TITLE:FAYETTEVILLE
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Evelyn finished her lemonade. The
conversation with Jasper was beyond small
talk. It was going deeper, to the meaty topics
she loved to talk about, and so did he.
"How is it living with Zach? I know this is still
fresh to you guys," Jasper said.
"Yeah. It's still fresh. To be honest, I'm mad.
Our parents just ditch our families and get
together. Now I'm step-siblings with someone
I was just acquainted with. Then, our parents
take off on some honeymoon. What were
they thinking?"
"Do they even know about what's been
happening here? About Genni?"
"If they had social media, but they're in some
cabin or something... I don't know. We can't
contact them. They said we probably wouldn't
be able to talk to them."
"That's weird." Jasper didn't think about
overstepping a boundary by calling her
parent and step-parent weird. Good thing she
didn't notice... or care.
Evelyn shrugged her shoulders and rolled her
eyes. She danced the ice around in her cup.
"If it makes you feel any better, my parents
fight all the time," he told her.
"Ah, the luxury of having parents that aren't
divorced."
"It's rare... but my parents act like it
anyways. Sometimes they don't even notice
me. It's like I'm not even there."
That hit Evelyn. She hated everything about it.
"I'm sorry, Jasper."
"No! It's okay. I'm not in a fit over it. It is
what it is. I'm about to graduate and Lord
knows where I'm going next."
---
The white sheet with Genni's face was
everywhere. It went from everyone looking at
it, to it just flapping in the cold wind. The
morning dew turning the corners of the sheet
into ice. Soon, the sun gets higher, it gets
brighter and it melts the ice. The damp
corners end up just like the rest of it:
unnoticed.
It wasn't about Genni being "MISSING"
anymore. Almost everyone in this small town
thought she was dead at this point... and they
were right.
They drove over it almost every day. The
bridge over the Elk River was hiding
something inside its cold waters: Genni's
body .
---
Jasper had his camera and the town square.
He loved the blinking traffic lights this late at
night. The yellow put a new tint on the
pavement that he felt was unique. The road
was empty. No one was out at this time of
night... so he thought. His denim jacket
wasn't keeping in enough warmth, but he
didn't care. He liked the lighting, and he loved
this surge of inspiration he was feeling. He
leaned down and put one knee on the ground.
He leaned to the left, hitting the button. Click.
The shutter in the camera flashed open to
take the picture.
Yes, it was a beautiful scene. His camera
was capturing something that would look
great on Instagram. But, something a little
more exciting was behind him. At the street
corner by the Coca-Cola mural on the brick
wall... someone was watching. But, he'd
never see who they were... the red hoodie
was hiding their face.
