Mona Liza Lies

1 | Wine and Water

The door creaked open.

A few heads turned, but upon seeing it's just someone arriving late to the ceremony, they looked back to Julia, who was giving a speech, hardly trying to fight back her tears. 

Mona closed the door behind her, then sneaked around the people listening to the eulogy, and spotted who she was looking for. She moved quickly, and slowly crept up behind him.

"Dennis," she whispered, slightly tapping his shoulders.

He was surprised to see the roommate of his deceased girlfriend arrive four hours later than she was supposed to.

"Where the hell were you?" He whispered angrily.

"I was outside chasing after a — uhm — goat." She mouthed innocently. She wasn't known for her lying skills.

"And my father, Santa Claus, called to tell me you were lying."

"I'm not lying!" Mona scoffed.

"Okay fine, we'll argue later. Now, where's my pie?"

"Shush!" An elderly man behind them said, pointing to the table where Julia was talking.

Dennis rolled his eyes. For someone who just lost the love of his life, he seemed quite chipper.

"For your sake, please don't shush us again. Your teeth would fall out," Mona said pleasantly.

The man looked outraged. Dennis cut through before it could escalate.

"Pie!"

"I forgot about the fucking pie! Now listen, we have a situation."

"You mean the situation where the dead girl's boyfriend kills her roommate because she didn't do the one thing he asked her to do? Yeah, I can see that happening."

Mona flipped him off and a loud scream made them end their conversation.

Julie, who was in the process of retelling how clumsy Liza used to be, backed away from the table with a wild look on her face. She was pointing to the middle of the room, her fingers shaking wildly. 

Everyone smelled the goat before they saw it.

"What the fuck?" Dennis whispered while the people around the goat started to yell and shriek.

Julia immediately gestured for a glass of water and someone near to her passed on their wine glass. 

"No!" Mona yelled. 

If there was one thing she knew about the Severin family, it's to never ever get aunt Julia drunk. Her voice got lost with all the other uproars.

"Why is there a goat inside?" Dennis pushed away the people to look at the animal closely. All this excitement made no effect on the goat, which remained bored, occasionally looking at Julia, who chugged down the wine as if it's the elixir of youth.

That's gonna bite you back sister, the goat seemed to say.

"I told you we had a situation," Mona stated with her hands crossed.

"I assumed you misplaced the wine with champagne or something! You didn't tell me it was a goat situation!"

"My bad. I forgot the rules. There's Code Red, Code Blue, and the most dangerous of all, Code Goat."

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING?" A woman in her late 40s came into the scene, looking to vaporize anyone who might even slightly be affiliated with the situation. 

"Mrs. Severin!" Mona put on her most pleasing smile, taking a step forwards. The noise had died out by now and all eyes were either on her or the goat.