Life after Death: The Afterlife of Hezekiah Chamblee

Chapter Seven: My Brother's Life, Pt. One

Third-Person POV

Three days after Hezekiah's death...

"I still can't believe that Cameron's giving us the silent treatment," Alex scoffed as he joined his older sisters for lunch, the newly-hired chefs (and the other newly-hired help swearing their allegiance to the family and what they stand for, save for a few who scorn the family in general other than Cameron) keeping silent as they served the food. "And all because of that loser who's not worth sobbing over for."

"It's because they shared that brotherly bond or whatever that old hag Simmons placed on them," Leigh-Anne commented as she sipped on a glass of lemon water,  she and Mariah dressed in matching Dior. "Has he even apologized for punching you yet?"

"No, not even once. My twin should be the perfect image of Dad and myself, not being some whiny loser. Fine twin I got stuck with. What's even worse is that he's totally moved out of our bedroom and wanting to have his own nanny. Might as well since Jana Sauerkraut thought that I was too evil to be his brother while she treated him like her grandson."

"All old ladies have their favorites," Mariah hummed, "but Mrs. Simmons should've spent more time with us than with him and Hezekiah anyway. We were the only ones who gave her luxury gifts while Dad and Mom made sure she got paid well while taking care of her family. Some head maid she was. I'm glad that she and everyone else who was on her side won't be at my wedding."

"Definitely," Leigh-Anne agreed. "Come to think of it, I'm actually glad that Mom and Dad let them leave. All of them liked that loser because he was so..."

"Worthless, like they were?" Alex suggested. "Obviously. Dad wanted Hezekiah to just let him work for them, but Mom said that it would've just brought back the memories of her attacker. Besides, Mom said that he was worth more to the family dead than alive thanks to the insurance policy she filed on him."

"Any of you guys will miss him?" Mariah asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Not a chance," Alex scoffed. "He basically polluted my brother with that hag's words and beliefs. I didn't want that to affect me at all."

"Me neither," Mariah agreed. "Besides, Andy thought that he might've brought bad luck if he was at our wedding. His suicide did us a favor."

"For sure," Leigh-Anne said as she sat up and raised her glass of lemon water. "Let's drink to the loser's death and make this vow to move forward. After the funeral that'll be held next week, we move on with our lives and put him with the other ghosts in the past. A toast to the death of Hezekiah Chamblee."

"To the death of Hezekiah Chamblee," her siblings cheered as the clinked their glasses and continued to eat their food.

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Meanwhile...

Cameron huffed a deep breathed as Jana (his assigned nanny upon request whom took a liking to him and was known to be Minnie Jean's friend) closed the door. "You see what I'm dealing with?" He said to the older woman. "This is what's been like since Hezekiah died. No one has even shed one tear for him like I did."

Jana Salzbach (a widowed grandmother from Munich) sighed heavily as she joined him on the bed, sitting next to him. "Minnie warned me about this family, but I never expected anything like this," she said, her German accent thick with age and contempt for the people who hired her. "Young man, I'm sorry that your brother got dealt with such a bad hand. Are you truly sure that he didn't commit suicide as your parents said."

"I've never been more sure about anything other than that," Cameron vowed as he grabbed the journal (the one item that he kept hidden while Hezekiah's belongings were swiftly thrown away by his mother's orders) from the bedside drawer. "And my brother  said to me himself that if anything happened to him it was our parents who had a hand in this. Which is why I have to read about Hezekiah's life."