Chapter
6
"Maggie?"
he whispered, tiptoeing into the room. Then they saw
her.
Abby screamed
and stood frozen in the middle of the room, staring in horror at the
sight before her eyes. Carter grabbed her and turned her face towards
his chest, hoping he could protect her from the horrible sight that
had greeted them.
Abby
cried and pounded on his chest. "NO!" she screamed, tears
gushing down her face. She didn't want to believe it, couldn't accept
that it was true. She had to get away from this horrible place, get
away from this thing she had once called a life. She pushed on
Carter's chest, trying to get him to release her. He gripped her more
tightly. "Let go of me Carter!" she shrieked.
But
Carter held her tightly. She fought him for a few more seconds, but
then it was as if all the fight leaked out of her, and she simply
stood there, wondering what to do next. Carter led her into the
living room and sat her down on the couch. "Stay right here; I'm
going to go and check her." Abby, numb with grief, could only
nod.
Carter walked
back into the bedroom. He knelt down on the floor beside Maggie. He
pressed his fingers to her neck, and felt what he knew he would feel:
nothing. Her skin was cold and hard. He tried to bend her fingers,
and found them stiff and unrelenting. Carter slowly stood to his
feet. His worst nightmare was true. Maggie was
dead.
As
soon as Abby saw his face, she knew what had happened. "She's
dead, isn't she?" she asked him, fearing the
answer.
Carter
nodded solemnly. Abby squeezed her eyes shut, but she couldn't keep
the tears from escaping. "How could they do this to me?"
she whispered. She felt like her whole world had collapsed. Now, she
didn't have any family left. She was all alone.
Abby
got up slowly and walked out the door. Carter followed behind her.
When he saw that she was walking past the car, he grabbed her arm.
"Where are you going?" he asked her.
Abby
threw up her arms. "I don't know. I don't know what I'm supposed
to do now. My whole family is dead. Am I supposed to just go back to
Chicago and pretend like everything's normal?" Tears were
running down her face, but she didn't seem to care. "I can't
believe they did this. I just...I can't believe they would do this to
me." Abby broke off her statement, unable to go
on.
Carter wrapped
his arms around her. "Let's just take this one day at a time,"
he said comfortingly. He rubbed her back, wishing he could take her
pain
away.
The
police inspectors stepped over the yellow police tape to get into the
bedroom. One of them was questioning Carter about the exact
circumstances under which they had arrived at the house.
No
one was questioning Abby. She sat to the sofa, unmoving. People
walked past her, officers tried to talk to her, but she said nothing.
She simply stared off into space. Finally, when a third detective
came to "get some answers", the forensics expert said, "For
God's sake, she's in shock. Leave her alone." After that, she
was left alone.
So
she simply sat there, wondering what came next. She didn't want to
get up off this sofa; she didn't want to go back to Chicago and
pretend everything was fine. She wanted to just sit here until
everything was better, until her mother and brother were back. She
didn't want her life to continue until they were here with
her.
She wondered
if it was just some kind of sick coincidence that they had killed
themselves in the same week. Or maybe she was just that unlucky. She
tried to imagine what her life would be like without them. She had
taken it for granted that Maggie would always be there, interfering
with her life. And now, she was gone. Forever. She would never see
Maggie again. For some reason, that thought made her unimaginably
sad.
"Abby?"
Carter said, walking over to the sofa. She did not respond. "The
cops said we can go home now." She said nothing.
"Abby?"
He
realized she must be in shock, which surprised him. She had seemed
fine when he first told her; it was only now that she was silent. He
realized that maybe the best thing for her would be to go home.
"C'mon, Abby; we're going home." He hoisted Abby up off the
couch, and half-dragged her towards the door. "You'll feel
better when we get home," he told her, and he hoped he was
right.
"How
is she?"
Carter
sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Terrible," he
admitted. "But I guess that's the best you can expect, given the
circumstances."
Susan
plopped down next to him on the couch. "This must be so hard for
her. I can't imagine what I'd do if my whole family...did this."
Susan couldn't bring herself to say the word. "Do you think
she's gonna be okay?"
"I
don't know. She's taking this really hard. She blames herself for the
whole thing."
"Maybe
I can talk to her. Is she awake?"
Carter
shook his head. "She's finally asleep. She's been up ever since
we got back. She needs the rest."
Susan
picked up the remote and turned down the volume on the TV, with
neither of them was watching. "Do you know why Maggie did
it?"
Carter
nodded. He showed her the letter. "The cops found this on
Maggie's night table," he said, handing it to her.
Susan
read the first line and was so surprised that she dropped the letter.
"WHAT?" she said, then remembered that Abby was sleeping
and lowered her voice. "Wha- what is this?" she stammered,
looking to Carter for an explanation.
"Just
read it," Carter said grimly. She did.
"Oh,
my God," she breathed once she had read the letter. "Maggie
probably killed herself after she read this," she
realized.
Carter
nodded. "I think so." He shook his head. "This whole
thing was just one big, stupid mistake."
They
heard footsteps behind them, and turned around. There, wrapped in a
blanket, was Abby. Trying to steady her voice, she said, "What's
in the letter?"
