Chapter 3
We were all still shocked after the funeral had ended. We wanted to know why the Lisbon girls were laughing at Trip. We also wanted to know why they were laughing at us. We couldn't have possibly done anything to hurt or offend them. Then again it could be just the people alive they were laughing at. They could have been laughing at the town. No one in town had forgotten their suicides. I guess they were laughing at the fact of people following their footsteps. What would happen though if they made it so that the whole town had followed them and committed suicide? There wouldn't be much of a town then. * * * A few months later in August the Kingways had their baby girl. As they had promised they named her Therese. She was a healthy child and her full name was Therese Lisbon Kingway. We loved the child almost as much as we had loved Therese. Everyday now the Kingways would let us come over to help with Baby Therese. She was a sweet child. Almost like the real Therese Lisbon was in real life. The one question was how could she have been so mean at the funeral? * * * The year after Therese was born the Kingways had another baby girl. The of course named her Mary Lisbon Kingway. They were going to keep their promise. We knew they would. They were probably some of the nicest neighbors we have ever had. Therese Kingway was already one by the time her baby sister Mary was born. Therese had just learned to both walk and talk. She seemed to have taken interest in trees. Except she called them 'dees' instead of trees, but what more can you expect from a one year old? * * * When it was twenty-five years after the first suicide then things really got strange. The Kingways did have three more baby girls and of course they named them Bonnie, Lux, and Cecilia. At least they kept their promise. We had always gone over and played with the children when they were born. * * * A few months after Cecilia's eleventh birthday party we started seeing things moving in the windows of the Kingways' house. At first we thought we saw faces, which we just might have. It could have been the Lisbon girls leading us to clues about their suicides. It could have been one of the girls wanting to settle back into the house. None of us knew what it was though. A few days later on the news there was a story about a man and woman who committed suicide. These two people used to live in our town and they had five children who each took a turn at suicide twenty-five years beforehand. I think you know whom. If you guessed Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon then that is over one hundred percent correct. I think people knew they would be taking the same road as their daughters. I guess it was just fate for them. It was just such a weird coincidence that people are starting to commit suicide. Paul Baldino had ended his own life a few days before Cecilia's eleventh birthday. He had chosen to choke himself. At least that's our guess since he was found with his hands tight around his neck. There was no way he could have breathed like that. Anyways when we saw Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon on TV those four lights were there again. When Paul had ended his life there was one smaller light there instead. We were guessing that Cecilia wasn't laughing at people. She wasn't following her sisters either. Cecilia wasn't that bad either. Maybe she was a better person dead than alive. We'd never know because she always kept herself hidden among the shadows.
We were all still shocked after the funeral had ended. We wanted to know why the Lisbon girls were laughing at Trip. We also wanted to know why they were laughing at us. We couldn't have possibly done anything to hurt or offend them. Then again it could be just the people alive they were laughing at. They could have been laughing at the town. No one in town had forgotten their suicides. I guess they were laughing at the fact of people following their footsteps. What would happen though if they made it so that the whole town had followed them and committed suicide? There wouldn't be much of a town then. * * * A few months later in August the Kingways had their baby girl. As they had promised they named her Therese. She was a healthy child and her full name was Therese Lisbon Kingway. We loved the child almost as much as we had loved Therese. Everyday now the Kingways would let us come over to help with Baby Therese. She was a sweet child. Almost like the real Therese Lisbon was in real life. The one question was how could she have been so mean at the funeral? * * * The year after Therese was born the Kingways had another baby girl. The of course named her Mary Lisbon Kingway. They were going to keep their promise. We knew they would. They were probably some of the nicest neighbors we have ever had. Therese Kingway was already one by the time her baby sister Mary was born. Therese had just learned to both walk and talk. She seemed to have taken interest in trees. Except she called them 'dees' instead of trees, but what more can you expect from a one year old? * * * When it was twenty-five years after the first suicide then things really got strange. The Kingways did have three more baby girls and of course they named them Bonnie, Lux, and Cecilia. At least they kept their promise. We had always gone over and played with the children when they were born. * * * A few months after Cecilia's eleventh birthday party we started seeing things moving in the windows of the Kingways' house. At first we thought we saw faces, which we just might have. It could have been the Lisbon girls leading us to clues about their suicides. It could have been one of the girls wanting to settle back into the house. None of us knew what it was though. A few days later on the news there was a story about a man and woman who committed suicide. These two people used to live in our town and they had five children who each took a turn at suicide twenty-five years beforehand. I think you know whom. If you guessed Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon then that is over one hundred percent correct. I think people knew they would be taking the same road as their daughters. I guess it was just fate for them. It was just such a weird coincidence that people are starting to commit suicide. Paul Baldino had ended his own life a few days before Cecilia's eleventh birthday. He had chosen to choke himself. At least that's our guess since he was found with his hands tight around his neck. There was no way he could have breathed like that. Anyways when we saw Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon on TV those four lights were there again. When Paul had ended his life there was one smaller light there instead. We were guessing that Cecilia wasn't laughing at people. She wasn't following her sisters either. Cecilia wasn't that bad either. Maybe she was a better person dead than alive. We'd never know because she always kept herself hidden among the shadows.