@anonymous

[windsongs]

I have a question for the group. Has anyone tried to find family or friends they have lost over the years, or a trace that they might have passed through the Netherworld? Have you been successful?

If not, would you? What would you say to them if you managed to find them?

Comments

[windsongs]

[ She asks those sometimes! ]

I hope so too. I would hate to think about a loved one going through any of what happens here in the Netherworld

Do you think he had any unfinished business? That might have kept him from crossing over fully.
It's my experience that that would tie them to the world of the living, but this place doesn't fit the norm that I'm used to

[fallingsand]

I don't know.
He was killed before my sisters and I were even a day old so possibly?
Or maybe he knew that we were going to be safe and that was enough?

[windsongs]

[ This hits extremely close to home... ]

I hope that that's the case. Still, I'm sorry that that happened. Growing up without a father is hard for everyone involved
Your mother must have been a very strong person to be able to raise all of you on her own

[fallingsand]

[ Bruno sure hopes so, otherwise what a terrible son he is, right? ]

She is pretty strong.
She never stopped missing him but she still did her best.
I don't doubt we tried every nerve she had growing up, though...

[ And as adults but let's not get into that ahahaha. ]

[windsongs]

It's hard not to think about the people you have lost. Time makes that a little easier, but that feeling never goes away
But mourning can be difficult to recognize once it becomes a part of who they are

I think all children get on their parents' nerves, no matter how close they might be
If anything, that shows how close you were and how much you loved each other

[fallingsand]

It can still cause problems.
But I figure that's normal, too.

[ But he won't dump all his personal problems on this Anonymous person all over again, not realizing this... isn't actually the same person. Besides, that had partly been his Shadow, and that isn't how it is now. ]

Who were you looking for?

[windsongs]

[ Please Bruno, dump away. It gives her something to distract herself with rather than her invasive and shadow-induced thoughts on the matter. ]

My mother. I lost her suddenly when I was a teenager. I guess you could say that I never completely got over it
There's a lot that I want to tell her, but most of all, I want to apologize for not being there to protect her

[fallingsand]

[ Oh... ]

I'm so sorry.
But you know it's a parent's job to protect their child instead, yeah?
I don't think you need to apologize.
I'm sure she would love to see you, though, if she were here or is here or
Any of that.

[windsongs]

Thank you. I'll be all right, it was a long time ago.

I know. She did everything she could to protect me from what or whoever took her life
But that won't erase the guilt that I feel for not being there with her that day
I want to apologize for that, and for not taking every opportunity that I could to spend time with her

And I want to ask her why she kept me in the dark

[fallingsand]

[ Wait, why is this beginning to sound a little familiar? Does he know this Anonymous person after all? ]

It

[ He writes that first, pauses, staring at the two letters as they accidentally send without the rest of his thoughts attacked. What can he even write in response to that? He'll think of something, eventually, and when he does, it's, ]

I wish I knew.
Moms do a lot of stuff you just never get...
Or maybe it's all parents but

[ He never got to spend any time with his dad, none that he could recall, so he wouldn't be able to say. ]

They do what they think will keep us safe and don't stop to think about how that might hurt us instead, I guess. I am sorry you haven't been able to find and ask her, though. I don't want to see my own mom here or
any of the family, actually
I don't think I would take it very well.
But it might've gone better for you. Who knows.

[windsongs]

[ Nope, they've never met in their unlives. Bruno's probably just imagining things. ]

I can understand not wanting to find her here. I feel the same way, but I have resigned myself to the fact that she is gone
I know so little about death and the afterlife, to a point that would be infuriating if I was back home
But there are some things that I need to know that would be incredibly helpful when I finally make it home

If I want to finally rest in peace, I need to take care of my unfinished business too

[fallingsand]

So your unfinished business is with your mom or
Do you mean other stuff, when you talk about finally making it home?
As like a ghost or something?

[windsongs]

I think so, yes. Ever since that day, I feel like my life has been stagnant. Not that I was just doing the motions, but that something kept me from moving forward

Trust me, I have no interest in being a ghost! Most of them are great, but when it's my time, I just want to go peacefully into whatever lies beyond the realm of the living

[fallingsand]

I guess that means you don't think we're actually dead here?

[windsongs]

That's right. Many of us don't remember dying, and what we do remember doesn't line up with what a typical "death" might look like.
I find it hard not to question whether it was our own deaths that brought us here