Life after Death

Chapter Twenty-One

Third-Person POV

Land of the Living (One month after Hezekiah's execution)...

After the murder of Hezekiah and getting rid of everything that he owned while keeping his "death" out of the headlines, one would think that his family would be able to get away with the perfect crime while keeping up with their "diamond-standard family" persona that they aspired to achieve.

However, it's been said that what one gives in life is what life gives you back, depending on what you put out into the world.

Looks like no one had been able to get the message out to Jeffrey and Adelle Chamblee since the perfect family picture was starting to come unglued  slowly yet gradually. For the head patriarch, he started to drink heavily and get more reckless with his mistresses while his wife spent more on her cosmetic surgeries and fashions while being more and more domineering with her children's lifestyles- always demanding more than perfection with their affairs in the more-abrasive manner that she did with Hezekiah.

And speaking of the remaining children, their lives were starting to come more and more unbalanced. Leigh-Anne was soon exposed for her eating disorders that resulted from crash dieting and heavy exercising as instructed by her mother and agents. Not only that, she was soon popping Xanax pills to control her depression while downing them with alcohol. Unfortunately for her, the end of her modeling career came when she was charged with DUI and attempted murders. All her sponsors pulled out and she was soon ditched by her Latin model boyfriend. It took a lot of money to make everything go away, but Leigh-Anne was soon placed in rehab for an indefinite period of time.

Alex was getting involved in steroids to enhance his chances of remaining captain of the sports team that he shared with his brother. Unfortunately, he soon gain the reputation of being a terrible team captain with treating newcomers with disdain and trainees as his slaves. His coaches soon confronted him and kicked him off to save their reputations. Jeffrey wasn't too amused with the developments and had him enrolled in military-theme summer camp to straighten him out. Needless to say, Alex threw a fit worthy of a tyrant as the drill sergeants sent to pick him up carried him out of the manor.

Mariah, with her engagement to Andrew, was starting to get more and more promiscuous. Surprisingly enough, she and Andrew were in an open relationship with multiple partners while keeping things under wraps. Unfortunately for them, their relationship status came under fire when they were seen with underaged students from Allendale Christian Academy. That led to the private school withdrawing their alliances with the family as the school's basketball courts named after the patriarch changed its name to that of a late educator who came from a good-standing family.

Cameron, however, was the one who kept out of the negative spotlight. Since the memorial service, he made sure that he kept his priorities straightened out and made sure to keep his nose clean for the sake of his soul. Through one of his classmates, he started attending church services and became a born-again Christian. Unfortunately for him, that also meant that he was to bear the brunt of his family's relentless pursuit of perfection as both of his parents dictated his futures. So he was soon pushed into the background while his twin brother and older sisters got more and more attention and they needing to rehabilitate their images.

But what they didn't know was that Cameron was keeping contact with Mrs. Minnie Jean Simmons alongside the former employees and Senator Coleman as they conspired to work together and bring down the family thanks to Hezekiah's journal entries that featured some revealing and scandalous news and secrets about the family in general. Cameron knew the risks that he was facing once he handed him his older brother's journal. But he knew that this family was too gone with their dark dealings. And thanks to some new information (and a few hidden cameras that were installed by the former guard before the tragedy), it was going to be more than enough to finally bring the family down once and for all.

And as Cameron was finally packing up for a summer camp that would last until Mariah and Andrew's planned wedding at the end of August before school began; he had one wish in mind: to bring justice for Hezekiah and expose his family as the brood of vipers that they were. He knew that he could've done more to ease his older brother's suffering in the past, but he hoped that Mr. Coleman's plans was going to be enough for penance. "I'm sorry, Hezekiah," he said to himself as he zipped up the last of his suitcases before the maids came to collect them and he got dressed to wait for the liaison to take him to the airport. "But what's done in the dark would soon be brought to the light."

Finally dressed and ready, he greeted his escort that would take him to the airport where he would fly to Europe for his time at camp. "Soon, Hezekiah. Soon all will be made right again," the future high-schooler vowed as he said his goodbyes to his parents.

He was sure of it.

Cumulative word-count so far: 25,07 words.

All right, folks! The perfect family picture is coming undone as their misdeeds are soon tarnishing their personas and soon exposing their misdeeds. But the big blow will come at Mariah's wedding to Andrew as Coleman and Company (Cameron included) lower the boom.

But coming up next, plans for Chance and Hezekiah's wedding are underway as Landon McMurray arrives in the neighborhood and makes his case to the engaged couple...in more ways than one. Oh, my!

Dedication: _omanita and iamRodneyVSmith. Song: "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.

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