Annie had started to like Lonnie, to enjoy her presence. It was nice to have someone listen to you, really listen, without judgment.
No matter what Annie said, what she confessed, Lonnie listened, she never made a face or looked at her with hate, fear, or worst of all… pity. She just sat in her seat and occasionally wrote down a question she would ask when Annie stopped for a moment so that she wouldn't interrupt her.
"You've said 'No matter the cost' a few times Annie. Could you tell me a little about that?"
Annie sighed, raising her hands to run it through her hair. She knew the reporter would ask about it eventually, and she had no problems with sharing it with her. She kept her promise after all, it just seemed… funny looking back on the memory. Realizing how little she really knew, but how much she thought she did.
"I went to see Karley at the cemetery a few months after she died. I sat next to her tombstone and picked some of the weeds that started to grow around it. In my head I knew she couldn't actually hear me, but I still decided to talk to her anyway."
**
"You know, it's not the same without you Ley. The house is so quiet, too quiet."
I probably looked so stupid, just talking to a piece of stone sticking up from the ground. If she were here she'd probably laugh at me, maybe even take a picture to show Connor. Eventually she'd join me though. She'd sit across from me, and she'd start talking, so I wouldn't have to talk to the stone anymore. So I wouldn't have to be alone.
So I imagined it in my head, her walking out from behind a tree some ways away and walking right up to me. Sitting down in front of me and crossing one leg over the other before leaning back on her hands and staring up at the sky.
"So what are you doing here instead of being at school?" That would be the first thing she'd say.
"People keep looking at me funny now, I don't like it." Gosh, I'd lost it, I wasn't even talking to a stone anymore, I was talking to an imaginary Karley.
"Not much you can do about it Ann, just growl at them or something". I laughed at that, actually laughed… at nothing.
"Yea, then they'd think I really went crazy"
"Well, haven't you? You're sitting in a cemetery talking to yourself instead of being at school, with your friends." She would look away from the sky and turn her head toward me. She'd raise a brow in question and then look back up at the sky, closing her eyes and breathing in.
"I don't know if I can do this without you Ley" My voice cracked, as I leaned my head back and rested it on her tombstone and closed my eyes.
We had plans, didn't we? She had lots of plans, so many things she wanted to do, places she wanted to see. She was smart, she had potential. She was the good kid, the careful sister, the responsible one. I was the opposite, so why was I here, and she wasn't?
She was going to be a pediatrician. She was going to open her own practice and donate to charities, open foundations for children. She said she'd let me design her business when I told her I wanted to be an architect, even when everyone else said I didn't have the grades for it.
She wanted to travel to Europe with me, take me sightseeing and food tasting. She wanted to be neighbours when we got older, so she could come by after a long day of work and have drinks with me. She wanted to get married in a barn and have three kids with a guy who "looks like Johnny Depp". She wanted to live. She deserved to live.
I opened my eyes and looked at her as the tears began to fall. Why couldn't it have been me?
I shook my head slightly as tears ran down my face and fell onto the dirt, a sob crawled up my throat as I looked at my beautiful sister in the suns rays.
She deserved better, and I was going to make this right. For her.
"I'm going to find who did this to you" I stated with certainty. It had been bothering me for a while. Investigations were still ongoing, but the police weren't coming up with anything. I couldn't wait anymore, I had to do something.
I didn't believe in ghosts, or the afterlife, but what if it was real. What if she couldn't move on until we found out the truth, what if she couldn't move on until she got justice. She deserved at least that much, didn't she?
"Oh really Ms. Nancy Drew, and how are you going to do that?" She asked, her voice was light and filled with silent humour.
"I don't know, but I will" She sat up straight and looked at me head on. All humour gone from her face. Her smile had disappeared, and her eyes bore into mine. I hadn't seen her eyes in so long, I never got to appreciate their beauty, how truly beautiful she was.
"I'll hold you to that Ann, don't make promises you can't keep"
"I'll do it I swear, I'll find who did this to you...to us, and I'll make them pay. No matter how long it takes. No matter the cost" I held up my pinky finger to her, and she stared at it. She looked into my eyes and smiled again. She got up and wiped off her pants, before turning back to me.
"I'll be waiting Ann"
She began to walk away, and I stared at her retreating figure as the tears continued to fall, blurring my vision. I blinked quickly and wiped at my eyes, so I could see better. I wanted to see her clearly as long as I could before she inevitably left again.
"No matter how long it takes. No matter the cost" I stated silently as I watched her disappear behind a tree.