What She Left Behind ✔️

chapter twenty-six

I awaken with a sore back and stiff neck. As a child, I loved sleeping on the couch. As an adult, it's crippling.

I tiptoe to the bathroom to get ready for work. I shower, put on a bit of makeup—Griffin will be there, after all—and then throw on the first clean thing I can find. Once I'm presentable, I head to the kitchen to grab a bagel to-go. I'm about to walk out the door when my cell phone rings.

"Hi, Mom," I answer, balancing my phone between my shoulder and my ear. "Look, if this is about the Benson/Alyx drama that unfolded last night, I don't want to talk about it. I've had just about enough of all of them." I think about Benson's you-know-nothing-about-kids jibe and Bowie's disappearing act and shake my head. "Besides, I'm on my way to work right now. I don't exactly have time to chat."

"I was hoping to catch you before you went in. I just wanted to let you know that Raelyn's burial will take place this Friday at five. Now that it's April, the ground has finally thawed enough," she informs me. "You can make it, right?"

"Wait, her burial? What is there to bury? She was cremated."

"We're burying the urn."

"Burying the urn? Is that something people do?"

"It's what we're doing."

I roll my eyes as I walk to my car. "I thought the whole point of cremation was so that you wouldn't end up in a hole six feet under."

"I want to have a place we can go to remember her," my mom says. "I want Vange to be able to go the cemetery and sit down and talk to her mom."

I unlock my Nissan and turn on the engine. "I'm about to start driving, but I'll be there on Friday," I tell her. "I love you. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait! Have you heard from Bowie?" she asks before I can hang up. "He never came home last night."

I recall my most recent conversation with him. He was so upset. He was on the verge of tears before I left to talk to Benson.

"No, not since last night," I reply, butterflies swarming in my stomach. "I'll give him a call later, okay? Can you just text me if you hear from him?"

"Will do, honey. Have a great day."

From there, my day is not great. In fact, it goes by slowly. I struggle to focus on my work. Ella talks to me, but I only half-listen. My thoughts keep going back to Bowie and Raelyn. For once, I'm relieved when five o'clock rolls around and people start exiting the building.

As the night drags on, I keep my phone on the highest volume and wait to here from Mom about Bowie. It's unlike him to disappear for this long without telling anyone. I know that he's twenty-one. Legally, he can run away from home without contacting anyone. He just knows better than to do so, especially after what happened with Raelyn.

Around nine-thirty, I finally get a call. I let out an audible sigh of relief when I see my little brother's name on the screen.

"Bowie! Hey!" I answer. "God, I've been worried about you all day. Where have you been?"

"I slept at a friend's house last night," he says. "I... I think I'm gonna be staying here for a while, actually."

"It's not because of what happened last night, is it? I never should have shown you Raelyn's videos. I'm so sorry, Bowie."

"It's not the videos. It's just... everything. I think I need some space for a while."

"Oh, okay." I sink into the couch and pull a blanket over myself. "Bowie, last night, you were going to tell me something. Do you want to tell me now?"