Mine - Vance Hopper (The Black Phone)

- Promise kept -

Marilyn sucks in a short breath as the car comes to a stop, her eyes staring out the window and scanning her surroundings.

Green grass fields scattered with all sorts of stone, names on each individual slab. With Flowers and colored pin wheels in some areas to decorate the graves of people's loved ones.

It was both beautiful and horrifying.

"You ready?"

Marilyn's head looks forward, towards her father as he adjusts the black suit on his body to fit his level of comfort.

She doesn't answer. Marilyn didn't want to lie and say she was ready, she also didn't want to tell the truth and say she wasn't.

Who would?

So instead, Marilyn opens the car door and makes her way towards the area surrounded by people. Family friends, kids from school, people pretending they cared the boy went missing.

Gulping, Marilyn pulls her hair back behind her ear and pats her clammy hands on her dress, minding the small object she holds before walking towards her friends in the distance.

Finney and Gwen stand infront of the closed casket, staring towards their friend with saddened eyes. Both siblings didn't know how the girl felt but they could only imagine.

Franklyn walks behind Marilyn, watcher her as she makes her way towards her friends, seeking comfort in their presence before moving over to stand infront of the crowd.

"Thank you all," Franklyn looks around the many familiar faces. "For coming to the burial of my son."

Marilyn eyes start to water as she stares down at the ground, not wanting to watch her father as he gives his speech.

"It mustn't have been easy for him—" 

Drowning out her surroundings, her father's words become nothing but a fuzzy mutter in the back of her brain. Marilyn raises her hand to play either the necklace around her neck before stopping when she remembers where it was.

+++

"Are you sure dear? I can put it back together if you like."

Marilyn nods.

"I'm sure. That half is mine."

Ms. Beckett looks down at the jewelry confused.

"And this half?"

Marilyn looks at it with a small smile.

"Thats going to someone else."

+++

Clenching her jaw, the girl drops her hand to her side and plays with the metallic object in her hand before moving towards picking at the chipped nail on her thumb.

She had no idea what to do with her hands. She didn't like the idea of them just hanging there so empty.

Looking up, the girl pats her thigh, staring forward at the picture frame with a familiar face.