The Unseemly

Chapter 12 - The Funeral

Chapter Twelve - The Funeral

Barbie hated funerals, always has since her grandmother died two years prior. The makeup they had put on her made her look fake. As if she were playing dress-up (which she never played). That had been the first and last one she promised herself. That promise had been broken when her father, Sheriff Peter Jenkins, told her she'd attend it due to Jason Stonebrooke being in only one of her classes. She wouldn't talk to him the entire car ride; she knew Chimmy and the gang would all be there as well, hell; the whole town would be there. This was the most prominent funeral this town has seen in decades; no one was missing this shit show. It was the two in one special; some of the townsfolk were calling it. Juicy gossip for Granite Bay women, sure all the ladies will be talking about how Judy went crazy and dropped dead on her mutilated son's corpse. Landon Stonebrooke decided not to have a wake for his wife and son; that would have been too much for him to bear.

Chimmy knew that all his friends would be at the funeral, so he didn't mind when his parents told him he had to go. His brothers got the option to stay home, which they gladly accepted. Lately, he had been thinking about Barbie; he wasn't sure why but felt as if he needed to protect her more than the others, as if she were more important than his other friends. Which this statement might be right. Since all this chaos, he sees Barbie as a girl now and not one of the boys. On the ride there, his parents asked the usual questions a parent would ask in a situation like this.

Gravestones lined the eerie graveyard; some were recently placed, others were cracked and disintegrating. Mold covered the engravings dedicated to the dead; large trees leaned towards the stones with branches reaching out to each other. Spiked, rusted fences enclosed the graveyard, almost like it was a prison yard. The smell of old stone filled the dry air, weeds housing the graves of the dead. Gravel paths weave through the maze of tombs, allowing passersby to paying their respects to the people lined up in the earth's embrace. At the end of one of the paths, Chimmy sees his friends gathered by a giant Pinchot Sycamore. As he approached his friends, he noticed that all of them, including himself, seemed more mature.

"This is fuckin' crazy, ain't it?" Chimmy says, leaning on the thick dark tree.

"Wait until I show you what my dad had lying around in his office. It was in the trash, so I assumed he didn't need it any longer." Barbie pulls out a crumpled piece of paper from her faded torn jeans. She hands it to Chimmy, and he unravels it quickly.

"I got the zorros," says Chimmy giving the picture to Rozzi.

"No wonder Mr. Stonebrooke didn't want an open casket before the funeral. You know how they normally let people see the body a couple days before." Gilly says. "Happened for my uncle Victor when I was a kid."

A loud squawk begins coming from the thick branches of the Sycamore tree. Chimmy notices a white feather hiding within. The noises grow louder; Chimmy sees that all the town has gathered around the burial plot where Jason and Judy Stonebrooke would live side by side for all of eternity.

"Look above us guys; I've never seen a white bird like that before," Chimmy says.

"Did you say white bird? My dad mentioned a White Raven that was at the crime scene when they found Jason's body. He said it was like the bird was admiring the kill." Barbie explained to them.

"We have to check the book of creatures from the library. I think I saw something about a White Raven. Maybe we can help your dad with his case; then he can help us with ours." Rozzi says, walking away and towards the crowd.

Chimmy held Barbie's hand during the funeral, she didn't mind, and he knew that she could use the comfort. She's got so much going on right now, the main one being a Seer, which sounds like a significant responsibility. He again saw the White Raven, but this time it was closer; watching the show. He pointed it out to Barbie, who then signaled her father, Sheriff Jenkins, to look to the west. He sees the raven and nudges a man next to him; they begin to chat and observe the bird for the remainder of the funeral. In the end, the White Raven flew away, heading toward The Pathway to Hell.

It was just past noon when the crowd dispersed and grew bored, just as the gang suspected. Only the children mourned the deaths of the deceased. The adults all had the same smirk upon their faces, all but Peter Jenkins and Nicholas Harrison.