One of the first lessons Ever Lee learned in her life was that her name was a lie. Nothing in the world lasted Forever. Her parents were liars. Surprise was never coming back. (Surprise being the stray cat she had raised for a short time when she was five.)
Things wouldn't have been so bad had Surprise been the only sudden departure of Ever's youth. Her parents weren't so understanding when it came to her maternal grandmother. But Grandma didn't run away after leaving a massive dump on the front porch. She died. Heart attack, the doctor said.
Ever wished it had just been an accident on the porch. She was the only other person in the house that afternoon. Her parents had gone grocery shopping.
"Why did you leave her alone? Why couldn't you have just checked on her once?"
The pained voice of her mother during the funeral echoed in Ever's dreams at least once a week. It used to be every other day. Those words were the last thing she had heard from her. Her mother refused to talk to her anymore.
"Fuck, I really don't want to go home today," Ever said to herself, tossing her tenth or so cigarette into the river of Liberty Woods.
She came here after a particularly bad argument with her father. Today marked two years since her grandmother's passing. Her parents were getting ready to visit her grave when Ever told them she didn't want to join them. Her mother made no response, but her father was quick to speak in her place. A few angrily thrown remarks at each other and Ever was out the door.
"Okay, I am not going home today," Ever said, lighting what she believed to be her eleventh cigarette.
While smoking, she looked at her reflection in the rapidly flowing stream. It didn't take a genius to tell she was miserable. She couldn't remember the last time she smiled. Genuinely smiled, that was. None of the fakery she put on at school. A smile that actually came from her heart. What did it feel like? Grandma knew.
"Never stop smiling, Forever. You have such a beautiful smile."
It was true because she got her dimpled smile from her grandmother.
Ever didn't toss her cigarette out this time. It slipped through her powerless fingers and got washed away in an instant.
"To wash myself away in an instant..." she mumbled to herself.
As Ever continued to observe her frowning face on the water's surface, she recalled the local news headline from a few months ago. Some college student had committed suicide within this very river.
So, it was possible to die that way.
No one came to this part of the woods anymore, not since the rumors spread of ghost sightings. A thin figure in a long white dress with long black hair, people claimed.
Ever's hair stopped above her shoulders and was dyed light brown. Her wardrobe mainly consisted of black, and her outfit today was a direct reflection of that. She would make a terrible ghost.
If the movies were true, people only turned into ghosts when they either died a horrible death or died with a horrible grudge. Currently, there wasn't anything around Ever to cause her to die in some horrendous way. As for grudges, she was still pissed that Peyton never paid back the twenty bucks she had borrowed. But that wasn't enough to hold a grudge over.
In conclusion, the chance that Ever would turn into a ghost was close to zero. It wasn't exactly zero because there was always something that could go wrong.
"One percent, then. That's not too bad."
Ever picked herself up, brushed off the dirt on the back of her black skinny jeans, and headed up a slope to the wooden bridge.
It had been a while since the last time Ever came to Liberty Woods. Did this bridge always have railings? It was hardly an obstacle, though. Ever was on the taller side, and her long legs had no trouble getting over the safety mechanism. She stood at the very edge and stared up at the clear blue sky. It was frustratingly nice out today.
Ever believed herself to be doing everyone a favor. With her gone, the happiness index of the world was sure to rise significantly.
Despite her rationality telling her this wasn't a good idea, she had stopped listening to it a while ago. Her heart hurt too much to care anymore. If she didn't go through with this today, her only reward was returning home to a disappointed father and a depressed mother.
"Fuck that shit."
Ever stepped off the bridge.
"Fuck—"
That was the last thing she heard before her lungs filled with water and her head hit a rock on the riverbed.