The six deaths of Lindsay Cage

The Story

THE SIX DEATHS OF LINDSAY CAGE

By the time Lindsay Morgan Cage was laid to rest on a rainy Thursday in October, several versions of her death has been racing through the halls of West Arlington High School, the same hallways she used to walk.

A pretty blonde fifteen year old, she had been found on her bed by her mother, unsure as to why the light was still on at 4 AM. The nice doctors at the ER did all they could, but after a few days, her father, the D.A. for the city, signed over Lindsay's organs, while her mother cried over her daughters body.

The first death came forward from Lindsay's best friend, Alicia. Alicia had known about Lindsay's obsession with Romeo and Juliet. She had also known about Lindsay's midnight visits to the upstairs bedroom of Will Barkley, a twenty two year old graduate student at the local university. Will claimed the visits were innocent, she needed a person to vent too, and especially once the news of her mom filing for divorce became public.

Her father and mother didn't care for Will. Her mother had heard things about Will. How he had gotten Monica, the nice girl from down the street, pregnant during her senior year, even though he was dating Brandi, a alternative girl who had a nose piercings and had been living with various relatives after being kicked out of her mothers house the year before.

Will denied all the rumors, but Alicia was insisted that Lindsay had been driven to suicide via sleeping pills because she couldn't be with Will.

Once the toxicology report came out, and showed no sleeping pills, Alicia was pulled from school and homeschooled until the scandal died down. Will quietly graduated the next summer and got a job in Austin, his mother throwing him a graduation party. The next day, Lindsay's father helped load the moving truck and gave Will a goodbye hug. Lindsay's mother stood at the window and, quietly drinking as she watched the scene.

The second death came courtesy of Miss Lillian Coward. A traditional Southern Baptist, Miss Lillian disproved of the entire Cage family. Miss Lillian was walking her dog, a terrible little poodle that no one liked, when she passed by the news crew reporting on the death of Lindsay. When asked on her thoughts, Miss Lillian simply adjusted her 1950's glasses and said calmly 'it was a punishment from God.'

Miss Lillian's interview was not shown on the news that night.

Miss Lillian's disproval came on the fact she and Mrs. Cage's falling out some years before. Miss Lillian never went to college, having gotten married the summer after high school. Mrs. Cage, then her best friend, was supposed to be the maid of honor. The night before the wedding, Mrs. Cage let it slip that she thought Miss Lillian could do better than Weston, Miss Lillian's soon to be husband, and that she was only marrying Weston because Miss Lillian felt guilty about allowing Weston to pressure her into doing stuff.

The next day, Miss Lillian married Weston, while Mrs. Cage stood silently, never acknowledging the bride's presence and leaving before the reception.

Miss Lillian and Mrs. Cage had run into each other at a Barnes and Noble, where Miss Lillian was shocked that Mrs. Cage was buying a 'introduction to Wicca' for her daughter's birthday. "she's fourteen, she can decide what she's into."

Miss Lillian left when Mrs. Cage asked how Weston was doing, not knowing he had left Miss Lillian several years earlier.

Miss Lillian had attempted to spread the rumor that Lindsay was a witch and God had punished her, but no one listened to Miss Lillian. Even the two Coward girls, the oldest, Goldie who had known Lindsay since first grade, thought her mother crazy.