Death be not proud

 Hizashi was rattling cans around in the fridge, looking for a particular soda, when he heard his wife's phone ring out. It was a very specific text message notification assigned to her mother.

His heart dropped, and he closed the door without picking a drink and rushed over to the couch where Elly was sitting.

"Oh, Zashi," she began in an odd voice. He immediately paid attention and sat beside her, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Babe?" He placed a hand on hers.

"Zashi - that mean woman died. My stepfather's mother." Elly continued to stare blankly at the paused television, her ears back but not all the way. She had a confused frown on her face as well, and kind of looked like she had gas. Her stomach did feel strange but there was nothing physically wrong with her that she knew of besides a headache.

"I'm sorry." He stroked the back of her hand.

"Thank you. I ...don't know how to feel." She rubbed the back of her neck, grimacing at the tension there. Hizashi picked up on this and nudged closer, placing his hands on her shoulders and beginning to rub. "I'm sad because a human died, and I'm even sad because my stepdad will be sad. But I'm pretty neutral about the whole thing in general. All I can think of is the bad things she did to me, or my family. There were no good times for me."

She sighed and leaned into his warm, strong hands giving her a much-needed massage. "There were no good times for me," she repeated slowly, obviously thinking it very carefully through. Elly nodded at last, convinced. "Everyone else got the little shreds of love. I didn't."

"You're a good person, baby. You're working through the bitter memories, and they will hurt. But you still feel sad for a human's life."

"Yeah..? I don't know. I do. Feel sad, I mean. But I kind of hope she realizes. Like, if there is judgement that she's shown how much she hurt me. Because I don't think she knew or even cared."

"Death is tricky," he whispered sadly. He removed his hands and kissed the nape of her neck. "Unresolved issues are hard to get over. She should have lived you and been kind to you. It's okay to mourn that, and not the woman herself."

"Oh, god, that's it. That's what I'm crying over? It feels so selfish but... yes. Yes, that's right. I'm sorry about a lot of stuff, too. She was obviously hurt to be so hurtful to others. Man, this <i>sucks</i>."

"Yeah."