7/26/74

Postmortem at Kelseyville High

All of the seniors sat in the auditorium with grief, the following Monday. The teachers decided that it was a good idea to address the death of Cheyenne, instead of leaving it unsaid. On the stage the teachers were looking at all the students while sitting in blue fold out chairs. There was a microphone with the podium. There was still chatter amongst everyone, but it was very quiet. Behind the stage was Cheyenne's best friends Audrey and Carolina in their cheer uniforms and Carolina was holding a frame, with Cheyenne's cheer uniform in it. Audrey was holding a piece of paper. The principal went up to the podium. The principal's name was Paige Alexandra. Everyone called her head Mistress Alexandra because last year as a joke all of the graduating seniors called her headMistress and it stuck. She was quite old, about to retire in fact and has always been the principal at Kelseyville high because everyone loved her so much.

    "Hello Everyone. Today with a heavy heart we announce that one of our fellow knights have been lost. The night of the bonfire her body was found shot at Mar's Docks. This girl was Cheyenne Reese. She was murdered, and if anyone has any information please go to the police office or the school." At this point everyone was in tears. "Today we have two brave souls to talk about it and those two brave souls are Audrey McGee and Carolina Stinson."

    Carolina and Audrey walked out on stage. Carolina held the frame showing the orange and white uniform and above it was a picture of Jackson and Cheyenne. Audrey stepped to the podium. She wiped a tear with her finger and started her speech. "Hello my fellow classmates. Today we have found out about Cheyenne Jane Reese's death. Cheyenne wasn't just a cheerleader who dated the star of the football team, but she had many other accomplishments too. Carolina and I have been her best friends since kindergarten. We have seen her at her best moments and worst. Cheyenne was a gorgeous girl-" Audrey started bawling and couldn't do her speech anymore. Teachers rushed over to help her. Carolina went to the podium and she was crying too. She got one of the teachers to hold the frame while, Carolina continued Audrey's speech and other teachers who made Audrey feel better. Carolina looked at the paper and looked up. "Cheyenne was a gorgeous girl, who make everyone smile, even when she had braces. She was the last person in our grade to get her braces taken off. Everyone called her braceface before she got them taken off and gave her a high five. We shouldn't remember Cheyenne as the dead girl. We should remember her as the cheerleader that had the best smile, with or without braces-" Carolina took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. "We should also remember her spirit she had when she cheered on people at the football games. And how nice she was to everyone. And how everyday she would walk down our halls. Our halls. Holding hands with Jackson Barrett and wearing his letterman jacket whilst he held her textbooks in his free hand. We shouldn't remember her as the girl who died or the girl who got shot. We all should remember her for all the good things. Going to church every Sunday, making everyone feel better, and having that beautiful smile on her face. In honor of her we have her cheerleading uniform and we are going to hang it in the trophy case so everyone can see it. Thank you." Carolina turned around and hugged the teacher and she started to bawl  her eyes out.

    Meanwhile the audience was clapping and Jackson was sitting with Zack and Julian of course. He was in between them and he was playing with the sleeve of his jacket while a tear came down. Zack and Julian made eye contact for a second but didn't look at each other. Julian patted Jackson on the back.

       "It's gonna be okay buddy." Julian said

        "They better find the sicko that killed Cheyenne" Jackson said. He got up and left the gym. Zack and Julian didn't talk, but they talked to the people that were on their sides. They made eye contact time to time, but they would look away quickly.

    Soon the students were dismissed and continued back to their classes . It was only the start of the case. Jackson had made it to his class he sat in the back near the window and looked out the window. Then the teacher called on him "Mr. Barrett, you're wanted in the office." Jackson grabbed his stuff ad walked down the halls. As he walked down the halls they felt thinner and duller. There were posters that promoted clubs that had bright colors on them, but Jackson couldn't see those colors. The lockers had always been a dull color so nothing there had changed. Even though it wasn't down the route to the office the only locker that wasn't dull was Cheyenne's. It had flowers and candles lit near it. Jackson took a detour to her locker. He looked at it without shedding a tear. He looked down and saw that the candles had been blown out, He frowned  and then started to walk back to the office. When he walked in the office lady said "Hello Mr. Barrett, how are you doing?"

    "I could be better." He replied with.

    "I am sorry to hear that, well we have grief counselor that wants to talk to you. Go down the hall and the very last door on the left hand side is where he is located."

    "Thank you."   

    Jackson walked down the hall and went to the very last room. He knocked on a dark brown door and a short man opened it. His black hair was balding slightly and he had thick rimmed glasses and a very big nose. His lips were slightly chapped. He looked up at Jackson. "Mr. Barrett come in, come in." Jackson walked into the office. The room was white with one wood desk that curved and went against the wall. There was a smaller desk with two chairs on both sides of it. Jackson sat down in one of the chairs and the man sat down in the one across from him. There was a clipboard and blue pen at the table.

"Hello Mr. Barrett. I am Dr. Herakles, the grief counselor." Dr. Herakles said

"Please call me Jackson, Dr. Herakles." Jackson said.

"I have heard many good things about you, Jackson. Star of the football team great student so close to a 3.7 average. That's great. I also see that you are being looked at by dozens of colleges! Good job! Good Job"

"Thank you sir."

"Now for the reason I called you in. Recently your girlfriend recently passed of four years. I am greatly sorry for your loss. It has been brought to the school's attention that you're not handling it that well. So I am here to talk." Jackson got a little upset at this point. "Is there anything that you want to say about her death?"

"Well she was my girlfriend for four years. She was my other half. I loved her more than anything in the whole world. She was my sun, my moon, and my stars. Her death makes me upset. It's like you go from seeing someone every single day and now I can't. A cold blooded killer took my world away from me."

    "Tell me more about you relationship with Cheyenne."

    "Cheyenne had so many plans. We both had this plan to go to University of Arizona. Then she disappeared, then one day they found her dead."

    "Tell me how her death made you feel."

    "It was heartbreaking. Cheyenne was the love of my life. I know I am young, but I honestly thought that she was the one. Then that night she went missing I felt like my world just ended. I felt like my heart was gonna fall out of my butt. I had a massive headache and I felt like I had no control over my body. All I could do was look for her. Then after hours of searching my two best friends took me back to the house and calmed me down. I still had that little bit of hope that she was gonna sneak into my house like she always did and came back with a funny story to tell. Every night I would pray to God that would happen. Then that night of the bonfire and Julian found Cheyenne's body I lost all hope. I couldn't process anything. My world was shattered and I had the same instinct to just run. That time I didn't run but I drove. Could I stop now please."

    "Yes Mr. Barrett." Dr. Herakles past Jackson the tissue box. "Thank you for talking to me and I am always here."