To Millicent, moving north to go to UMass was the freedom she'd been seeking for nearly all of her life. Her grandmother was hostile, always badgering her on where she went after dark, who she hung out with, and always blaming her for drinking or getting high.
It had been that way ever since her Mom had run off and left her under her Grandma's care at 4 years old. Grandma Alys had always assumed that she had left for a man or drugs or to just avoid responsibility. But, even though that theory may have been true, Millicent knew her Mother wouldn't just abandon her without a good reason.
Millicent got scolded more and more the older she became. Her Grandma would tell her she'd end up just like her Mother: drug addicted, alcoholic, and too concerned with men. What Grandma Alys said was wrong; Millicent knew her mother wasn't nearly that bad.
When it was time to leave for college, Millicent couldn't leave soon enough. She had left the hell hole she called home, and set off without the devil herself. But before she left, Millicent finally told her Grandma everything she wanted to hear: she wasn't a virgin, she'd tried alcohol once but couldn't hold it, and that she'd never have to see her again.
She'd left on that note, slamming the from door and leaving for the airport. Now she was sharing a dorm with a nice girl from Pennsylvania named Emil. Her first Saturday on campus had come around fast, and the beauty outside was just too much to pass up.
She asked Emil if she wanted to take a walk, but she had explained that she had to meet her boyfriend at some fancy French restaurant. So Millicent grabbed her cellphone and sunglasses and set off into the picture perfect outdoors. There were groups of students here and there, sitting peacefully in the grass, playing guitars or having picnics.
She smiled and drifted further away from the scene and down the winding sidewalk. She was enjoying the tranquil silence when she felt her phone buzz in her back pocket. She drew it out and checked the screen.
It was a number that wasn't saved into her phone. But the message said Chip cancelled. Meet me at 1309 Morta St? - Emil
Millicent grinned. Walking alone was calming, but it was boring, too. Now Emil would be joining her, and they could gossip and maybe go grab some fast food. It had taken Millicent about ten minutes to reach the Morta Street sign. A few small houses lined the street and a small white church sat on the left adjacent to the third house.
As she scanned the house numbers for 1300, she had come to realize once she passed the church, that what sat at 1300 Morta St. was a cemetery. Millicent's brows furrowed in confusion.
Why would Emil want to meet at a cemetery? Was she in a cult or something?
Her curiosity overrode her conscience and Millicent pushed open the wrought-iron black gate and entered the graveyard. She saw no sign of Emil upon entering, and figured she must not have arrived yet.
She paced slowly down the walkway, examining the tombstones around her. Some where ancient and blackened by time. Others seemed new, and the fresh dirt in front of them confirmed it. Millicent came to a spot where the walk curved and a large oak tree stood beside it. She nearly missed the gray tombstone lying underneath its overshadowing branches.
She would have passed it by had it not been for the name engraved on it. It read Hepburn - her last name. She knew it wasn't a relative of hers, not this far away from home. But the name intrigued her and she walked around to face the front of the stone.
Altogether it read: Decca Hepburn, 1972-1994, Never Forgotten.
Millicent's eyes widened. No, it couldn't be. Her eyes found the round, golden picture frame in the middle of the stone and she knelt down on her knees. She lifted the golden latched cover to reveal the picture that would make her question her eyesight.
Surely enough, it was a picture of her Mother. She immediately felt the heavy tears pushing their way out of her glossy eyes and a lump formed in her throat. All those years she had spent thinking her Mother was still alive...but here she was, six feet under.
She buried her face in her hands and sobbed, too upset to hear the footsteps approaching her. It wasn't until she heard a twig snap that she whipped around. Above her stood her grandmother, wielding a large shovel over her head.
"Grandma Alys? What are you doing?" Millicent sat in fear, unable to move.
"I told you you were just like your mother. When you were young, she didn't disappear with some man. She came here to finish school, just like you. Thought she was doing you a favor. She wasn't doing anyone a favor. She left you, and more importantly, she left me." Millicent's Grandma spoke with such anger her face had turned red.
"You did this, Grandma? How could you!" Millicent shouted at her Grandma, tears and madness invading her voice.
"She left me, Millicent. Left me to rot after all I had done for the sinning tramp. And now that you've followed her footsteps, you can follow her to the grave!"
Before Millicent could even lift her hands in front of her face, her Grandma had already swung the shovel down onto her head. Once Millicent had collapsed the the ground, Alys nudged her to the right with her foot, sending her falling into the deep hole that had been covered with leaves.
Alys then began to whistle and pour soil into the grave that now held her granddaughter.
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