Sara

1

Sara knew her sister hadn't cheated. She'd retained a divorce lawyer, yes, but she certainly hadn't cheated.

Leah Lark had class, after all.

Besides, she told Sara everything.

And yes, that meant whether or not she would have cheated.

[----]

Sara got the phone call while she was at work.

She was in the middle of filling a prescription handed to her by an elderly woman, waiting on the other side of the counter. Then her phone rang, startling her out of her search for the right bottle of pills, which had somehow been misplaced. Caller ID proclaimed the caller as her mother.

"Hello?" she answered, waiting for an apology for having called the wrong number or a quick question about ideas for dinner over the weekend. But no, she was wrong.

"Sara," she heard her mother choke out. "Sara, Leah's dead."

The world stopped.

Sara fell back, knocking against the counter and tipping over the bottle of pills, barely hearing its rattle as it fell onto its side and rolled off the counter. She vaguely heard her mother continue on, sobs intermingling with her words, and her customer asking if she was okay. "Sara?" "Miss?" "Sara?" "Miss?" The words echoed in her head, forming an unearthly chorus.

Sara? Miss? Sara? Miss?

"Holy crap, Sara, what's wrong?"

Sara's breathing came fast and shallow as she steadied herself against the counter, keeping her eyes on the floor, away from the worried customer and her coworker, Jack. "Mom?" she began, her voice strangled. "I'll call you back, okay? Just give me a minute."

"Sara –" her mother's tearful voice started, but Sara couldn't take it. She hung up.

Brushing past Jack and his worried inquiries, Sara hurried into the back offices, heading into hers and shutting the door. Leaning against the door, Sara put her head back and closed her eyes, feeling a tear slide down her cheek.

Leah was dead. Leah was dead. LEAH. WAS. DEAD.

How? How did Leah die? She was fine, she was healthy, she had left Sara a message last night that she hadn't had time to listen to yet. But she had texted Sara a moment after leaving the message, telling her not to call her back because she was going to bed.

Picking up her cellphone, Sara unlocked the screen and found her mother's number. She hit the number and listened to the numbers dial, trying to keep herself from sobbing.

"Sara," her mother cried on picking up.

"I'm sorry, I needed privacy. Leah's dead? What happened?" Her voice choked.

Her mother took a deep breath, choking on a sob. "She was shot, Sara. Leah was shot. Darius shot her."

Darius shot her.

"Darius shot her?" Sara repeated, horror flowing over her.

Darius. Leah's six foot four husband, tall and muscular, with his dark hair and stubble and his tough guy persona that still was willing to laugh hilariously at a good joke. They had been married four years and although Leah had grown unhappy with her marriage and was looking for an out, she had told Sara it was strictly due to finding themselves incompatible.

"Why?"

"He murdered my Leah!" her mother screamed. "The animal! The bastard! He killed my Leah, he took my little Leah from me!"

Sara heard her voice trail off into heavy sobs and she tried to talk through the noise. "Hold on, Mom, I'm coming home." Then she hung up, needing to tell Jack she was leaving and needing to not be listening to her mother's crying while she spoke about a "family emergency."

Leah is dead. Leah is dead. Leah is dead. Leah is dead.

In a daze, Sara collected her purse and headed for the door. Leaving her office, she glanced around for Jack and saw him behind the counter, sending worried glances in the direction of her door. When he saw her, he finished up with the customer and stepped over to her.

"Sara, is everything all right?" he asked quietly.

"F-family emergency, Jack," Sara said, struggling to keep her voice from trembling. "I j-just need to go."

He nodded, eyes serious and worried. "I'll tell the boss. Just go home."

Sara nodded and fled for the door, shoving it open and into the cold wintry air. She vaguely realized she'd forgotten her coat as light snow flakes landed in her dark brown hair, but she kept going, looking for her silver grey car. Running across the damp pavement, she unlocked it and shoved her purse inside, jumping into the seat and starting the engine.

She barely remembered the drive home; she was so numb from the shock of hearing that Leah was dead, murdered. After pulling into the driveway of her mother's house, she staggered out of the car and ran up to the door, letting herself into the darkened home.

"Mom?" Sara called, closing the door behind her. "Mom, it's Sara. Where are you?"

Sobbing from the living room drew Sara's attention and she hurried into the room, seeing her mother standing by the mantel, holding a framed photo as shadows flickered over her, the fire crackling.

"Mom," Sara said, dropping her purse on the closest chair and moving over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and staring at the picture. It was a picture of the four of them at the beach, Leah with her arms around Sara's neck and laughing, her head back and light red hair blowing in the wind. Sara had an arm around her mother's shoulder as Darius had his arms around Leah's waist, her hair partially obscuring his face. They had all laughed when they had viewed the photo afterwards, the man they had gotten to take their photo offering to take another one, but Darius had shaken his head. "I love it for its imperfections," he had said, kissing Leah's cheek.

Now Sara's mother aggressively rubbed her finger over Darius' face, as if hoping to erase him from the picture. But he wasn't the one who was dead, Leah was, and no amount of scrubbing at the glass could change that.

Gently, Sara took the photo out of her mother's hand and placed it back on the mantle, feeling tears sting her eyes at the sight of her laughing, smiling sister, the sound of the waves beating through her memories. Her mother turned to her, hugging her tightly and crying. "Leah," she sobbed. "Leah. Why my Leah? Why?"

Sara silently cried as she held her mother before the fire, repeating the question in her head. Why? Why? Why? Why Leah? Why my sister?

Why?

/**/

The first chapter's up! What did you think? Of Sara, of the murder? Interested to find out what happens next?

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a vote!

Skylar Wittenborn