The Post Sunday Experiment | COMPLETED 2020

Chapter 41

The hours to come were black and white. Not the same plain black and white as the dull school life Ody used to have in the city, but a new black and white— a monotonous one filled with emptiness and a sadness beyond words.

After the sirens and red and blue lights that took Penny faded in the distance, Ody's world became colorless. Eric didn't know what to say to the boy. He sat by his phone on the floor with his head in his hands.

Allowing his tear-stained eyes drifted about the empty halls of the house, Ody rose and walked out the door. Leaving Eric behind him, Ody made his way past the beds of plants. He passed many overgrown plants that Devlin had once planted and cared for by hand.

As he knelt down next to the white flower, his eyes drifted to the little white sign that read 'water hemlock.' He didn't dare to touch the deathly poisonous flower but stared at it. Eric stood behind the boy.

Without turning to meet Eric's broken eyes, Ody spoke to the man.

"How could this happen, Eric? Why was it her? She had to have been the most protected out of all of us!" Ody couldn't his eyes away from the white flower.

"Ody... I- I don't know," the man spoke softly.

"But how? How could this happen to her? Devlin made sure to keep her safe from the radiation. She was safe! She was the only one who was safe! Why her, Eric? Why her? Why not me?"

"Ody, I-"

"You what?" Ody cried as he tore his eyes away from the plant to meet Eric's heartbroken ones. "When was she exposed to the radiation? She was perfectly clean only days ago. They tested her! How could she have changed that quickly? It's not like she was trapped in a room full of it—"

Ody paused and the tears fell down his face.

"It- it was the—the room. It-it w-was wh-where they t-tested her wasn't it? All that equipment—that has to be what pushed her over. Her weak mind couldn't deal with the intensity after all those years without exposure to radiation. That- that's why I never got it. I- I always had the radiation and my mind had built up a tolerance to it. " His voice broke again as the tears poured from his eyes.

"Ody... please, we don't know..."

"No! We could have stopped this! We could've helped her and she would still be here! She would've woken up this morning if we'd known! Eric that's why this is such a big deal. People are dying and we could have prevented their deaths. That's why."

"O- Ody can we please just go back inside?" Eric dropped his gaze from the boy's burning one.

***

One week later

The feeling that weighed Ody down never went away. It pulled on every part of him, day after day, despite the passing time. He walked through the halls of the funeral home he had visited only weeks ago for his father. He was now back again for his sister and it tore him apart. He wondered if he would be next but quickly pushed the thought away.

The people around him were crying like he should be at the open casket containing the pretty little twelve-year-old girl wearing her sunflower overalls and mustard-yellow undershirt. Her skin had a pale gray color.

She wasn't coming back, he knew that. She and Devlin were never coming back but Ody still couldn't help but pray for their return. As everyone he used to know came up and around him, he avoided their pitiful eye contact. He was the boy whose family kept dying. The people meant no harm, but he could see the disgust at the cause of death once more being suicide.

They blamed the father who only weeks ago they'd cried for. They said this little girl's death was his fault. They knew nothing.

As the crowd slowly faded, Ody stayed behind, standing by her casket even though it was eerie watching his sister lay unmoving in the large box. Part of him wanted to be angry with the little girl. He loved her too much to truly be mad.

Mae sat across the room, sobbing in the corner as people came up to hug her and leave flowers on their way out. She talked a little more to the guests than Ody did, but she barely opened her mouth. It was as if she feared that if she said too much, she'd fall apart in front of these people. These people blamed her as well for Penny's death. She couldn't stand the guilt and pity they silently hurled at her with their accusatory gazes.

After the last guest came through and they'd closed, Ody, Mae, and Eric watched Penny descend into the ground. Cazenovia was her home, where she belonged for good. Ody choked back a sob as they poured the dirt over the wooden coffin.

When the burial was completed, Ody took a deep breath and turned to Eric.

"I don't think you need that break anymore," Eric turned to face with a quizzical expression on his face. "Your job; you told them you wanted a break. Penny's not here to spend time with any of us over your break." Ody's voice sounded hysterical.

"I—" Eric stuttered, but Ody interrupted him.

"I want to go with you. I want to join the next Post Sunday Experiment. I need to join it. I-I ca-can't sit and wait for more people to die without doing something about it. Whatever they need you for next, I'm coming. I don't care if I'm too young and still in school. I'm coming. I have to. No one else should die like this."

"Ody, you can't," Mae spoke as she rubbed her eyes.

"No, Mom, I have to. And gosh darn it, I'm sorry. If I had just sucked up my pride and told you I loved you back then, we'd never be here. I would've stayed in New York City, Penny would've come to live with us and no one more would've gotten hurt."

"Ody, honey, this is not your fault-"

"Maybe it's not, but I still need to help. Please, Eric let me come with you. Please Mom, I love you and I always have. Please, don't let me make the same mistake I did last time."

Crying, Mae wrapped her baby boy in her arms. He was the only bit of family she had left.

"I love you too, honey. God dammit, if that is what you want, go do it, babe. I know you will find your way there with or without my permission, but please," she spoke as she turned to Eric, "Keep him safe."

"Yes ma'am." Eric nodded automatically. He didn't have to ponder the severity of his promise. He hadn't been able to save Penny, but he would keep Ody safe.

Ody, Mae and Eric placed a bundle of lilies on Penny's grave and turned to leave her behind. Consumatum est. It was the end of a season, but the start of a new decade and a new chapter in their lives. They had to let her go. All three of them still had jobs to do, lives to save, and things to plan for. With one death sprouts a new life. Penny's passing gave Ody a purpose. He couldn't let it go. He loved her so much. He needed to do this for her; he needed to do this for his little sister.