Buried | On Sunday

The bells of St. Jude’s didn't ring for Silas Vance on Saturday. They waited. In the village of Oakhaven, tradition wasn't just a habit; it was a contract. You lived by the seasons, and you were buried on Sunday.

The Vicar spoke of "eternal rest" and "the cycle of the week," but the villagers were looking at the hole. There was an old superstition in Oakhaven: a Sunday burial meant the soul didn't have to wait in the vestibule of the afterlife. It went straight to the head of the line, fresh for the Monday of eternity. Buried on Sunday

Silas had passed on a Tuesday, mid-breath while pruning his prize roses. For five days, he sat in the chilled cellar of the local mortician, Mr. Gable, who spent the week polishing the mahogany casket until he could see his own tired eyes in the grain. The bells of St

Martha sat by the window, watching the golden evening light stretch over the headstones. She sipped her tea, finally letting out a long, steady breath. In Oakhaven, the dead were buried on Sunday so the living could start over on Monday. And for the first time in fifty years, Martha was looking forward to breakfast. In the village of Oakhaven, tradition wasn't just

The procession was a quiet affair of black umbrellas, looking like a cluster of beetles scuttling toward the open earth. Silas’s widow, Martha, didn't cry. She held a single white rose, its edges browning from the wait.