were cut down to make for timber or whatever else was required of them.

The grave was then dug out to take all of the remaining bones out of the grave to use for whatever they could be used for, from fertilizers to making tools.

As such, there was a consistent cycle of corpses going in and out of the cemetery with its various uses. That was how it was set up from the beginning of the town’s formation.

However, when the 10 Crawlers attacked 6 months ago, the number of people that had died had been way too many to fit in the cemetery. So, most of the people that did not have a proper corpse or weren’t important enough in the town to have a grave of their own were all burned and then buried into a single grave.

Over 300 people were buried in a single grave, one of which was also Stanley and Bradley’s mother.

The two brothers arrived at the cemetery after a short walk to the other side of the town, towards the right cliff. The cemetery was a large land just ahead of the farm where the forest was supposed to be there.

The cemetery was full of growing and grown trees and they were all arranged in a symmetrical way, so it was easy to realize what went where.

Stanley and Bradley had to wait outside the enclosure as the gate was filled with people leaving the cemetery.

It was only then that the two brothers remembered what had happened this morning. They had spent so much time on the farm that it felt like an entirely different time to them.

They had momentarily forgotten the tragedy of yesterday that had taken the lives of so many.

Bradley saw an old woman walking out with canes barely supporting her. He recognized who she was and looked at Stanley to see if he recognized her. Stanley was still blankly looking at everyone walking out.

’Thank god,’ Bradley thought. ’He doesn’t recognize George’s grandmother.’

George had lost his parents years ago to some disease and his grandfather had died long before that. So, he only lived with his old grandmother who he took care of on his own.

If Stanley were to find out that he had taken away the old woman’s only living family, he would go back into his old self where he would think all of this was his fault.

He had seen his brother smile like that for the first time since their mother died, so he didn’t want Stanley to go back to being that. So, he didn’t say anything and let the woman get taken away by the crowd.

After everyone was gone, the two brothers finally entered the cemetery.

Stanley looked around, somewhat remembering this place, but not really. They used to come here a lot of time ago to talk with their father that had died while Stanley was still an infant.

Even Bradley only remembered flashes of the blond-haired man that was their father, whom his mother used to talk so much about. His grave was somewhere around here too, but the two brothers had absolutely no connection with their father so they never even consider visiting his grave.

They arrived in front of a tree stalk that was barely half a meter tall despite growing for the past 6 months.

Bradley sat down on the fresh grass with the sunlight on his back. "Hey, mom! How have you been doing?" he started talking. "I’m sorry I haven’t been visiting recently. With all the things I need to learn before I become the mayor and the many problematic events that have happened in a short period of time, I haven’t had much time to come to talk to you."

"I’m sorry it took so long, but hey, I’m here. Better late than never right?" he asked. "And look who I brought along with me this time. Stan finally decided to come along. In fact, it was he who brought up the idea even."

Bradley turned around to his brother. "Sit down, Mom wants to speak with you too," he said.

Stanley felt a little awkward about the whole situation in front of him. His brother was just... talking.

"Do I have to talk?" he asked.

"Just have a conversation with Mom and say what you want to her," Bradley said with a smile.

"But..." Stanley slowly sat down. "She won’t speak back to me. How is that a conversation."

"She doesn’t have to," Bradley said. "You’ve known Mom for a long time, you are her son too. You know what she will say."

"Just talk as if she was here, and imagine what she would say back to you," Bradley said.

Stanley nodded and finally spoke. "He-hey Mom!" he spoke. He imagined his mother sitting in front of the two, her frail body slanted a little to the side.

Her brilliant smile looked as great as ever in his imagination and she looked... happy. She looked so extremely happy.

He imagined her speaking back to him with a gleeful voice. ’You finally came. You should have come earlier, you rascal.’

Hearing her voice, even if it was just in his imagination was something he didn’t realize he had needed. He had seen and heard her in his dreams many times, but this was the first time he could hear her while awake.

"Yes, I finally came," he spoke back. "I’m sorry I was gone for so long."

’You don’t have to be sorry,’ he imagined his mother saying. ’You must have struggled a lot, didn’t you Stan? Were you in pain because I was gone?’

"Yes," Stanley said, his voice quivering a little as tears fell down his cheek. "I struggled a lot, Mom. I was in pain every day."

Bradley could only give a small smile when he saw his brother cry. This was the way to go. Only by talking like this could he truly heal himself.

"Are you disappointed in me? Are you disappointed that I took so long to come?" he asked.

’Disappointed? Of my amazing son? Never!’ he heard his mother saying. Stanley wasn’t sure if he imagined his mother saying that because that’s what she would say or because that’s what he wanted her to say.

Either way, that was exactly what he needed to hear.

"You’re not disappointed?" he couldn’t help but ask as if he really was talking to someone real. "I told you I would become a Defender and take you away from the farm. Are you not disappointed that I failed? I... I couldn’t even become a Defender in the first place. I already quit them."

’No, Stanley. I am not disappointed,’ his mother spoke. ’Who cares about those stupid Defenders? You took action for yourself and quit being one. I am more proud of you for doing that than anything. Even more than the powers you’ve awakened for yourself.’

’I will forever want my sons to live the life they want, not the life that they need to,’ his mother’s voice resounded in his heart.

His tear ducts should have dried out by now given how much he had cried all day, but the amount of tears that dripped down his face never seemed to end.

"I’m sorry, Mom," he said. "I couldn’t save you. Forgive this stupid son of yours."

He remembered the image of this mother on the floor next to him, in a daze as she had just been struck by the debris that came from the Crawler’s attack.

Her raspy voice called out to him.

"Stanley... Stanley..."

He remembered it all so very clearly. She was calling out to him, asking for help, and yet... he couldn’t do anything.

"I’m sorry!" he called out.

It was all his fault.

’It’s not your fault,’ his mother’s voice spoke in his mind, his imagination of her speaking to him.

’It was never your fault, Stanley,’ the woman spoke. Stanley imagined his mother holding his head in her palm, her forehead to his forehead. ’It was never your fault.’

His eyes were shut as he let his imagination of his mother speak to him. What she spoke was what he knew deep down all this time.

It was a fact that he chose to ignore, even if that made him all the more miserable.

’I never asked you to save me, son,’ she spoke. Stanley continued remembering her saying his name while he was trapped by the rubble.

He imagined what she must have seen back then. Her child was trapped in the rubble as the monster came from behind them.

"Stanley... Stanley..." she had cried out back then.

’I never wanted you to save me,’ she said. ’I always wanted you to save yourself, son. I always wanted you to be the one that was safe. In fact, I’m happy that the monster went after just me and not you. I am very happy that my son made it out alive.’

Stanley’s cries became loud and hurtful. The thing he always knew deep in his heart, he was now forced to accept it.

It was never his fault that his mother died. It was never his fault that he failed to save her despite her plea.

The truth was something entirely different.

It was in fact his mother who wanted to save her son, and she would be happy knowing that he had in fact made it out alive.