After Before and After

Conclusion: Chapter 22

For the second time that painfully bright but ironically dark late-March day, Ralph Langley hurried out of Paige Merridew's vehicle. He followed several beats behind her as she practically ran up the steps of the place her little brother had to be.

Paige still had a key to the Merridew mansion, but she quickly realized she didn't need it. The white double doors on the front of the excessively large and excessively white house were unlocked. Not only were they unlocked, but the left door was slightly ajar before Paige even touched it.

Ralph had tripped on his hurried way up, so he was lagging several feet behind. He climbed up the large number of steps after Paige had already disappeared inside. Just as Ralph got to the last step, Paige yelled out to him from the other side of the doors.

"Ralph, don't come in here!"

Ralph didn't know why he didn't listen. Normally, his cautious instincts would've made him stop in his tracks and think for at least a second before he proceeded. But this time, he didn't. This time, he pulled open the half open door the rest of the way and let himself inside.

The first thing he saw was Paige's back. She stood frozen just in front of him, a few feet ahead. He peered to see around her.

And he saw color. The Merridew mansion was known for its plain white walls and plain white floors and plain white furniture. It was very obvious in that moment that it wasn't white anymore.

It was red. Spattered red like a kindergartener had taken a pail of red paint to the front entryway.

But it wasn't paint, it was blood.

Paige, the blood, and then

the dead body. Lying in the middle of the room, face down, only a few feet from the circular black table in the center of the room that always held car keys and flower vases. Tall and blond and dead.

Evan Merridew was dead.

Ralph forgot that he possessed the sense of hearing until he heard the awful sound of Paige's breath hitching in her throat. She stepped back, and bumped into Ralph. He managed to keep them both up for the second it took her to regain her balance.

"Paige.." Ralph finally forced his voice to work. He sounded hoarse and weak, like tears or sickness. He sounded like he couldn't breathe.

Paige turned around abruptly and pulled him into her arms, very tightly. Before she did, Ralph saw the tears welling in her eyes and the red heat that swelled in her cheeks.

"Don't look" Paige whispered to him as she stroked her hand over the back of his head. "Don't look, Ralph... now listen to me. Go back outside and do not come back in here. You hear me? Do not come back in. You wait for me. I will check to see if Jack's here. If he's not, we'll find him. I promise. But I need you to listen to me when I say do not come back in. Do you understand?" she whispered, her breath hot against his head, his view of the horror masked purposefully by her body. She let him pry his head up just enough to look into her eyes. She stared down at him too, both of them changed forever.

Ralph nodded like he meant it. Paige latched onto his shoulders and spun him around quickly, still blocking his view of the front entryway. Ralph's eyes landed on the little blood stains on the door as he slowly made his way out. Paige followed close behind him and closed the door once he was on the other side.

Ralph's heart was beating a thousand and one miles a second as his body shook intensely. His legs nearly gave out before he sat down on the top step. He pulled out what he found in the bottom of Jack's drawer and stared at it, a secret that meant something different now than it did when he first found it less than two hours ago.