The crowd shifted slowly between the aisle of the funeral home, all to pay their last respects to the loved one who was slain at an early age. I stood silently in the back waiting for everyone to leave so I could go have one last look at him. Something inside of me wasn't too torn up about the fact he was gone now, I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I didn't really miss him.

The last of the people went by his open casket and I slowly made my way up to him and looked into the mahogany casket. His skin was pale and he was dressed in fancier clothes than he would normally wear. I couldn't see his usual piercing blue eyes, which made it all the more easier to say goodbye to him. I ran my hand over the lining of the casket and reached down with my other to touch his hand. It felt different to be touching a person that was dead, a person that you used to touch every day until the day he was slain.

"I miss you," I whispered and placed a kiss on his forehead, the last kiss I would ever give him.

I turned away and walked back down the aisle and saw someone vaguely familiar standing in the corner. He watched me intently as I walked back towards the crowd of people and I made the effort of keeping up with the eye contact. I couldn't figure out where I knew him from, but I knew I did. His tall frame stood strongly against the corner and he managed to not break his gaze on me as I walked faster towards the people. He ran a hand through his short blond hair and almost smiled at me, not quite though. I made my way through all of the people and found the mother of the slain man that I had known. She hugged me and told me to not get hung up on losing him and I left.

I slowly walked to my car and felt my throat constrict and tears well up in my eyes. Now it really hit me that I would never see his smiling face again, I would never see the man I was in love with ever again. I pressed against my car door while unlocking it and turned to see the blond stranger walking towards me. I started to panic which made it even harder for me to open the door. He moved quicker and just as I had unlocked the door I felt his hand graze my arm.

"Sherilynn, do you remember me?" the blond asked.

"No, now leave me alone," I sternly said.

"I'm Nick, we met a while ago through a mutual friend," He informed.

"Okay, I remember now. What do you want?" I asked hesitant.

"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that you lost Marshall," He gave his condolences.

"And you couldn't send a card or something? Instead you have to show up and scare the hell out of me," I replied.

"Sorry, I couldn't think of any other way to do it," He apologized.

"Did you know Marshall?" I questioned.

"Kind of," His eyes darted around the parking lot, never focusing on me while he answered.

"What does that mean?"

"We might have had a run in once," He explained, "It didn't end well."

"Okay" I trailed off unaware by what he meant.

"I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now but I don't have your number," Nick said, "Would it be okay for me to get it?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied and rattled off the digits to my phone.

Nick thanked me and walked away as I climbed into my car. I was ready to get the hell out of here. I drove back to my apartment and glanced around the rooms seeing traces of Marshall in every room I went in. If it wasn't a picture, it was an article of clothing or something else he owned. Okay, now I missed him. I remember the night I lost him too.

We had gone out earlier that night and Marshall came over to my place for a little while and then had to leave since he had to be at work early the next morning. We said goodbye and he drove off into the night. That was the last time I saw him alive. Apparently after he got home, somebody had murdered him. Knife wounds were found in his chest the next day as well as his body in a pool of blood. The police think the assailant was hiding in the house waiting, but I'm not sure. I don't know who would want to kill Marshall; he never did anything to anybody. Anyway, the police did the full investigation of Marshall's house and Marshall and nothing came up. Whoever had committed this crime cleaned up really well and didn't even leave a trace of DNA behind. So, now he's dead and his case is unsolved at probably will be for the next few years.

I wiped away tears that had managed to escape my water gates and decided that I would put most of the things that reminded me of Marshall into a box where I wouldn't have to see them everyday of my life. I left out a picture and the shirt that he had let me borrow to sleep in. I put the box into the hall closet and changed into that shirt. I could still smell him on it, which made it feel like he was holding me in his arms again. I lay on the couch and drifted into a light sleep. I woke up in tears in the middle of the night and began pacing around the living room of my apartment. Marshall was haunting my thoughts, which made it impossible for me to sleep. On a whim, I pulled on a pair of pants and rushed down to my car. I was going to visit Marshall. I needed to, I didn't really say all that I had wanted to say earlier today.

I parked near the cemetery and there was another car parked there as well. I brushed it off and slowly walked into the graveyard, searching the headstones for Marshall's. I didn't know where he was buried so I had to scan over several headstones and after a while all the names began to run together so I decided to look for a freshly covered area. I spotted it towards the end of the cemetery and began walking towards the plot. As I walked, I saw a figure hunched over the headstone. I didn't know who it was, so I circled around where I could be behind the figure and walked towards the person. I heard the voice of a male as I approached and apparently had walked right in on a confession.

"I didn't mean to do it, you don't even know me and you didn't know that I was following you home all while planning on ridding you of this earth. I don't know what came over me that night but I was so angry at you because you had the woman of my dreams, the woman that I had loved since I met her and she didn't even remember me when I saw her today," The voice said. "I wish I could take this all back, I hated seeing her so sad today. I didn't want to kill you, I'm sorry."

So, looks like I found the murderer and he obviously knows me as well.

"I love her and I'll never have her because of what I did to you," He whispered, "I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused your family, I'm sure I'll burn in hell for this."

The mystery man stood and turned around, I gasped as his face turned ghostly white.

"Nick?!" I exclaimed stepping away from him.

"Sherilynn," He replied.

"Nick, I can't believe you. Why would you do this?" I questioned.

"I don't know," He quietly said, "I'm sorry."

"A little late for that. Did you kill the only person that I was madly in love with because you were in love with me?" I interrogated.

"Yes."

"I..I..I'm gonna be sick," I ran away from him and back to my car.

He stood back watching as I ran I had to do something. I just heard his whole confession, he admitted to killing Marshall at Marshall's grave. I reached for my cell phone and dialed the police. I told them all that I had just witnessed and they were on their way. I walked back over to Nick, who stood there in complete shock.

"Listen, I'm so sorry that I ever did that. It driving me crazy that he had you and all those years I wanted you," Nick said as soon as he saw me approach him.

"That doesn't justify committing a murder though," I replied, "You screwed up."

"I know that," He looked back down at the ground.

"What on earth made you think that I would want to date my boyfriend's murderer?" I questioned.

"I was hoping you'd never find out and that I could just ease my way into your life," Nick explained, "I had no idea you'd be here tonight."

I looked at him and those dreaded tears fell from my eyes again just as red and blue flashing lights appeared before us.

"You called the cops?" Nick questioned.

"Yes, I heard your confession and you should have to pay for what you did," I said.

"Fair enough," Nick agreed.

The police ran over to the two of us and cuffed Nick while reading him his rights. I watched silently and Nick looked me straight in the eye and mouthed 'I'm sorry' before he was lowered into the back of a police car. The police drove off and I stood alone in the cemetery. I glanced at the ground and remembered what I came here to do. I kneeled down over Marshall's headstone and after twenty minutes of rambling, I said the proper goodbye to him.

I walked back to my car and drove home; I could rest a little easier now that I knew his murderer wasn't still at large. I felt bad for Nick at the same time too, he was nothing but nice to me but yet he had committed a crime. I'm sure he'd be in jail for a while and he would always be reminded of what he did just because of the love he had for somebody else. I wouldn't be able to have a friendship with him because I'd always be reminded of him taking away the love of my life. His mistake, his constant reminder, and my weakness.