Chapter Twelve

Addison looked marvelous as she stood in front of the mirror applying her lipstick, long, curly red hair abloom with legs to die for; Mark thought as he sat on the pew peering at the picture that he took merely two months before… That would be two months before things got ugly.

Mark sat in the empty pew, staring. Taking a few moments in this silent sacred space before the invasion - before he finds himself surrounded by the justified mourners, the busy bodies, the so-called loved ones, and every other body whose ceremonial presence was less welcome to him simply because it wasn't Addison's. The only thing he could do in this moment, to be near his friend, before the suffocating crowd, is to be still… and grasp at his recent memories of her. Leaning back stoically against the cold, chipped, stained, dark wood of the pew, his arms stretched out on either side, taut with unreleased, stress, tension, guilt, regret… he stared intensely and then absent-mindedly at Addison's sweet, relaxed grin framed by her young face above the casket. Her eyes belied her age in that photo she took some years ago where she tried to appear older, but the camera knew better.

Memories, images, thoughts flashed through his mind as eager as the tool of a paparazzi trying to capture everything, afraid of losing forever even one priceless, golden moment:

When she stood in front of a mirror applying her lipstick, long, curly hair abloom, legs to die for… she looked marvelous. She had a way of saying certain words that almost sounded like she was serenading you. That day she delivered her first baby; her smile as wide as her face. Her smile could win medals. Olympic medals.

With images of his photogenic friend flashing through his mind phantasmagorically, Mark appeared calm and stoic as he continued to stare at the picture atop the empty casket. Haunted by Addison's award winning smile and would've-could've-should'ves, he could not accept that his friend was gone; especially without a body to confirm the death.

"She's not dead," he shook his head. "We have to keep looking for her."

"Enough, Mark!" Archer yelled. "Our family has been through enough these past few weeks. We don't need your delusions too!"

"They aren't delusions, Archer! Addison's not dead! We don't even have her body!"

"She is dead, Mark! She's not here anymore!" Archer stood up before him, "She is gone! Addison is dead!"

"Fuck you, Archer!" he screamed standing up. "You haven't been any help this entire time! Where were you all those nights we were out looking for her! Maybe if you'd put any effort into your sister's disappearance, we could've found her! But I forget, you Montgomery's don't give a fuck about each other."

"Take it back."

"What are you going to do if I don't?" he asked and Archer turned on him as they started to fight.

The Captain eventually breaks them up, "What the Hell is wrong with you two?"

"Addison isn't dead… I'm not going to stop looking," he shook his head as Callie walked up to his side wiping the blood off his forehead.

Archer shook his head as his mother checked on him, "Addison is dead, Mark. I don't know how many times I have to say it to get through that tiny brain of yours."

And here I am wondering what's on your mind. What are you thinking right now? How do you like the story so far? What do you want to see in the upcoming chapters? ❥ Kae