Beneath the Surface

Chapter 9

Weeks passed and Emily still never figured out why the cop came up to her and Violet in the hallway. They never mentioned it to their parents as they figured it wasn't that big of a deal if nothing happened in the weeks following. Jordan started drinking more, and his mental health was visibly declining around his family. However around his friends, he tried to keep up the fun Jordan persona. Eric spent those weeks contemplating on confronting John about what happened at camp during the summertime. But Christmas creeped around the corner, so they all tried to put their demons behind them.

The Mayor and Mayoress stood proudly in the center of town by the big Christmas tree. Jordan was standing next to them. He was barely listening, but he would just nod his head when they asked him questions of reassurance during their speech about moving forward.

Eliza, Lillian and Jefferson's eldest daughter, stood with the Armanis. She had moved 8 years ago when she graduated, wanting to get as far away from her parents as she could. She went on and became CEO of a large company, with the goal of owning her own business one day in mind.

"I never remember us lighting the tree when I was here," Eliza, who was barely paying attention looked over at her parents.

"That's because Wanmark was in office then, Mayor Correa is heavy set on making traditions and bringing the town together," Lillian lowered her voice, but would still be looking towards the direction of the speech.

"He has the right idea in mind," Jefferson looked over at Lillian nodding.

"That he does," she glanced over at him, but would immediately go back to listening to the speech.

"We all suffered a great loss with Victoria Armani's disappearance, and our hearts go out to her family. But she wants us to keep pushing, because we are stronger together, and this is just the start," Ben would plug the cord into the extension cord Regina held up.

The tree would begin drowning itself with light as it worked its way up from the bottom. This was followed by the clapping of the people of the town, as smiles came across their faces.

Regina didn't let the moment last long, and she then began going on about the holiday party that night, which she had planned months for. However, the Armani children had no interest in hearing her talk more, so they started walking through the town.

"I heard you have been traveling alot?" Emily glanced over at Eliza, but would put her focus back on the sidewalk so she wouldn't slip on ice.

"I have, the promotion causes me to commute a lot. I would say in the past 5 months I've been to; France, Italy, Poland, Greece, oh and Ghana," she counted on her fingers.

A yikes expression grew on Violet's face, "Sounds expensive."

"Yeah definitely, but it's fun. I get to meet new people and whatever."

"Well that's all that matters right?" Emily would look over at her.

She would nod a bit but before she could speak she would fix her eyes on a missing person poster on a pole. She would stop walking and would take it off looking at it, "How are Mom and Dad taking it?"

Emily and Violet planned to just walk past it, that's all they have been doing the past few months. Emily would stop walking, looking over at the poster in her hand, "They are...taking it."

Eliza would just stare at the poster and would nod. Eventually they continued their stroll around town, drinking hot coco and looking at the ugly Christmas sweaters that hung from the stalls. They wanted to be away from their parents as long as possible, until they had to get ready for the party, which came sooner than they thought. When they got home they spent at least an hour in Emily's room deciding what to wear, until she finally had to kick them out so she could take a shower and actually get ready.