The Crimson Key (22 page)

I looked over his shoulder and saw Lynley in the casket. I shouldn’t have looked. It was a huge mistake to see her like that. She didn’t look the same. She wore way too much make-up and her lips were frozen into a strange peaceful grin. Her red hair was now faded and hair-sprayed. She looked terrible. I steppe
d toward her with Ephraim holding me up. I could have collapsed right there in front of everyone. I was on the verge of a serious mental breakdown.

“That’s not her
,” I whispered. “She is not in there anymore.”

“I know.” Ephraim didn’t say anything else. I had to get out of the room
, so he walked me outside for air and sat me down on the steps. “I have to go back in. It’s my duty to greet every guest. Sorry, babe. I will come over tonight, though.” He left and I understood. He was doing this for Lynley’s sake, not for his family’s. I looked out onto the green grass and noticed all the flowers were in full bloom. Lynley would love seeing the flowers like that. So vibrant and full of life. She was never vibrant, but she was good. She wasn’t full of life, but she fulfilled the lives of others.

“Hi.” I looked up to see a lady standing beside me. I smiled at her and she sat next to me.

“I hate these things, too,” she told me.

“Yeah.”

“You okay?”

“Nope.”

“Well, all I can tell you is you will be okay. I know,” she said earnestly. I looked at her with skepticism.

“How?”

“Because I have been dead for fifty years. I have seen people pass through here grieving like they would never survive. Only to see them come back here for their own funerals. I learned that they ended up living full happy lives after the death of their loved one,” she said. I gaped at her.

“So you’re saying I will come back and you will see that when I die that I survived this? That I ended up living a life without my best-friend? I don’t think so.
” I looked back toward the flowers.

“You will.” I turned to argue some more but she was gone.

The weeks that followed the funeral flew by in a haze of tears and black clothes. I swore to only wear that color for the rest of my life. Every day I would be in mourning. I didn’t get out of bed. I took my food in my room for the first time in forever. I let the summer go on without me. I lived in my sweatpants and baggy T-shirts. I read books
, drew, and visited with Ephraim. He got a job, trying in vain to keep their house, but the Mayhew family had the last say. The house went up for sale and Ephraim was out on his ass. It was their last and final slap across the face. I hated them with a passion for what they were doing to him. I don’t think he cared how they felt about him. I knew one thing; he wouldn’t let them say Lynley killed herself. Once it was ruled out as an accidental overdose they shut their mouths. He and I knew the truth. He tried to tell them what happened but they wouldn’t hear it. Only John and a few cousins believed us.

So now he was on his own. He couldn’t afford an apartment and
to go to college. That’s when I suggested he stay with us for a while.

“No way!” my dad barked at dinner. I had decided to eat at the table so I could talk with them about it.

“Dad, he has nowhere to go. His mom is gone and he is all alone. We have the room!” I argued.

“She has a point. We do have enough rooms
, honey. He could take the downstairs bedroom.” The room was used for absolutely nothing right now.

“He wants to live in the place where his sister killed herself? Because I gotta tell you
, I am still having a hard time with it,” my dad said. He took it hardest staying here after it happened. I didn’t care. There was so much death in this house that I was almost glad it happened here. It made me feel closer to her. I still hadn’t seen her around the house and neither had the Browns. They promised me they would tell me if she showed up.

“Brylee
, I don’t know how much longer I can live here.”

“Dad
, you told me I could finish my senior year. And you know that it was ruled out as an accidental overdose! She didn’t mean to kill herself here. At least help Ephraim and I get some money saved.” I felt like he was in such a rush to get the hell out of here and leave New Jersey behind.

“Okay
, Bry. I know what I promised. I know this has been harder on you than me. Sorry, honey,” he said as he grabbed my hand. “Ephraim can stay, but no funny business.” My mom choked on her food and I spit out my milk. If he only knew that we had already done that and it was no big deal. My face turned red. We couldn’t do it with them in the house. It wasn’t right.

I nodded and went back to my food. We would be together and that was all that mattered now. My family would become his and we would take care of him.

I walked to his house that night after dinner and told him the news. He was happy, yet nervous at the same time. Although he didn’t say it, he was scared of my dad. Hell, what teenage boy isn’t afraid of a girl’s father?

Ephraim moved in on the most beautiful day of the summer. Maybe to me it was the most beautiful because it was the first day I had actually been outside. We moved his stuff into his new room. He adhered to my dad’s rules and promised not to break them, although he wouldn’t tell me what the rules were. I had a feeling they had a lot to do with me. He got a job helping a photographer in town and he promised to help with utilities. My dad agreed, but then told me later that he didn’t want Ephraim’s money. 

After his room was all set up
, we sat outside and drank tea. We sat in Lynley’s old garden area. I could see the plants had grown even though she wasn’t around to tend to them. I pulled the weeds out as Ephraim watched me.

“She would love to see you do this
, you know?” he whispered.

“I know.”

I pulled weed after weed and we kept silent for a while. Then he broke the silence. “Marry me after graduation. You can go to college and I will support you while you’re in school.” I dropped the clumpy weed and looked him in the eye.

“You’re crazy. You can’t afford to put me through school and support me.” I threw a piece of dirt at him.

“I’m serious, Brylee. I am curse free now. A total catch. Marry me,” he said again.

“It’s not that I don’t want to marry you
, Ephraim. You know I love you, but let’s do this one step at a time.”

“Okay
, step one: Get married,” he replied.

I laughed. “No
, step one: Move in with each other.”

“What if I told you I have money to get us a new house once you graduate?”

I laughed even harder. If he had money to do that he would have never moved in with me and my family. Even though I laughed he didn’t.

“How did you get money?” I asked
, turning serious.

“Well
, two things. When the house sells I get that money. Secondly, my dad had money set aside for me that my uncle told me about. He didn’t want Carole getting her greedy hands on it so he held onto it for me. I don’t get it until I get the credits I need.” He never referred to his mom as ‘mom’ anymore. She was just plain old Carole.

He was still enrolled in college
, taking photography classes and getting his credits. I didn’t know what his plans were for his future. There wasn’t a huge need for photographers in our little town. 

“So you’re coming into a lot of money and you think that I want to marry you for that?”

He leaned over me, grasping my face in his hands. “No. I am coming into a lot of money and you want to marry me because you know we are meant to be together.”

He kissed me
, and I don’t know how or why but I said, “Yes.” He backed up and looked me in the eyes. I would marry him. He was right. We were right for each other. So much so that we needed each other to survive.

He carried me into his old house and we did our ‘funny business’ there for now. I couldn’t stop once he kissed me like that. There was something about being in love with someone like Ephraim Mayhew
, I melted under his stare and turned to dust from his kiss. It was like our love was written in the stars.

The days went on like that for a while. I eventually moved the garden over to our yard. I pulled up every plant and transferred them to our garden. Ephraim built a small fence and my mom painted it red like Lynley’s hair. Soon the garden was full of carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, and fresh Jersey tomatoes. I stayed busy canning and making as much as I could with the goods the garden produced. We hung a sign on the front of the fence that said, “In memory of Lynley”. It was her garden and it would remain in her memory forever.

Ephraim was busy with schoolwork and work at the studio. When he was home we would sit and plan out our future. But the truth remained that I still had to finish my senior year and it was fast approaching. We couldn’t do anything until I graduated
, including getting married. I was in no rush anyway. I knew it would happen in time.

My parents grew to love having Ephraim around. He completed our family unit. He was a friend to my dad
, a son to my mom, and the other half of my heart.

I still wanted desperately to free the Browns
, Kayla, and Angie. It was something I talked to Hala about on the phone. Since I never left my house I didn’t go see her. I made a promise to help her though and I would live up to it. She understood why I couldn’t. “Brylee, come and we will work when your heart is healed a bit more,” she had told me one day. I knew my heart wasn’t ready to talk to new spirits for those in need; I was one of them now. One of the grieving who wanted to know what happened to my friend. Lynley had become my sister and she wasn’t here to tell me it would be okay. She grounded me, and without her I felt like floating away.

The day before my first day back to school I sat in the garden with Kayla as we inspected a new plant growing. I didn’t remember planting a rose bush and neither did Ephraim. Now Kayla and I were baffled that this wild rose bush was growing in the garden.

“Are you sure it’s a rose bush?” Kayla asked. She touched the bud softly.

“Yep
, according to this book here,” I said as I held up my plant book. “It’s a species rose meaning its native to the area. I have never seen anything like it before.”

“It’s like a tiny miracle growing in your garden
,” she said. And while I thought she was joking with me she was totally serious. Kayla may seem hardcore punker, but she was a softie at heart. I left her in the garden to go wash my hands. I pushed the door open and a strange feeling overcame me. Something wasn’t right in the house. I tore up the steps, not sure what I would see upstairs. The corner room was still shut and I shuddered just thinking about going back in there. I passed the room and entered mine. Still nothing. I closed my eyes and listened to see if I could hear anything off. I came up empty. It was more of a feeling of despair throughout the house. I pulled up the floorboard that held the key, it was still in place. I pushed the board down hard. For a moment I felt like maybe Evangeline was back. Come back for the vengeance we all knew she would take on me and Ephraim.

I shrugged my shoulders and went back downstairs. The house seemed fine. Maybe it was just me being weird. I looked out the window where I left Kayla and instead of her standing in the garden looking at the wild rose bush it was Lynley. I choked back a sob at seeing her presence. Fear
, regret, sadness, and defeat washed over me full force. She was here. She didn’t move on.

I pushed the door open and walked outside quietly. I was afraid of scaring her away. I had to talk to her.

I reached the garden and she turned to face me. Her hair lay evenly around her shoulders and she wore a peaceful smile on her face for me. I put my hand over my mouth to hold back the sob that threatened to escape.

“Brylee
, did you see this rose?” she asked me simply. It was like we were having such a regular conversation. I wondered if she knew she was dead. I nodded my head. “It’s beautiful right?”

“Yes
, Lynley, it is.” She turned back around and touched it again. Then, before I got a chance to even talk to her, she was gone. I looked all around and even ran back through the house. She wasn’t to be found. That night I told Ephraim and we lay together while I cried about how she was stuck here like the rest of the cursed. I didn’t lock the door in time to save her from that fate. She was dead before I could get a chance to do it.

The next morning before school I walked out to check on the rose. I had to water it really well. The day was already hot and it was only 6 a.m. When I got to it the bud had fully bloomed into a beautiful white rose. I took it as a sign that it was here for Lynley. It grew for her
, grew to remind us every day of what she sacrificed to save her brother. She took on the curse so that he wouldn’t have to. It grew there to tell us to hope that someday I would set all the ghosts free in my house. Letting them live freely in their death.

I got into my car to finally take on my last year of my school life. I felt hopeful that my future would be bright. Ephraim and I would do whatever we had to
, to be together. As I buckled myself in, I heard the passenger side door close as Lyn got in the car with me. I was taken back at first,
but her smile assured me that it would be okay. “Let’s go to school,” she said with a smile.