To Each Other - A Summer in South Carolina

Capítulo 1

It was 7:00 in the morning when Lauren woke up. There was a beautiful day outside. So beautiful it made it really hard to resist opening the window of her room. The sky was tenderly blue, clouds were hardly seen and the smell of the breeze was just as penetrating as a sweet long gone morning. She took a deep bath and gave herself a brief moment to appreciate the spectacle of life. But the hours imposed, and so she decided it was time to take a shower and go downstairs. So she rapidly neated her bed and bedroom, and got ready to work, looking as stunning as she would any other day. Once downstairs, she grabbed a banana for breakfast, tenderly kissed her grandmother good-bye, left the house in her Jeep and went about her things.

Grandma Emily was a very young looking lady who despite of the decision to keep her hair naturally gray, her vain instincts still made her always watch her figure, dress up for no occasion and own a very assertive daily make up. She was a very elegant woman whose husband had died from a heart attack a few years before Lauren decided to move back in. Her strong memory of a great love lived made her keep his things around the house as a reminder of the great man and husband he had been in life. Robert had been a very important local journalist who had helped the police fighting crime by chasing the truth behind the news. At a certain point of his carrier, he would even be looked up by the FBI when they distrusted specific types of evidences. Nonetheless, Robert put together his very own "Robert Anderson Hope Shelter Institute" with the keen assistance of his beloved wife Emily. After so many years following tracks on extremely unpleasant news from crime, he decided it was about time somebody did something to help protect the homeless and the vulnerable, who, according to his researches, were the most likely to end up on the hands of criminals. 

Most like her grandfather, Lauren ended up becoming a journalist. Some said it had to do with the unbreakable admiration she nurtured for him, others claimed it to be genetic inheritance. Whatever it was, the fact is that she absolutely loved her profession and did it with and out of love. 

That morning she got to work sometime past 8:00a.m. As she arrived in front of the building, she walked past the doorman. John had been working the same job for the past twenty years. He was somewhere around his sixties, owned an stout body, and had good sense of humor. He was the kind of man whose company people appreciated and would certainly be missed when eventually gone. Lauren had grown fond of John and his smooth temper. He was so talkative that even if people didn't spend much time waiting by the lobby, they would know personal things about John such as his favorite food, his dog's name, his family's challenges, and so on. 

It was an special morning for John, and Lauren knew that. It was his birthday, and so Lauren congratulated him and took the elevator up to her floor. He tried to engage a conversation with her for she was usually very receptive, but she was late. She worked at an important newspaper, and couldn't afford to lose her job. Working there had been her dream ever since she decided to become a journalist. In her mind nothing else would be good enough or respectful enough for that matter. Everybody around the office seemed to like her, she was a very empathic person and truly cared for others, but when it came to being professional she could become ruthless. Her work was definitely above all. 

As should already have been expected by now, her editor comes to her table running and yelling about some story that had been going on for about four months now. Some young girl went missing after being seen discussing with her boyfriend in the campus were they studied. Her friends didn't report it until three days later when one of them, after talking to the other friends of the group, decided to check her dorm. Or at least, this was the story they told the police. 

According to them, Annie, the so far missing girl, and her boyfriend, had engaged on a  fierceful argument recently before she went missing. Friends of them declared to the local police that she had died victimized by her boyfriend's anger and jealousy due to some other relationship she had had with one of his friends. Apparently the trial was stuck because, although they knew him to be the killer, justice couldn't find the body or even a final evidence that proved their theory. Nation was shocked by the delay of the force department on arresting the guy, and the bureaucracy around the trial. Therefore, the newspaper had been busy with this one specific murder, and Lauren had been working on it up till now. 

Lauren's editor had decided that she would be head chief of "Pandora's Affair", as they called it: the box of secrets that could have never been open. This fatal triangle should have never happened in despite of anyone's curiosity. The problem was that her family's fame as respectable and extremely efficient criminal journalists had convinced her boss that she would be the best pick for the job, however Lauren herself didn't feel much confident in her very own qualities. 

But much like the dedicated and accurate professional that she was, she made a few phone calls trying to dig up the reasons why the latest trial had been revoked. It had become a circus, and people were becoming more and more impatient. At last, she managed to speak to a very good friend of hers. A young photographer named Carl who always privileged her on breaking news. He had been in front of the criminal court for hours trying to reach any of the lawyers involved in the case. Anxiously, she ran to meet him. Carl was known to be a relentless professional who would never give up on a story or settle for anything but the utmost truth. 

At the courthouse, Lauren, as convincing and persuasive as she was, arranged a quick but relevant interview with one of the defense lawyers: a very important and respected old man who had been working in the criminal field for most his life, and who declared right then that they could spend years trying to get a confession, but they would never succeed. He also made very clear that he, being the experienced lawyer that he was, would do anything at his reach to postpone the next hearing or even any sort of inquiry about the case towards his client unless they could find a way of linking him to the crime scene. 

Lauren immediately called her editor to inform him about the way the so called "lawyer of the crimes" was dealing with the case. The other press members in front of the courthouse couldn't believe how she had managed to get him to speak to her. He was known for never talking to the press. This was actually his first public statement about anything in his long carrier. She went back to the station outraged for not getting better information though. 

And so the day went by in between news. And it was finally time to go home. And she was tired. And she stopped at the newsstand nearby her house and bought every single newspaper that spoke about "Pandora's Affair". At the same time that she was disgusted by the murder, she was also very intrigued by how this triangle had happened. Not only for the simple fact that it was, indeed, a triangle - which was something she absolutely despised -, but also because it had been going on for years nonstop at everyone's eyes and nobody ever saw it. The sickness of the story was simply appalling to her. 

As she walks inside her house, loaded with papers, she hears her grandmother's voice on the phone. Grandma Emily sounded very excited about something on the other side of the line. No matter how hard Lauren's day had been, her grandmother would always try and manage to put a smile on her face. Her simple presence would bring life to the house. 

It was Maureen - Lauren's sister - on the phone all the way from England, announcing that she was finally coming back home after seven years away. Maureen had gone to England at first to study advertisement, and when she was done studying, jobs came along. Therefore, there she stayed for years never even visiting home. 

It was middle summer, and Lauren felt life was - needless to say - perfect! The only way it would be complete was if her parents came back from their four months (so far) African expedition. 

After her grandfather died, she decided to continue his work at the shelter as well. It made her feel closer to him somehow.