Death was so final Karina thought to herself as she sadly looked down at the headstones of her grandmother and grandfather. Karina's father, Braden, hadn't been able to reconcile the fact that his parents were gone and to have to live in Cape Garner was not what he wanted to do any longer since the memories of the murders of his mother and father haunted him.
...which meant digging up the remains of their ancestors and moving them lock, stock and barrel to a new island; where the only inhabitants of the island would be family members and those who were close to the family.
In the latter half of the year of Karina's grandparents passing, RCMP Detective Sergeant Langarak came to the house and let them know that they'd found the perpetrators. Evidently the Empress of Evil was the instigator. He looked pained as he told Karina's father that they had tried to bring her to justice and arrest her so that she could be charged and questioned about the actions that led to his parents' deaths. However she had chosen to shoot it out with the RCMP officers along with her sidekick. VJ Alvi had drawn his weapon and was about to fire at Parker and Det. SGT Miraj Alvi had put two rounds in his brother's chest, dropping VJ to the floor. He was taken to the hospital severely wounded and expired almost six hours later in surgery. As per customary procedure, Miraj was given administrative leave while the investigation into the police shooting took place. Parker told Braden that the shoot-out with VJ and the Empress of Evil had left Lieutenant Ethan Bunch injured after being shot twice in the shoulder where Parker had to draw on her and bring her down with two well placed shots center mass. She had bled out on the ground before the ambulance could come.
"So who was the Empress?" Braden had asked.
Parker looked solemnly at his friend's son, "Holly..." was all he said. It was hard to believe for Parker that someone who had been "good" could flip to do such evil deeds. But he had an inkling as to why. There had been a three killings back in Sunset Valley roughly about the time that Haruo and River had gotten married. As newly minted officers of the law, Parker and Ethan had suspected that Vita and Nick Alto had gotten their comeuppance from other crime families out of town. The capo of the Aldezi family had presumably hired someone to take care of things. However the Inspector of the Sunset Valley RCMP detachment had stated that the third killing was a conman of some disrepute who worked in the science field and moonlighted as a scam-artist using his computer skills to hack into other people's bank accounts and steal their money. Evidently, even though Holly hadn't admitted a single thing, it was clear from her actions that she mistakenly held the Chikamori family responsible for the deaths of her parents and in her own twisted grief had developed a plot of revenge against Haruo and River. It was a tragic mistake of epic proportion that destroyed both families...as Braden was still hurting from the loss of his parents and was doing his level best to keep his family afloat. But Parker, Ethan and Miraj had no choice but to bring Holly and VJ to justice. And Holly and VJ had chosen to exchange fire with the police officers attempting to make an arrest. They paid for that error in judgement with their lives.
Colonel Braden Chikamori had been given astronaut status and was going into space every week to conduct experiments to make sure that transfers of equipment and supplies between the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station were smooth. So in the name of safety, he compartmentalized his feelings and did his duty.
"Grandma, Grandpa... Uncle Ethan, Uncle Parker and Uncle Miraj found your killers...and brought them to justice. I hope you can rest easy now..." Karina stood at the tombstones, a lump threatening to choke her words that she tried to get through the logjam. "I love you both..." For her there was no forgiveness for the actions that VJ and Holly took to deprive her of her beloved grandparents. Let them burn in hell for eternity.
The new house wasn't as big as the one that they'd come from in Cape Garner, but it was good enough for the family and Samson, their Rottweiler would head out and look for gemstones. Yet Karina could see in her dad's eyes, the pain of loss; the same as she could see in Auntie Brianna, Uncle Allan and Aunt Alanna; they all were hurting as one family, even Uncles Parker, Ethan and Miraj who were referred to as uncle just because of traditional Asian customs of referring to a well-respected elder as uncle and it appeared as though Parker, Ethan and Miraj were adopted into the family. Maybe she would pursue the law enforcement career when she was old enough to do so.
The wedding portrait of grandma and grandpa was kept in a place of honour in the house. and until they figured out how they were going to set up the memorial area inside the home, it was clear that they would not move it from that location.
Class sizes at their new school were small considering that it was more a family-school than an actual public school and when things were finished at school, Karina went to the cemetery, where she found a modicum of peace with her grandparents and did her homework there.
Their gardener Alfredo Morales put his energies into working out by jogging increasing his fitness level. He found that it gave him time to think. Even the hired help, Kyla and Alfredo were considered family and as such they had their own grief over the loss of their employers. They did the same tasks as before, were paid the same as before, but were treated as if they were a part of the family, they ate at the same table and shared in the same conversation as the rest of the family.
Meanwhile for the rest of the extended family, they dealt with the grief as best as they could as well. And for them a lot of that was spent in doing stuff within the community whether it was going to the movies, eating out or just staying at home.
The kids, (the three Chikamori siblings (one adopted) and two boarders played a game of pool on the pool table. Martin went first, while the others waited their turn.
...and that was how they were managing.
"The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not 'get over' the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to." — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
