"Beautiful girls. Gorgeous," the young, stocky new teacher commented,
lifting up the picture on Mr. Lisbon's desk of Mary and Lux.
Mr. Lisbon smiled proudly, but a little half-heartedly. "Mary's 19 now, and Lux just turned 17," he explained, motioning towards each of the two in the picture as he spoke.
His colleague returned the frame on Mr. Lisbon's desk, nodding. "Both girls almost out of the nest," he said cluelessly, not knowing the whole story. "Does this mean you'll start up on bachelorhood again?"
Mr. Lisbon shook his head, forcing out a laugh. "No, not me. With Mary getting married soon, Luxie's graduation, and my new job offer over in Boulder, I'll be plenty busy for awhile." This was the life he had come to know, the one he had created and now lived by. There was no past, because the past would eventually kill him.
* * * * *
Tim knocked on Chase's door, carrying the suit he was sent to pick up, that was covered carefully in a large plastic bag. The door to the apartment opened seconds later, revealing Chase, who smiled widely at the sight of his suit. He was taller now, his hair longer than it had been at sixteen. His voice was deeper, while Tim's had remained at the same high level from when they had been in high school.
Chase took the suit from his friend's arms and headed back inside the apartment, with Tim in tow.
"How's it feel, man?" Tim asked, passing a long, flowing wedding dress, that was hanging up against the closet door in the hall. Following Chase into the living room, he looked at him questionably, trying to analyze his friend's apparent happiness. "How's it feel to have a girl we've all been dreaming about since grade school?"
Chase laid the suit over the couch, turning back to Tim with the same grin etched on his face. "Unbelievable. I can't even explain it, Tim." He had been through a lot with Mary by now. From that horrible night he had found her in the kitchen, and pulled her body away from that oven. She was unconscious, as was Lux, who he had taken out of the garage and laid on the front lawn. He couldn't think straight, but his instincts soon kicked in and he screamed for Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon. Turning back to Mary, he began giving her mouth to mouth, trying to revive her, until Mrs. Lisbon had pulled him away. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon had soon found the others, neither one being able to make sense of who had survived the suicide massacre.
Chase had visited both girls after that night. Lux remained mute at first, while Mary began to slowly confide in him. Their friendship quickly progressed, as things grew more serious between them. Chase's lifelong dream had came true, his obsession overcoming him, and his love for the Lisbon girls all going to Mary. He knew Tim was jealous, so he didn't really get that many chances to talk to him about these sort of things, and was surprised by his friend's question. "You have your suit ready, right?" Chase asked him, noticing his friend's sudden change of mood, as Tim looked down to his shoes and shifted his weight. Maybe he was thinking of the girls, and about that night. He often did, but barely talked about it.
"Yeah," Tim finally answered, looking back up and smiling slightly. He still tried to find out why, still analyzed Cecilia's diary, still remembered seeing Bonnie's legs hanging from above. He was still haunted by running...
* * * * *
Lux walked into her house, humming a song she had heard over the radio on her way home from school. It was only her and her dad living there now, which is why she jumped at the sight of a figure sitting at the kitchen table. Quickly realizing that it was only Mary, a toothy grin spread across her mouth, as she practically skipped up to her sister's side. Her smile soon faded though, when she noticed how sad Mary looked.
"Hey Mar, what's going on?" Lux asked her, pulling up a chair to sit next to her sister.
Mary seemed caught off guard, looking up in confusion. Lux frowned when Mary didn't answer right away, and that's when she looked down at her sister's hands, seeing that she was holding onto a small diary, decorated with a flowery pattern, with the lock broke open. Her first thought was that Mary had found Cecilia's diary, that they had been trying to find for years, but it wasn't. Cecilia's was a solid color.
"Whatcha got there?" Lux asked curiously, her eyes fixated on the journal.
"Therese's," Mary answered bluntly, running her fingers gently along it's cover, as she brought herself to look over at Lux. "We had a pact."
Lux drew in a deep breath, her eyes widening as she sat back in her seat. It became taboo to mention the suicides. It was an unspoken pact between the two of them to never mention the secrets behind that night. They barely talked about their actual attempts, but to discuss anything further was inconceivable, a sacred bind to secrecy had just been broken in Lux's eyes.
"You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped angrily at Mary. "Don't make me call dad home from work Mary, because I'll do it."
Mary glared at her sister, tossing Therese's diary at her. "I'm not going off the deep end here, Lux. It was bound to come out," she shot back at her, getting up from her chair and backing away. Tears began to glisten in her eyes as she shook her head and slowly began pacing the room. "We promised Cecilia what we'd do if she ever hurt herself again, and when the time came, we were not ready!" she yelled, her voice breaking into sobs as she spoke.
Lux glared at Mary angrily, getting up from her own seat as she stormed up to her sister. "You're happy now, so why are you doing this?! Why are you jepardizing everything we've worked for?! You have the perfect boyfriend waiting to marry you, do you even know how envious I am?! So why are you doing this?!"
"Because we killed them Lux!" Mary screamed, her voice now coming out in a shrill cry. "You know damn well how scared Bonnie was, how much Therese regreted that whole stupid plan! We were not suppose to survive! How can we ever be happy after what happened?! We watched Therese take those damn pills, and we heard Bonnie kick out that box! Do you remember?!" Mary's whole face was red by now, sobbing in hysterics as her hands started to tremble.
Lux backed away after that, having buried those memories so deep within her mind, that Mary's words hit her like a knife in the gut. She felt her own eyes water up as she looked at Mary in disbelief, speechless.
Mary took that opportunity of silence to grab her purse and storm off out the door.
* * * * *
Later that night, Mary headed back home. She had been driving around all day, thinking to herself. When she got up to the apartment, she reached into her purse and pulled out her house keys, but the door opened up before she could put them into the lock. Chase was standing on the other side, leaning against the doorframe and staring down at her. She couldn't tell whether he looked angry or worried.
"Lux has been calling," he said, breaking the silence between them. "She sounded worried, so we went out looking for you." Chase continued frowning in concern, as he stepped back out of the archway. Mary hesitated before walking inside, hating herself for what was about to happen.
"I was thinking," Mary explained, her back still to him as she spoke. "About the wedding... I think we should put the plans on hold, just for awhile."
Chase instantly became upset by this and stormed over to her, grabbing a hold of Mary's arm and turning her around to face him.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" he yelled, his voice almost giving out on him. He felt himself slowly begin to loose his hold on her though, as he looked deep into her dark blue eyes, in obvious pain.
Mary defensively pushed him off of her and backed away. Turning her back on him again, she charged into the kitchen to distance herself from him.
"I'm just having doubts!" she yelled back at him, walking up to the kitchen counter and grabbing a towel, pretending to occupy herself by cleaning. "How am I suppose to spend the rest of my life with a guy who is only in love with the idea of me? Who would have been just as happy settling for any Lisbon?"
Chase shot her a hurt look, making his way over to the other side of the counter, so that she'd have to face him.
"That's a lie and you know it," he said, his tone becoming more darkened and serene, as he stared at her downcast face with a desperate look. "How could you say something like that to me, after all that we've been through together?"
Mary laughed out, even though tears were glistening in her eyes. The sound of this turned Chase's hurt into confusion. He let out a deep breath, as if having the wind knocked out of him.
"I know why you went back that night, Chase. Lux even told you, she'd be waiting in the car. You went back for her. You didn't run because you wanted to be the one to save her," she shot out harshly, still managing to avoid Chase's eyes, as she paced nervously alongside the counter. "And where do you think I'd be? I wouldn't have been here today without Lux, and she wouldn't have been here without you! If it had just been me that lived, we both know that I'd be long gone by now."
Mary took this time to take her last look at Chase before leaving. Seeing the tears slide down the sides of his face, she made herself turn away. She had never seen him cry before, and hated herself for being the cause of it.
Before Chase had time to respond, Mary raced out of the kitchen and back to the front door, willing herself to leave now.
"Infatuation is not love, Chase," she told him quietly, while putting on her jacket. "And you guys will always be infatuated with the Lisbon sisters." He didn't even have time to stop her. Lunging into the living room after Mary, he came just in time to have the door shut in his face, as Mary ran off down the hallway of their building.
* * * * *
Trip had circled Lux's block ten times before finally deciding to pull over. It was dark out by now, the clouds looming heavily overhead, with a damp breeze blowing through. It was probably going to rain at any second.
There was a moving truck parked in front of her house, with boxes piled up on the lawn. The movers took their time though, seemingly unworried about the oncoming storm. Trip stopped and watched them for a moment, the men moving into the back of the truck with boxes, and then going back for more. Trip was subconsciously stalling, always feeling nervous when he was about to approach Lux. He was mainly scared that this would be the final time.. But before he had time to turn around and walk back to his car, he saw her. She was sitting on the grass, behind the boxes, as he caught sight of her after one of the movers had lifted another box out of the way. Trip willed himself to walk up to her then, since she might have spotted him.
"Hey," he greeted Lux, smiling down at her nervously as he shifted his weight. Lux looked up and smiled at him, saying a silent hello back. He had been unsuccessfully chasing after her for over two years now. He couldn't lose her now.
"I heard you're leaving," he said solemnly, running a hand through his longish hair. Lux diverted her attention down to her skirt, brushing the stray grass off of it with her hands. The silence was soon interrupted by Mary, who called out Lux's name as she ran towards them from down the block.
Trip lurked away from the two, as Lux jumped up from the lawn and ran over to hug her sister. He knew about Mary's wedding and her plans to stay here with Chase, so he assumed that she had probably came down to say goodbye to her family. Not wanting to disturb that, he shoved his hands down into his pockets, walking back and forth along the sidewalk, a good distance away from the girls.
He had been minding his own business, waiting patiently for Lux, when he heard a scream. Snapping around, he looked towards the girls. Lux looked upset, on the verge of tears, but Mary stood in front of her sister apparently calm and collected.
"You're leaving Chase and us?! God Mary, we're not moving that far!" Lux screamed at her, her temper evident, as her face beamed red. "You're actually going to leave everything behind to go there and take care of that woman?!"
"That woman is our mother," Mary replied, not even raising her voice, or reacting to her sister's anger.
Lux shot her a resentful glare, as the two girls stayed frozen like that for quite some time. Mary was the first to back down, breaking the deep and hurtful stare by taking a step away from Lux.
"Our sisters are dead," Mary spoke accusingly, but mostly towards herself. Her outburst was sudden, and disturbing. Lux gave her a slightly bewildered look, her narrowed eyes fading into a more relaxed sight, as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. She did not want to get into this again, not now. Not ever.
Turning on her heel, Lux stormed away from her sister, walking towards Trip. She didn't know if Mary was trying to hurt her, or if her random statement had a deeper meaning. All she knew was that she was alone now, and there was no one left to count on. Mary blamed her, she could feel it. Her sister was all that she had left, and now she was just pushing Lux away. Nothing was the same... What little was left, was now falling apart. She wanted to feel something deeper than death, she couldn't bare to be trapped in her mind another minute.
"I hope you waste away," Lux sneered at Trip, though no emotion could be seen on her face, only in her tone. She talked with hopelessness etched in her voice, yet she was holding herself up for this last destructive deed. "You're too selfish and conceited, Fontaine. You'll spend the rest of your life screwing out your brains in one way or another, because you're empty. You're nothing." Trip felt the knife cut through his chest and into his heart. He wondered if he had made her feel this way, that night after the dance. It dawned on him then, why Lux was killing him by saying this. It had been his fault. The whole Lisbon tragedy, keeping Lux out that night, the punishment, the suicides... She had known it was his fault, too.
Looking back behind Lux, she saw that Mary was gone. Mr. Lisbon was now standing out on the porch. Moving his eyes back to Lux, Trip nodded in agreement. There was nothing left to do now, everything was over. He backed away slowly, until reaching his car. He had lost everything. He was nothing.
Mr. Lisbon smiled proudly, but a little half-heartedly. "Mary's 19 now, and Lux just turned 17," he explained, motioning towards each of the two in the picture as he spoke.
His colleague returned the frame on Mr. Lisbon's desk, nodding. "Both girls almost out of the nest," he said cluelessly, not knowing the whole story. "Does this mean you'll start up on bachelorhood again?"
Mr. Lisbon shook his head, forcing out a laugh. "No, not me. With Mary getting married soon, Luxie's graduation, and my new job offer over in Boulder, I'll be plenty busy for awhile." This was the life he had come to know, the one he had created and now lived by. There was no past, because the past would eventually kill him.
* * * * *
Tim knocked on Chase's door, carrying the suit he was sent to pick up, that was covered carefully in a large plastic bag. The door to the apartment opened seconds later, revealing Chase, who smiled widely at the sight of his suit. He was taller now, his hair longer than it had been at sixteen. His voice was deeper, while Tim's had remained at the same high level from when they had been in high school.
Chase took the suit from his friend's arms and headed back inside the apartment, with Tim in tow.
"How's it feel, man?" Tim asked, passing a long, flowing wedding dress, that was hanging up against the closet door in the hall. Following Chase into the living room, he looked at him questionably, trying to analyze his friend's apparent happiness. "How's it feel to have a girl we've all been dreaming about since grade school?"
Chase laid the suit over the couch, turning back to Tim with the same grin etched on his face. "Unbelievable. I can't even explain it, Tim." He had been through a lot with Mary by now. From that horrible night he had found her in the kitchen, and pulled her body away from that oven. She was unconscious, as was Lux, who he had taken out of the garage and laid on the front lawn. He couldn't think straight, but his instincts soon kicked in and he screamed for Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon. Turning back to Mary, he began giving her mouth to mouth, trying to revive her, until Mrs. Lisbon had pulled him away. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon had soon found the others, neither one being able to make sense of who had survived the suicide massacre.
Chase had visited both girls after that night. Lux remained mute at first, while Mary began to slowly confide in him. Their friendship quickly progressed, as things grew more serious between them. Chase's lifelong dream had came true, his obsession overcoming him, and his love for the Lisbon girls all going to Mary. He knew Tim was jealous, so he didn't really get that many chances to talk to him about these sort of things, and was surprised by his friend's question. "You have your suit ready, right?" Chase asked him, noticing his friend's sudden change of mood, as Tim looked down to his shoes and shifted his weight. Maybe he was thinking of the girls, and about that night. He often did, but barely talked about it.
"Yeah," Tim finally answered, looking back up and smiling slightly. He still tried to find out why, still analyzed Cecilia's diary, still remembered seeing Bonnie's legs hanging from above. He was still haunted by running...
* * * * *
Lux walked into her house, humming a song she had heard over the radio on her way home from school. It was only her and her dad living there now, which is why she jumped at the sight of a figure sitting at the kitchen table. Quickly realizing that it was only Mary, a toothy grin spread across her mouth, as she practically skipped up to her sister's side. Her smile soon faded though, when she noticed how sad Mary looked.
"Hey Mar, what's going on?" Lux asked her, pulling up a chair to sit next to her sister.
Mary seemed caught off guard, looking up in confusion. Lux frowned when Mary didn't answer right away, and that's when she looked down at her sister's hands, seeing that she was holding onto a small diary, decorated with a flowery pattern, with the lock broke open. Her first thought was that Mary had found Cecilia's diary, that they had been trying to find for years, but it wasn't. Cecilia's was a solid color.
"Whatcha got there?" Lux asked curiously, her eyes fixated on the journal.
"Therese's," Mary answered bluntly, running her fingers gently along it's cover, as she brought herself to look over at Lux. "We had a pact."
Lux drew in a deep breath, her eyes widening as she sat back in her seat. It became taboo to mention the suicides. It was an unspoken pact between the two of them to never mention the secrets behind that night. They barely talked about their actual attempts, but to discuss anything further was inconceivable, a sacred bind to secrecy had just been broken in Lux's eyes.
"You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped angrily at Mary. "Don't make me call dad home from work Mary, because I'll do it."
Mary glared at her sister, tossing Therese's diary at her. "I'm not going off the deep end here, Lux. It was bound to come out," she shot back at her, getting up from her chair and backing away. Tears began to glisten in her eyes as she shook her head and slowly began pacing the room. "We promised Cecilia what we'd do if she ever hurt herself again, and when the time came, we were not ready!" she yelled, her voice breaking into sobs as she spoke.
Lux glared at Mary angrily, getting up from her own seat as she stormed up to her sister. "You're happy now, so why are you doing this?! Why are you jepardizing everything we've worked for?! You have the perfect boyfriend waiting to marry you, do you even know how envious I am?! So why are you doing this?!"
"Because we killed them Lux!" Mary screamed, her voice now coming out in a shrill cry. "You know damn well how scared Bonnie was, how much Therese regreted that whole stupid plan! We were not suppose to survive! How can we ever be happy after what happened?! We watched Therese take those damn pills, and we heard Bonnie kick out that box! Do you remember?!" Mary's whole face was red by now, sobbing in hysterics as her hands started to tremble.
Lux backed away after that, having buried those memories so deep within her mind, that Mary's words hit her like a knife in the gut. She felt her own eyes water up as she looked at Mary in disbelief, speechless.
Mary took that opportunity of silence to grab her purse and storm off out the door.
* * * * *
Later that night, Mary headed back home. She had been driving around all day, thinking to herself. When she got up to the apartment, she reached into her purse and pulled out her house keys, but the door opened up before she could put them into the lock. Chase was standing on the other side, leaning against the doorframe and staring down at her. She couldn't tell whether he looked angry or worried.
"Lux has been calling," he said, breaking the silence between them. "She sounded worried, so we went out looking for you." Chase continued frowning in concern, as he stepped back out of the archway. Mary hesitated before walking inside, hating herself for what was about to happen.
"I was thinking," Mary explained, her back still to him as she spoke. "About the wedding... I think we should put the plans on hold, just for awhile."
Chase instantly became upset by this and stormed over to her, grabbing a hold of Mary's arm and turning her around to face him.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" he yelled, his voice almost giving out on him. He felt himself slowly begin to loose his hold on her though, as he looked deep into her dark blue eyes, in obvious pain.
Mary defensively pushed him off of her and backed away. Turning her back on him again, she charged into the kitchen to distance herself from him.
"I'm just having doubts!" she yelled back at him, walking up to the kitchen counter and grabbing a towel, pretending to occupy herself by cleaning. "How am I suppose to spend the rest of my life with a guy who is only in love with the idea of me? Who would have been just as happy settling for any Lisbon?"
Chase shot her a hurt look, making his way over to the other side of the counter, so that she'd have to face him.
"That's a lie and you know it," he said, his tone becoming more darkened and serene, as he stared at her downcast face with a desperate look. "How could you say something like that to me, after all that we've been through together?"
Mary laughed out, even though tears were glistening in her eyes. The sound of this turned Chase's hurt into confusion. He let out a deep breath, as if having the wind knocked out of him.
"I know why you went back that night, Chase. Lux even told you, she'd be waiting in the car. You went back for her. You didn't run because you wanted to be the one to save her," she shot out harshly, still managing to avoid Chase's eyes, as she paced nervously alongside the counter. "And where do you think I'd be? I wouldn't have been here today without Lux, and she wouldn't have been here without you! If it had just been me that lived, we both know that I'd be long gone by now."
Mary took this time to take her last look at Chase before leaving. Seeing the tears slide down the sides of his face, she made herself turn away. She had never seen him cry before, and hated herself for being the cause of it.
Before Chase had time to respond, Mary raced out of the kitchen and back to the front door, willing herself to leave now.
"Infatuation is not love, Chase," she told him quietly, while putting on her jacket. "And you guys will always be infatuated with the Lisbon sisters." He didn't even have time to stop her. Lunging into the living room after Mary, he came just in time to have the door shut in his face, as Mary ran off down the hallway of their building.
* * * * *
Trip had circled Lux's block ten times before finally deciding to pull over. It was dark out by now, the clouds looming heavily overhead, with a damp breeze blowing through. It was probably going to rain at any second.
There was a moving truck parked in front of her house, with boxes piled up on the lawn. The movers took their time though, seemingly unworried about the oncoming storm. Trip stopped and watched them for a moment, the men moving into the back of the truck with boxes, and then going back for more. Trip was subconsciously stalling, always feeling nervous when he was about to approach Lux. He was mainly scared that this would be the final time.. But before he had time to turn around and walk back to his car, he saw her. She was sitting on the grass, behind the boxes, as he caught sight of her after one of the movers had lifted another box out of the way. Trip willed himself to walk up to her then, since she might have spotted him.
"Hey," he greeted Lux, smiling down at her nervously as he shifted his weight. Lux looked up and smiled at him, saying a silent hello back. He had been unsuccessfully chasing after her for over two years now. He couldn't lose her now.
"I heard you're leaving," he said solemnly, running a hand through his longish hair. Lux diverted her attention down to her skirt, brushing the stray grass off of it with her hands. The silence was soon interrupted by Mary, who called out Lux's name as she ran towards them from down the block.
Trip lurked away from the two, as Lux jumped up from the lawn and ran over to hug her sister. He knew about Mary's wedding and her plans to stay here with Chase, so he assumed that she had probably came down to say goodbye to her family. Not wanting to disturb that, he shoved his hands down into his pockets, walking back and forth along the sidewalk, a good distance away from the girls.
He had been minding his own business, waiting patiently for Lux, when he heard a scream. Snapping around, he looked towards the girls. Lux looked upset, on the verge of tears, but Mary stood in front of her sister apparently calm and collected.
"You're leaving Chase and us?! God Mary, we're not moving that far!" Lux screamed at her, her temper evident, as her face beamed red. "You're actually going to leave everything behind to go there and take care of that woman?!"
"That woman is our mother," Mary replied, not even raising her voice, or reacting to her sister's anger.
Lux shot her a resentful glare, as the two girls stayed frozen like that for quite some time. Mary was the first to back down, breaking the deep and hurtful stare by taking a step away from Lux.
"Our sisters are dead," Mary spoke accusingly, but mostly towards herself. Her outburst was sudden, and disturbing. Lux gave her a slightly bewildered look, her narrowed eyes fading into a more relaxed sight, as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. She did not want to get into this again, not now. Not ever.
Turning on her heel, Lux stormed away from her sister, walking towards Trip. She didn't know if Mary was trying to hurt her, or if her random statement had a deeper meaning. All she knew was that she was alone now, and there was no one left to count on. Mary blamed her, she could feel it. Her sister was all that she had left, and now she was just pushing Lux away. Nothing was the same... What little was left, was now falling apart. She wanted to feel something deeper than death, she couldn't bare to be trapped in her mind another minute.
"I hope you waste away," Lux sneered at Trip, though no emotion could be seen on her face, only in her tone. She talked with hopelessness etched in her voice, yet she was holding herself up for this last destructive deed. "You're too selfish and conceited, Fontaine. You'll spend the rest of your life screwing out your brains in one way or another, because you're empty. You're nothing." Trip felt the knife cut through his chest and into his heart. He wondered if he had made her feel this way, that night after the dance. It dawned on him then, why Lux was killing him by saying this. It had been his fault. The whole Lisbon tragedy, keeping Lux out that night, the punishment, the suicides... She had known it was his fault, too.
Looking back behind Lux, she saw that Mary was gone. Mr. Lisbon was now standing out on the porch. Moving his eyes back to Lux, Trip nodded in agreement. There was nothing left to do now, everything was over. He backed away slowly, until reaching his car. He had lost everything. He was nothing.