𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑 || 𝘀. 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

S1E5: The Flea and the Acrobat

It's weird going to a funeral for a person you know to be alive. The small crowd gathers around the closed coffin with somber faces and teary eyes, mourning the loss of Will. The weight of death a little heavier in their hearts today.

The trees are bare and grass dead out here in the ancient graveyard. A gentle, but cold breeze catches in the skirt of my black dress, chilling my bare legs. I pull my knit shawl tighter over my shoulders. I had asked John to come with me, but he refused, saying funerals made him uncomfortable.

The preacher man preaches to us all. "Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand," he reads from the Bible. "It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if He is truly benevolent... could God take from us someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God... but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family."

When the preaching is finished, the crowd gathers in a row, taking turns tossing yellow roses onto the coffin in the ground before it is buried. The bright yellow contrasts the dark brown of the coffin like a light in the darkness.

Guests give their condolences to Lonnie, Will's father who was never in the picture before, and Joyce. Only Lonnie is talking to the people and shaking their hands. Joyce stares at the coffin with a determined, knowing look that only Jonathan, Nancy, and myself would understand.

I find Nancy and Jonathan sitting on a slab of concrete behind a grave, a ways away from the crowd. I sit down beside Nancy and look over at the small map in Jonathan's hands.

"This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" He asks, pointing to a red X plotted on the map.

"So, that's..." Nancy begins.

"Steve's house," he finishes.

"Right there is the woods where they found Will's bike?" I ask.

Jonathan nods, then points to another red X. "And that's my house."

"It's all so close," Nancy notes.

"Yeah. Exactly."

"The thing doesn't travel far," I say, resting my head in my hand and leaning on my knees.

"No. It's all within a mile or something."

Nancy looks up at Jonathan, reading his facial expression that he isn't even attempting to hide. "You want to go out there."

"We might not find anything." He folds the map and puts it in his pocket.

"I found something."

"And so did I," I add.

"And if we do see it..." she glances to the ground. "then what?"

Jonathan thinks for a moment, looking out over the graveyard. "We kill it." He stands up and starts heading for the parking lot, Nancy and I right behind him. He opens the passenger door of his father's car, then uses his pocket knife to pry open the dash box.

"What are you doing?" Nancy asks.

"Just give me a second," he says, wedging the knife in the crack. It pops open and he pulls out a pistol and box of ammo.

"Are you serious?" She asks.

"What?" He looks at us through the windshield. "You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?"

"Nancy, he's right. We need some form of protection," I try to reason. I don't like the idea of going out there completely weaponless.

"This is a terrible idea."