Jorge Joestar (Light Novel)

Chapter 5: The Box

In the one photograph of him Mum had, taken at their wedding, Dad was handsome; not much taller than me, but three times as burly, with thick, straight, strong eyebrows, and gentle eyes. There was a sadness to him, like a frightened dog, trying to hide his weakness. His mouth was firmly closed, and he didn't seem like he was particularly talkative. His hair seemed soft and floppy, and tumbled over his ears and down his neck. Mum was standing close to him as if she could not love him more, and as if she was prepared to protect this fragile giant from anything that came his way.

When Mum led us into a basement room I had no idea even existed, and showed us Jonathan Joestar's head, he looked exactly like the picture, except his eyes were closed, and there was nothing below the neck.

When she'd told us she kept the severed head of my father for fifteen years since his death, I'd imagined a skull, with no flesh intact. But this head looked like he'd been killed mere moments ago – no, like he was still alive. The color of his skin was normal, with a healthy glow; his hair and eyebrows and eyelashes were black, like they were wet. His lips were pursed – this was an oddly attractive severed head. Mum kept it in a beautiful glass case that she clearly cleaned often.

"Jorge, this is your father,"

Mum said, but he seemed so alive I was afraid to say hello in case he opened his eyes and answered.

"It...it is dead, right?"

I asked.

"Don't call him 'it'!"

Mum snapped, the whip crack in her voice at least twice as strong as I'd ever heard it. She wasn't my Mum here; she was this head's wife.

"Sorry. But...he really looks like he's still alive,"

I said. Mum didn't answer. Eh? He was dead, right? "Gracious,"

Lisa Lisa said, her hands at her mouth. This all came as a shock to her, too.

"Then the rest of him...that horrible man who was in the box with us, he really..."

"You...remember? Lisa Lisa?"

"Yes. I thought it was a dream. That man was so scary, and you were so scared that I...I didn't really understand, but it seemed like you loved each other, and he seemed like Jorge's father, but Jorge's father was never so fearsome he made the very air around him quiver..."

Like she loved him? What did that mean? Confused, I looked at Mum, and she looked guilty. This confused me more.

What did it mean? In that box or coffin, while I was still inside her...what happened? Mum sighed.

"If you saw all that...of course you saw it, the box was so very small. But to actually remember it? You really are extraordinary, Lisa Lisa."

"Sorry......"

"You did nothing wrong. Heh heh heh. I suppose you did remember Jonathan's final breath, after all."

"...I was scared, I think. Desperate."

"Yes. And that fear didn't end when we escaped the ship."

"..........."

"Let me start at the beginning,"

Mum said. She had Straits and Penelope go upstairs, leaving only Lisa Lisa and myself. There was a couch, an easy chair and a table placed opposite the glass cabinet. It was clear Mum came down here sometimes, and spent time with him. Mum sat on the easy chair, and Lisa Lisa and I sat next to each other on the couch. This did not leave us facing her; the couches were arranged diagonally, like the letter V, so that you could gaze upon my father's head in the cabinet no matter which you were sitting on. It was clear Mum would sometimes lie down on this couch, gazing at father. Just the two of them. Even now, her eyes weren't looking at us, but at him.