Chapter 25

It had been around fifteen minutes since the girls had left the Kankers trailer, and neither had uttered a single word. The girls had made their way to the vicinity of Rods truck; Lee was currently sitting on the front bumper, staring upward towards the twilight sky. The beautiful redhead sat in silence, her legs crossed right over left, slowly stroking her red curls from scalp to shoulder. Lindsay had taken seated position next to her, maintaining an alarmed expression as she cupped her hand over her mouth, her long fingers fully engulfing her smooth cheeks. Her right leg, crossed over her left, bounced up and down repeatedly, a common nervous tick exhibited by the blonde girl.

Finally, Lindsay seemed to break out of her nervous trance. She turned her head towards her friend.

"So," said Lindsay, "Crazy night, huh?"

Lee elected not to respond, merely continuing to stare forward with a scowl.

"Now what?" asked Lindsay in a somewhat irritated tone, "Now you're not gonna talk for the rest of the trip? Geez I'm already stressed enough as it is!"

Lee suddenly whipped around, making eye contact with Lindsay, laughing sarcastically as she did so.

"You're stressed?" asked Lee in an irritated manner, "You heard everything in there first hand, if you think your head is spinning, imagine how the hell I feel hearing all of that for the first time! You're not the one who now has to be part of this fucking lie concocted by your mother to protect you're family as you know it. You're not the one who found out that their Aunt, constantly talked about as if she were dead, is alive and suffering as a dead beat drug addict! You're not the one who found out their best friend lied to them, almost resulting in a lot of people getting hurt or killed, and sending us both to hell on judgement day!"

Lee turned around.

"I'm so fucking stupid," said Lee, "Nobody's skin looks that good after supposedly being burnt by an acetylene torch or being forcibly tattooed."

"Look, I didn't know it would come to this!" yelled Lindsay, "I was scared okay, how was I supposed to know this would happen. I was just as clueless as you are, and I had no idea how things would eventually go down. I couldn't stand seeing it happen, and I didn't know how dangerous she actually was. How would you have handled it smart girl? Huh?"

At the conclusion of Lindsays statement, Lee emitted a sigh, lifting her hand into the air and forming it into a "stop" symbol as she did so. After a few seconds of calm breathing, Lee continued the conversation in a much calmer manner.

"Liz," said Lee, "There's no point of looking back and asking ourselves what we could have done to change this. What's done is done, and regardless of how it happened, it did, we just have to deal with it."

Lee took Lindsay by her earrings, turning her face towards hers.

"What I don't want is us at each other's throats over this," said Lee, "We are besties, and always will be. I love you like a sister girl, but please PLEASE promise me that you will always be honest with me moving forward, no matter how scared you may be. There is a solution to every problem, and no matter what I will always be there to help. Understand?"

A small tear began to trickle down Lindsay's cheek, as she nodded her head up and down.

"I know you were scared," said Lee, "And for good reason. I'm pretty pissed at my mom for not explaining the whole situation, but what are we gonna do. She did it all out of the compassion of her heart, God bless that woman, but Jesus Christ she's a loose canon. Now we are dealing with all the repercussions. The best thing we can do now is put this behind us, keep our lips zipped, and wait for my mom to take action."

Lee stood upward, gazing downward towards Lindsay while extended her pinky towards her.

"This is no longer our problem, as much as it pains me to say it," said Lee, "C'mon, let's fix our makeup. We got a little show to enjoy."

Lindsay said nothing, she merely smiled as she lifted her long pinky finger upward, locking it with Lee's in their usual best friends forever gesture. A few seconds passed, at which point the beautiful giant rose from her seated position, following her friend towards the entrance of the trailer.

As the two best friends prepared themselves for their night on Broadway, the two remaining Kanker sisters had decided to pass their time by enjoying their Slurpees. The girls had taken a seat on the curb in front of the store, sipping their beverages in silence as they observed their surroundings with smiles.

Eventually, Marie decided to initiate a conversation regarding the recent turn of events they had experienced.

"I wonder why Lee and Lindsay wanted to rush back to trailer like they did?" asked Marie.

"I dunno," said May, "Probably something to do with their makeup or something. Lindsay did say she wanted to make an adjustment."

"I don't think so," said Marie, "Did you notice how different they were acting since we ordered the Slurpees?"

"Yeah," said May, "Lee was different, that's for sure. She's acting like mom has been acting for the last couple of days."

"Exactly," said Marie, "Something suspicious is going on, and we are being left out of the loop for some reason."

"What do you mean?" asked May.

"Well call me crazy," said Marie, "But isn't it a little odd that this woman staying with my mom claims to be Aunt Katie, but she has no idea who you are?"

"Well, maybe Mom stopped talking to her before I was born?" asked May.

"Yeah, but I'd figure the news of a child's birth would at least get back to her," said Marie, "Not only that, but she had no idea what my name was either, and borderline tried to kill us."

May advanced one of her piece as Marie took a sip of water. The black haired girl continued her explanation.

"You heard Lee," said Marie, "When Mom gets scared, she defaults to hiding her emotions and by proxy she lies. That obviously isn't good for her, or for us, and I think that's what's going on right now. I think we are in the midst of some kind of crazy Kanker conspiracy, and it involves something that they obviously don't want us to know."

At that point Marie rose from her seated position, stroking her left ponytail as she tossed her empty Slurpee cup into the trash.

"Whatever's going on, I'm going to find out what it is," said Marie, after which she turned back towards May, "C'mon, let's go."

"Go where?" asked May with a concerned expression.

"Back to "Aunt Katie's" house," said Marie, "We got some investigating to do."

"But Marie," said May, "I'm not sure that's a good idea, I mean Lee said that there are a lot of dangerous people out in that neighborhood during this time. Plus the show is gonna start soon."

"Relax May," said Marie, "We've got two hours, and what's the harm in doing a little bit of independent detective work? Who knows, we might be able to relieve Mom and Lee's stress."

"But..." said May.

"No more excuses," said Marie, "Let's go."

"Whatever," said May as she rose upward, taking hold of her zip up hoodie as she did so, "But I got a bad feeling about this."

"Ah don't be a baby ya little wuss," said Marie in a playful manner as the girls made their way out of the parking lot.