[ WP ] A character reads an obituary , and is forced to decide whether or not to attend the funeral .

Michael opened up the Monday paper and swiftly flipped through the pages as he had done for a while now, looking for headlines that would at least entertain him for the half-an-hour long commute to work. On most mornings, he would have been done with the paper in a matter of mere minutes, but as Michael was nearing the last page, his eye caught a glimpse of a picture he had n't seen in a long, long time. He could feel the blood boiling up inside his head as his hands slowly released its grip and sent several pages of paper scrambled onto the metro floor. Michael heard a few scuffles and mumbles around the train as he regathered his thoughts and leaned over to pick the sheets up. He took a deep breath. An elderly woman who sat beside him tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was OK, he replied that he was, and tried to stay composed as he thanked her for asking. He felt drips of cold sweat form on the sides of his head and leaned back into his seat, the newspaper resting on his lap. 
 
 After a few minutes, he felt the urge to return to the page and flipped through the paper once again. The top of the page read `` OBITUARIES'', and he looked down at the photo of a man that seemed to haunt him. The initial shock subsided and Michael had now dwelled into deep thought. He recognized the man in the picture and knew what had happened but it was as if his brain had refused to register the thought, at least not yet. The text beneath the picture revealed that the man in the photo had committed suicide by self-immolation and had passed away only a month ago. The details of his death were accompanied by a few short passages seemingly written by the man's relatives. Michael read through the text and scoffed at how cheesy the messages were. At the bottom were the details of where and when the funeral was going to be held: `` GREENVILLE PARK, 63 ABBY AVE at 5:30 PM ON MARCH 25TH, ALL ATTENDEES ARE WELCOME.'' It was a week away. Michael tried to dismiss the idea of attending the funeral but could not stop the thought of it lingering at the back of his head. He had never been to a funeral before and figured that attending one of someone he had such a strong connection to would feel bizarre to say the least. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize himself walking into Greenville Park. Who would be there? What would people say of the man? Would anyone cry? Would anyone care? A million questions flooded his mind as he thought of the different scenarios that might occur. But he soon remembered the reasons why he dissociated himself from the man in the first place. To go to the funeral would be putting himself at risk of returning to his former life. It would mean going back to what he once knew, and what he once hated so much. It would mean giving up what he had now, his freedom in which he worked so hard to acquire. He concluded that the risk of him getting recognized among other things was too much and it simply was n't worth it. 
 
 The lights in the train lit up, it was Michael's stop. He stood up and left the Monday paper on his seat as he walked out of the open doors. He decided that the man in the paper was of something of the past, and some things were better off forgotten. A lady entered the metro and picked up the paper as she sat in Michael's seat. The top of the page read `` OBITUARIES'' and there was a picture of a man with text below it that read `` IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL JACOB FULLER''.
