A Rose on the Grave

Chapter Two- Out of Sync


Kristy Lowery was beat, and she looked it. Her usually pristine auburn hair was tousled- not in a deliberate, sexy way; more like a cloud of birds had decided to permanently take nest on her head. She was wearing sweatpants that looked vaguely as though they belonged to her son Jake, a baggy old tee shirt of her ex-husband's, and ugly old granny panties. Not that anyone would be seeing the latter article, but it was the principle of the thing.

Things had been out of sync since her best friend and her husband had died. It had been a week since the burial, and very hectic. God, it was a whirlwind. Kristy almost thanked the Lord for the veritable hellfire of work she had had to do- moving herself into the Murry house, moving Jake and Sophie's stuff into the house, trying to comfort her best friend's kids and failing miserably- all the while trying to comfort herself for a loss that had ripped out a sizeable chunk of her heart.

"Well, that's the last box," Kristy said, smiling lamely at Desmond and Jesse who had been standing awkwardly. "I have too much shit, don't I?" she sighed, looking at the mountain of taped up cardboard boxes.

Jesse quirked his lips a bit, but it was soon replaced by a half-horrified look. As if he felt that he had no right to smile or enjoy life at all. Kristy's heart ached for him, and she put a hand around the curve of his cheek. "Oh Jess." She had known these kids since they had been born, had been there each time Jessica had given birth to these beautiful children. She had changed their diapers, bathed them, watched them take their first steps, grow slowly into the teenagers they were today... and now Kristy was responsible for raising them into adults. It was kind of mind-boggling, a little scary how much Jessie had trusted her.

She stopped for a moment, breathed hard. At the moment, even a single thought of Jessica Murry was so painful that Kristy felt a strong current of slashing hurt. And yet it was impossible to not think of her. It was hard to believe that her friend was gone. The two had grown up together in the same neighborhood, gone to the same elementary, middle, and high schools, and maintained a lasting friendship to adulthood. When Kristy had gone through her divorce, pregnant with Sophie at the time and about to fall apart, it had been Jessie that had taken her hand and held it. Promised to never let go.

Jesse was so much like his mother, too, that same playful, loving, unendingly charming nature, so sweet and kind. Kristy drew the young boy into her warm arms, felt him shudder. "It's okay to cry, Jess."

Desmond was harder to understand, for most people. He kept his emotions tightly under chain and lock- always had, since he was young. At the moment, Des looked so young to Kristy, though obviously he was trying to put on a veneer of invincibility. His thick sable hair was way too long and skimmed the collar of his plain black T-shirt, and his grey-blue eyes looked shuttered. But Kristy knew he was grieving inside. She only wished she could allieve it.

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She went back to school the coming Monday, even though Kristy had said she could take the week off. It was better to go back into the routine, act as if nothing had changed. Better to face the blatant stares and whispers now.

Arlen had compartmentalized herself. It eased the pain when she could lock things up into it's separate drawers, then keep them closed. Even aside from her parents' death, everything had changed so rapidly, her head was spinning. Aunt Kristy and her two kids, Jake and Sophie had moved into the Murry house immediately following the accident. They had just finished bringing a few of their clothes and stuff, and starting to get adjusted to this new routine.

It was quite simply odd to see them in the house. Sure, their house was really big, it was actually a kind of mansion, minus the cool parts. Arlen had never though of their family as wealthy, but it was true that they had a lot of money. Her parents had been good with it, had a lot of business sense. She swallowed a bit. So they didn't have to worry about that. Anyway, Arlen hadn't really considered their family to be "rich" or anything, because her parents had taught them early on that they weren't going to flaunt it. They had lived comfortably, and on special occasions, they had splurged, but it wasn't like any of them always had money to burn and wore designer everything.

Aunt Kristy was really nice. In fact, Arlen adored her and always had. Who wouldn't? Kristina Lowery was the hippest mother around. She was absolutely gorgeous, with long wavy auburn hair, soft green-gray eyes, and a curvy body that Arlen envied.
She had briefly modeled and been in a couple of movies before marrying some scumbag loser. Later, Kristy had found a niche in clothes design, and was quickly growing more and more popular. Jessica Alba had worn one of her lovely evening gowns to some red carpet event and her sales had skyrocketed. But in spite of all that, Aunt Kristy was very down to earth and cooked the meanest chili ever. So it wasn't like Arlen and her brothers were stuck with some step-bitch.

Also, everyone liked Jake and Sophie. Jacob Lowery was eighteen and considered a total hunk by the entire female population in Graham, Ohio. Girls sighed dreamily about his soft hazel eyes and slow, easygoing smile. Though he could at first seem intimidating, with his enormous height of 6'4'' and a full 200 pounds easy, he was immensely sweet, hard-working, and an all around good person. He was the kind of guy every other guy liked to hang out with, and the kind of guy that mothers would trust their daughters with.

And Sophie was the funniest girl to be around. She had a ton of personality, and was pretty as anything. At thirteen, she was already quite mature, and had seemingly skipped that period of time when teenaged girls turn into eyeliner plastered goths or Abercrombie and Fitch advertisements that giggled like a freak every few seconds.

But still it was just so out of sync. It was weird that her parents weren't there anymore, to kid around with, to just talk to. Instead, Kristy was there and it felt to Arlen as if she was living in an alien place that looked exactly like her house, but wasn't. She sighed harshly.

Then there was that thing with Jake. She shook her head hard as she poured some Lucky Charms into her favorite blue plastic cereal bowl. Arlen didn't know what had come over her that day. She had put it aside to crazed grief. Who wouldn't just have taken the comfort given freely by a pair of familiar arms? No one could blame her for crying.

He had been so nice, not talking or saying stupid things like everyone else had. Arlen knew all the visitors had meant well, but that didn't help. Sorry just didn't cut it. Arlen hadn't really thought about it before all this had happened, but it was true. Just saying that you felt sympathy did not do any good when the other person's heart had just been stomped on, when the other person had lost two of the people she loved most in the world. Apologies were just suffocating. But Jake had just held her, let her erupt her bottled grief onto him, and accepted it without a word.

It had felt so good, just weeping until the tears dried up and she was empty of any feeling except a sense of relief at emptying out the bitterness that had been curling around her stomach. The crying didn't bring her parents back, didn't even really help much, but an ounce of it had flown away. So it wasn't that Arlen was upset at showing "weakness" in front of someone else.

No, what was disturbing was that afterwards, she had gone home, lain on her bed and stared at the ceiling. There had been butterflies fluttering within her for hours after that moment. She could remember the feeling of his solid strength, the way his arms had wrapped so perfectly around her. She fell asleep that night, dreaming of that swift little barely-there kiss Jake had gently rubbed onto her forehead, so tender that it shook her.

It angered Arlen. This was Jake she was thinking about. Jake, who she'd known practically all her life. They had always been together at holidays. It was almost like thinking about a relative incestuously. And right after her parents' death. How much more wrong could you get? Arlen slammed her spoon into her now soggy cereal, having lost her appetite.

"What's wrong, Arlie? Not feeling hungry?" Arlen jumped at the voice, then relaxed. It was Kristy, looking weary and messy, but still managing to look absolutely glamorous in her cherry silk gown and cow-print bedroom slippers, her red-brown hair falling loose around her shoulders. She peered into Arlen's cereal bowl and made a face. "That looks gross, darling. Should I fix you up some bacon and eggs?"

Arlen's stomach felt queasy just thinking about it. "No thanks, Aunt Kristy. I'll just go to school now."

"Des is going to stay home. He doesn't feel good, he said," the older woman said softly, her eyes sad. "It's a little early yet, why don't you wait for Jake? He'll drive you, Matt, Jesse, and Sophie to school."

"No, it's all right. It would be too crowded with me, and I won't mind taking my bicycle. If I go now, I'll make it with time to spare," Arlen said hastily. She grabbed her bookbag from the seat beside her, slung it over her shoulder, and waved goodbye. She didn't want to even think about cars, her brothers, or Jake. It was too early yet.

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Thanks for reading!

-Ella