Life after Death: The Afterlife of Hezekiah Chamblee

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Coleman and Slater Interlude

Coleman residence, that evening...

"Blanche?" Senator Coleman said as he sat down at his desk with Hezekiah's journal in his hand. "Ready for more journal reading?"

"Coming, dear," his wife called from the kitchen. "Just finishing up with putting these leftovers. Give me a few minutes."

Since inheriting Hezekiah's journal from Cameron Chamblee by way of his former nanny, Michael Coleman and his wife wanted to learn more about the deceased teenager's private life. And it was quite a pleasure for them to read more about what Hezekiah's life in high school was like behind closed doors. From his relationship with Chance and his feelings about being displaced in his own home, it both intrigued and surprised the couple how Hezekiah was able to keep his feelings to himself yet pitied him because he never had the proper chance to truly shine like his siblings did. And they both agreed that Jeffrey and Adelle Chamblee had arranged something to finally be free from Hezekiah's presence in their homes once and for all, hence their plans to read through the journal every chance they had when not dealing with dinner parties, campaign visits, and other agendas that took up most of their time. And tonight was no different given that they had some time away from the campaign trails to continue their evening rendezvous.

Blanche came into her husband's office with glasses of iced tea and a platter of her homemade cookies on hand. "Figured that you and I could use some after-dinner treats while we read," she said. "It's quite amazing what we can learn about someone who never had a charmed life."

"All the more reason for us to keep at it and see what led to his 'suicide,' my dear," Michael hummed to himself. "So far, we know that he was born out of rape and he only had my old school mum and the other workers who truly cared for him alongside Cameron who saw him as family.  We also know that he had a three-year friendship with Chance Dalton before the jock was murdered and their families, classmates, and teachers wanted them to remain separate due to their biased beliefs and all. Not only that, Adelle often hinted that she wanted him dead, according to the number of entries that depicted his mother's candid talks of how easy it would be if she hired a hitman to take him out and make it look like a suicide."

"I wonder what was through his head when everyone finally kept him and Dalton separate from each other," Blanche mused. "In the last entry, he said that he knew that they would be inevitably kept apart by their parents."

"Only one way to find out," her husband replied, pausing to bite into a brownie before wiping his hands and opening the journal to the bookmarked page from where they last left off. "Oh, wow. This entry takes place days after Dalton was killed."

August 19th

Cameron, my heart is heavy after learning of Chance's murder.

It's bad enough that everyone finally got what they wanted- to keep me away from the one friend whom I ever had in my life. But for Chance to be killed is something that I can't even deal right now. I'm now getting ready for the first day of senior year and all I can think about is how someone was full of life was taken away much too soon. If you want my opinion, I think that Mom and Dad had something to do with this since they and Chance's parents hated the idea of me being friends with him.

Mom said that it's no use crying over him and that I should just focus on my schoolwork. "It's for the best that you keep your mind on your books and off any distractions," she had said when she told me of what happened that fateful day. "I know that you miss him and all, but there are more important things in life other than some useless friendship who's not of the diamond standards. All eyes are on you to keep your nose clean from any lurking scandal that can taint the family name. The less you think about him, the better off you'll be."