Little White Lies

1. Welcome to the land of the dead

But Evan was devasted. He and Mom were super close and practically did everything together. They worked on homework together, watched movies together, and even sometimes fell asleep at the same time. The same thing with my dad. He and Mom were super in love even after twenty years of marriage and her death shook him hard. He fell into a four-month depression he was still masking and shut us out for quite some time.

Drowning his pain in alcohol and tears didn't prove to be a cure.

It wasn't until our aunt reached out to us and suggested we move to Virginia where we could be closer to our relatives did he recover from his dark hole. Before I knew it, we had already bought a house and our clothes were packed in boxes.

I didn't mind the move, to be honest. I was looking forward to a new change. Things were beginning to get crappy for me back in Vermont and the last thing I needed was to see the people that hurt me and plastered on fake smiles at my mom's funeral next fall.

"Really?" I hissed at my brother, shaking my head. "You don't have to be a jerk all the time." He only frowned at me, waving his hands as if I were a fly that was buzzing over his head. A sigh escaped my lips, turning my attention back to the window that was now stained with little droplets of rain.

The sky was now a cruel grey, the sunlight slowly dying from behind the puffy clouds.

The car was silent once again, nothing but the wind against the windows and the quiet voice of Of Verona singing through the radio. We turned a corner, a rather steep one, and were now trending among a dark, charcoal road.

Everything seemed normal, even happy despite the gnarled branches and fallen leaves.

But the squeal of a horn and the sudden brakes lurched my body forward, capturing me by surprise.

 "What the hell, Dad?" Evan screamed as I rubbed my sore cheek with my hand. "Trying to reunite us with Mom, I see."

This time, I kicked him in the shins. "You are a true dickhead" I hissed at Evan, who cursed back at me, retrieving his phone from the floor.

"And you're a pain in the ass" he hissed at me, rolling his eyes and looking out the window.

Our dad sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, his watery eyes looking over his shoulder to meet my eyes before breaking contact.

Pulling myself away from my brother, I looked over the passenger seat to see a yellow tape crossing the road. At least five police cars were on the way along with an ambulance and several students crouched around the edge of a lake. "What the hell?" I hissed as I watched paramedics retrieve something from the water. "What is going on, dad?" I asked him.

"I don't know sweetheart. Looks like an investigation to me" he replied, his answer not settling so well in my stomach. "We have to find another way around this scene" he muttered to me, putting the car in reverse. The wheels rode back for a few seconds before going over a bump. The blare of a police siren scared us, the car lurching to a stop. We kept quiet as a cop walked over to our car.

"May I help you officer?" our dad asked, resting his elbow on the rolled-down window. As our dad chatted with the police officer, I directed my gaze over to the body of teenagers who stood at the edge of the river. They all wore dull colors and some were even crying. Their words were not to be heard but their expression said it all.

They were in pain.

"Alright, thank you, officer, " our dad said, waving at the officer as he walked away. The group of teenagers turned their attention over to our car, their once grieving eyes now filled with curiosity for the new folks in town. "What is happening, Dad?" I asked once again.