Midnight Angel [Jenlisa FF]

~'~'~ Chapter 6 ~'~'~

"Then..." Jisoo released a shuddering breath, her hand gripping Jin's so tight that he winced. "Then in July of 2019..."

July of 2019? Lisa's ears perked up at that. She thought about the newspaper archives she'd been looking through when Jisoo's note had all but landed in her lap. Hadn't the first missing newspaper article she'd found been from that time? It only took her a moment to deduce that the articles that had been torn out related to Jennie. That was the obvious conclusion considering everything Jin and Jisoo had told her.

"The articles," Lisa muttered under her breath.

"What?" asked Jisoo, giving her an odd stare.

"In the newspaper archives...a lot of articles were torn out and they were from that time," Lisa clarified what she'd found.

"I'm not surprised," Jin mumbled to himself.

"What happened?" Lisa demanded. It had to be pretty bad. she knew that somehow.

Jisoo opened her mouth as if to answer, but then closed it quickly. She shook her head, closing her eyes against the harsh reality of the events of that day. Slowly, her right hand reached up to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. Then, finally, after a few more seconds of silence, she told her.

"Her brother, sister, and mother were murdered," she spoke, barely audible.

Lisa nearly fell out of her chair after straining to hear her words. Murdered? That was just completely unimaginable. Things like that didn't happen in towns like Cambria. But hadn't what she'd already heard told her this town was anything but peaceful? She wanted to speak, to say something, but she couldn't. And from the looks Jin and Jisoo were sharing, she could tell that there was something else yet unsaid.

"Her father found the bodies when he got home from work." This time it was Jin who talked, turning his face away to hide his tears. "Jennie had been home that night, but...but they never found her."

"What-what do you mean they never found her?" Lisa managed to utter, her mind a whirl of confusion and pain for the young girl.

"The bodies of her family were there, but Jennie just vanished," Jisoo elucidated, her voice raspy. "There was no trace of her."

Grimacing at the revelation, Lisa tried to understand how a woman could just vanish. Why would her family be found and not her? What had happened to Jennie?

"Do they think she was killed too?" Lisa asked, coming to what was to her the obvious conclusion.

Both Jisoo and Jin quickly averted their eyes, telling Lisa that the answer wasn't that simple. Lisa thought she heard Jin mutter 'if only.' But that only confused her more.

"What?" Lisa demanded.

"The police...they investigated," Jisoo began, her voice harsh and bitter. "But they...they closed the case after only a few weeks. They...they concluded that Jennie had...had killed her family in a fit of insane rage."

Lisa's mouth dropped open, thoroughly shocked at the newest turn of events. It was almost too much to believe. She felt like she was watching a suspense movie and not hearing the true story of the life of a beautiful young woman. Before she could object to the claim, Jin interrupted.

"We knew she could never do something like that," Jin stated, agreeing with Lisa's internal thoughts. "But the town's people jumped on it. They already hated her, and said she was nuts. To them, it just proved they were right."

"They said she killed them," Jisoo continued. "And that afterwards, when she'd realized what she'd done, she'd killed herself by jumping off the cliffs by her house."

"You don't believe she did?" Lisa asked She didn't know what to think. Looking at the picture of Jennie, she could never imagine her as having killed her own family. Of course, she'd never met her, but just from listening to the way her friends talked about her Lisa could tell she was a good person who'd been dealt some horrible cards in life. If she hadn't done what people accused her of, though, then what had happened to her?

"No, none of us thought she killed them or herself, but," Jisoo shrugged, "she was never seen after that day."

"Except for the ghost," Lisa said what they were all thinking.

Jisoo said nothing, but her eyes met Lisa's. She didn't have to say what was on her mind. She knew instantly what she suspected. Something, though, kept any of them from actually voicing the train of thought.

"Right," Jin drawled out.

"In the four years since it happened, several people have claimed to have seen her. The locals say she haunts the area, waiting to take revenge on everyone," Jisoo practically spat, her disgust clearly evident. "But she's pretty much a taboo topic around here. People prefer to never have her mentioned at all."

"Which is why I got the cold shoulder this morning," assumed Lisa.

"Got it in one," Jin laughed mirthlessly.

"So, what? People just ignore that it ever happened and go about their lives?" Lisa bit out, angry that the residents of this town could be so callous.

"For the most part," said Jisoo. "None of us will ever forget it, but most people care not to think about it."

"So, you're saying I should just forget what I saw?" Lisa questioned in disbelief. How was she supposed to ignore that she had seen a ghost...or possibly something else entirely?

Again, Jisoo gave her a look, telling her with her eyes what she was unwilling to say with words. She didn't want her to forget it. She wanted to know what she'd seen. But more so, she wanted to know the truth. She could only imagine how the lies and horrors of her friend forever haunted her. So, he nodded, accepting her unbidden request to keep her eyes open for anything she might see.

"All we're saying is to keep your mouth shut. If you don't want to make enemies here, you'll not talk about it in public," Jin requested, and Lisa could tell that he, too, was more than curious about the so-called ghost that haunted the beach near her house.

"Right," Lisa agreed. It made sense. As angry and disturbed as she was by all that she'd heard, Lisa had no desire to actively stir up trouble. Still...if she saw something...well, she wouldn't exactly turn the other way.

"We have to go," Jisoo said, rising from her seat. "Here's our number...," she trailed off, leaving Lisa to assume she wanted to know if Lisa saw anything.

Lisa rose, too, and accepted the piece of paper she had in her hand. "Thank you, for telling me."

"You're welcome." Jisoo nodded sadly at her before leaving with Jin.