Jonathan stood over the casket that contained his ex wife. She was so small, so... empty. She was dressed in a red dress, but her makeup made her look older. Jonathan wrapped his fingers around the edge of the casket, willing himself to stand up right. He forced his eyes closed.
"Why did this happen? Why did you do it?"
June's sister, Kendra, was the one who dropped Milla off at the airport. Jonathan is more than positive that Kendra tried to talk June out of sending Milla off with a woman she's never met before. That's probably why she went back to her house, to remind her that she was making a big mistake. And that's when she found June. Hanging from an extension cord from her ceiling fan in her bedroom.
No note, no strange behavior. Nothing.
Kendra stood beside him, she looked down onto her sister with tears running down her face.
"I can't believe she's gone." She said. "She would've told me if she was depressed. Right? She- she told me everything." Kendra took a step back and collapsed back into a chair. Jonathan watched her.
"I bet you're happy. You get Milla." Jonathan narrowed his eyes down on her.
"The fuck's that supposed to mean?" Kendra met his hard gaze and matched its intensity.
"You know exactly what I mean. All you care about is ruining my sister's life." Jonathan was taken aback. He had to regain his composure before he said anything untoward.
"June, ruined my life. She fucked my best friend. She got me fired from my job, and then she kept my daughter away from me because I left her. The only thing I did, was try to meet her halfway. But every step she did everything, EVERYTHING in her power to knock me down." Jonathan looked back at June, he didn't like the woman, at times he hated her. But not enough for this to be her reality. Jonathan turned back to June. He took a deep breath and put his hand on June's shoulder....
...
..
.
A woman showed up at my front door today. It was the wife of Jonathan's friend who passed. I never spoke to her much when her husband was alive, but she seemed nice back then.
"Hello, June...."
That's all I can remember.
My body isn't working right. I gathered all of Milla's things, for something I can't remember. When Milla asked me where she was going I couldn't say anything, I couldn't even open my mouth. I gotten her ready, and stood outside and waited.
That woman came back. She took my daughter. Took her right out of my hands. And I let her. Watching that woman get back in her car with my baby, tore me to pieces from the inside. I tried, tried like hell to stop it. But I was stuck to my porch. When they were out of sight, I had full control over my body. But not for long.
I took one step, and was yanked onto my back by my neck. Something wrapped around my neck, I scraped and clawed at it but there was nothing there. I tried to scream, but my voice was too weak. I was dragged back into my house, the door slamming behind me.
My consciousness slipped from me. I found myself battling to keep my bearings. Trying desperately to stay aware of myself, to look at my attacker. But... there was no one there. My body is so light, my legs dangle. The floor stretches miles and miles away from my feet as darkness grips me.
The only thing I was able to utter was my baby girls name and then... there was nothing....
...
..
.
Coldness stretched down Jonathan's spine to his fingertips. His throat burned as if set alight. His willed his limbs to move, but his body didn't listen to his mind's commands. Kendra came to Jonathan's side, she watched him closely.
"Jon? You good?" Her voice sounded as if she was speaking underwater. She reached out and touched him, and knocked Jonathan's stiff body back. Falling for what felt like centuries.
His back didn't collide with the carpeted floor. But cradled by the soft memory foam of his brand new mattress. Jonathan shot up. He was no longer in California, is sat underneath the warm blankets provided to him when he moved into this tiny bungalow.
"Wha-" The blaring ring of his phone made his heart jump up into his throat. He checked the caller ID. It read June. A chilling trail of sweat carved it's way down his spine as he answered.
"June?"
"Hey, I was calling to see if Milla got there alright."
"What?" There was a short pause.
"Were you asleep, I didn't mean to wake you." Jonathan checked the time, it was 2 in the morning. Even out in California it's pretty late. Though the oddness wasn't the common sense she seemed to lack. June was pleasant to him.
"It's fine don't worry about it." Jonathan got shuffled to Milla's room. Sound a sleep cuddled with her stuffed zebra. "Milla got here alright. She's asleep."
"Good, I'll call back in the morning to talk to her."
"Okay. Hey, June? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, why?"
"No reason, I'll talk to you later." Jonathan hoped this uneasiness would go away when he hung up the phone. But it followed him back into his room and laid beside him as he tried to go back to sleep. He checked social media, and all the post about June's death were no longer there. He hated it as much as he hated feeling like this, but he was lost. The ground beneath his feet wasn't steady, and hasn't been since he's been in Little Cove. Jonathan dreaded going deeper into the death of Thomas. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to even know what happened to him. Not with the toll dipping his toe in has put on his psyche thus far.
But he couldn't turn his back on it. He stared at the napkin note, now worn from being folded and unfold many times. M. V. G. He ran his fingers over the letters then googled it on his phone.
MVG in Little Cove. He typed into the search bar. Many irrelevant things popped up. He went through pages of articles and websites before he found an article of the founder of Little Cove.
The article reads:
"The founder of little cove was a man dodging the draft of the first World War. Vincent Gray Little Cove was a barren town when he stumbled upon it. Back then, the town was in ruins. The war swept through it, taking it's residents along with it. Vincent, had a large family. A wife, an ill mother, and seven daughters and eight sons. Together they built a home for his ever growing family.
With time, Little Cove attracted draft dodgers, drifters and outsiders alike. People who the world has rejected and together they formed a close-knit community. Vincent was appointed Mayor of Little Cove soon there after. And when the second war settled in, he was no longer a man struggling to keep his family afloat."
Jonathan looked at the napkin. "This doesn't make sense." He whispered. He scrolled down to the picture of Vincent and his entire family after he made it. He was a dark skinned black man in a bespoke suit and surrounded by his family who were equally as elegantly adorned. Though he had many kids, Vincent looked only to be in his mid to late twenties in this picture.
Standing next to him, staring somberly back at Jonathan was Vincent's wife. She was the same height as Vincent, her hand as draped over his shoulder barely touching him. The way she looked at the camera was like she knew what's going on it the cameraman's mind. And is only moments of revealing it to the world.
The woman was the spitting image of Brenda. Jonathan took a screenshot of the picture and sent it to Brenda.
-Why does this woman look like you?-
Jonathan waited for a reply, sensing she wasn't going to text him especially at this hour. So he laid down. But couldn't bring himself to fall back to sleep. The sun was slowly rising from its slumber. He rolled from his side to his back to his other side, unable to shake the anxiousness off.
Staring at his phone, the weight of sleep pulled on his eyelids until they shut on their own.
Ba-Ding!
Jonathan's eyes shot open. Brenda messaged him all the message said was.
-She looks nothing like me, Jon. Perhaps you should get some sleep.-
It was true he hasn't had a good night's sleep in a while, but he's not going insane he know what he saw. And he saw a woman in a picture of the 1920's who looked so much like Brenda it was frightening. He's not going crazy. He's not...
Right?