"Three can keep a secret…..if two of them are dead.” Benjamin Franklin

“We swear we won’t say a word,” Alyssa grabbed Gabi’s hand, crossed her heart, and looked at Susan with all the innocence of a priest. “Please, Sue…..tell us exactly what was said about Mr. Gonzalez.”

Gabi nodded her head adamantly, crossing her heart as well for good measure.

The three teachers were whispering, huddled close together in the breakroom, anxious to share the most recent rumor before many of the other faculty members joined them.

Peering over her shoulder and glancing about the room a final time, Susan leaned her head closer to the other two and spoke. “I heard Mr. Gonzalez was called to task and written up for wearing his pants too tight,” she whispered, finishing the statement with a girlish giggle despite being nearly forty years of age. Mr. Gonzalez was the school’s Assistant Principal. His overly tight slacks had been the discussion of many a staff member since he’d begun work there two years prior.

“Can you just imagine the look on Principal Langston’s face when she talked to him? I bet she wanted to climb under her desk and hide. I know I would have been so embarrassed.” Always the most serious of the three, Alyssa leaned on her elbows and spoke with the greatest gravity.

“Oh my God, it’s about time though, don’t you think?” Gabi asked. “They’re so snug, it looks as if he’s still wearing pants left over from middle school – and they show absolutely everything,” she added, her voice was so low with the last words, her friends could barely hear.

“Yes!” the two other women said in unison as five other teachers entered the room and sat at a nearby table. The three looked coyly at one another, smiled at the secret they shared, and then proceeded to finish their packed lunches.

……………..

Two hours later, Gabi was leaving the restroom during her planning period when she encountered Sarah, the Gifted Teacher. As though a light bulb went off in her head, Gabi motioned for her friend to come closer.

“Did you hear?” she asked Sarah, a thrill coursing through her at the divine secret she held within her grasp.

“What? What did you hear?” Sarah asked, thoroughly interested.

“Finally, it's all hit the fan, and Mr. Gonzalez is being suspended for wearing his pants too tight.” Gabi was sure the AP would be suspended, so she might as well tell it like it was.

………………

Helping out at bus duty at the end of the school day, Alyssa stood next to co-worker and friend, Lydia. When only a few students were left, Alyssa moved beside Lydia and smiled at the woman. “Please don’t repeat this,” she began, drawing Lydia’s immediate attention, “but Mr. Gonzalez is going to be fired for wearing his pants so tight. Can you believe it?”

“Not surprised in the least,” Lydia said matter-of-factly. “Thanks for the info. I promise not to say a word.”

………………

Late in the afternoon, Susan and Alyssa, who shared a flat in town, were on their way home. There was a horrible traffic accident just before they reached Broad Street as their car was broadsided by another car that ran the traffic light. Unfortunately, and much to the school’s dismay, both women were critically injured and pronounced dead upon arrival at the local hospital.

……………….

A month later, after things had settled somewhat following the death of the two beloved teachers, Gabi sat alone in the breakroom, eating her lunch and dreadfully missing her two friends. Hannah, the school’s receptionist joined her, hoping to distract Gabi a bit from her sad thoughts.

“Hope you’re doing okay, Gabi. I wish I had something to tell you to get your mind off of….”

Before Hannah could finish her train of thought, however, Gabi excitedly grabbed her arm. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I haven’t told you. Did you hear about Mr. Gonzalez?”

………………….

From the quote, one can assume old Ben never had a clue as to what it would be like to work with a high number of individuals, particularly females.

**** Disclaimer: This story is not based purely on firsthand experience, trial, and tribulation. ****

Huffing and fluffing from her thick skirts Marion's ruddy cheeks turned ever redder.

Face turned into quite the hideous scowl untoward the wealthier of the pair. A young man named Coriander simply one of two accomplices.

With a much more sensitive eye than most.

"I just mean, many have made money off of that man's works and dramatizing his story and renown, if we were to peel that back even a little bit and that's simply the living to think about."

"And you think I haven't thought of it," she lashed, "remember which of us doesn't get to escape every evening."

"Fine," he said huffily and really Marion hardly cared. True, he was dutiful and enjoyable company but in the scheme of things even if they were friends, theirs was a relation dead in the water.

"Ombre is with Althea now, we figured hers would be safer."

"In the crack alleys of Brisbane?"

"Fine, relatively. Besides ghosts stay away from it unless welcome."

What Marion had unearthed, what her spectral shadow Ombre had translated and summoned to ritual for her, and what Althea researched in the dizzying shelves of the scholars' library was a tome written in code and invisible ink, of Ben Franklin's works written and scientific.

'Syla Durth'

Silence Dogood.

Buried within the storied man's history.

And within the name of that reputable young woman was the spirit tormented, left behind-- a former college aged fellow named Thaddeus Thorne.

His last known address marked in the clandestine book as 85 Westerly Way. In Virginia.

"Chartering the boat wouldn't be the problem," Coriander mused, expression stormy, "the problem is, how to explain two young ladies one of which I still am not old enough to court. And I don't want unsightly things said about my parents' hiring practice."

I was a teen and heard my parents talking in the kitchen.

"I went to the bathroom last night bleeding. There was a gush. I turned on the light and looked in the toilet. I think I lost a baby."

"Oh no, we weren't even sure. You felt faint like you did with Gordon but that was a long time ago. We didn't really know. Are you alright? Do you need a doctor?"

"I'm fine I think. The bleeding stopped right after. I cleaned up the mess. It was a boy."

A brother. I could have had a little brother who would be grown now. A friend I could call and just talk things out. But no. It was never told to me. Never spoken of again. I now sometimes doubt I actually heard it that morning before junior high getting ready to catch the bus. My parents now long dead. I'll never really know. A brother.

(parody of the theme song from pretty little liars)

Got a secret, can you keep it?

truths told in my shed

Better lock it in your pocket

or you might just lose your head

come on show me i can trust thee won’t tell what i said

'Cause three can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Why do you smile like you've been told a secret?

Better not be telling mine 'cause you have sworn to keep it

But no one keeps a secret

No one keeps a secret

Why when we do our darkest deeds do we tell?

The faces in sleep, the ones down the well?

'Cause everybody will tell

Everyone tells.

Got a secret, can you keep it?

truths told in my shed

Better lock it in your pocket

or you might just lose your head

better show me i can trust thee won't tell what I said

'Cause three can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Look into my eyes, can you see it?

All the secrets and lies i’ve been keeping?

I know you’ll keep it

you’d better keep it

Got a secret, can you keep it?

truths told in my shed

Better lock it in your pocket

or you might just lose your head

better show me i can trust thee won't tell what I said

'Cause three can keep a secret if two of them are dead

"Em, Han"

"Yes, Allie?"

"I have something I want to tell you both but you have to promise never to tell anyone."

"we promise."

"Do you swear on your lives?"

"on our lives."

You swore you'd never tell

now you’re just empty shells

how were your heads when you fell?

faces down a well.

Got a secret, can you keep it?

truths told in my shed

Better lock it in your pocket

or you might just lose your head

better show me i can trust thee won't tell what I said

'Cause three can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Got a secret, can you keep it?

truths told in my shed

Better lock it in your pocket

or you might just lose your head

better show me i can trust theewon't tell what I said

'Cause thee can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Got a secret, can you keep it?

truths told in my shed

Better lock it in your pocket

or you might just lose your head

better show me i can trust theewon't tell what I said

'Cause thee can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Yes, three can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Yes, three can keep a secret if two of us are dead

John, Kiera, and Fredrico had a secret.

John decided to kill Kiera and Fredrico so that he could feel special for the first time in his life.

John succeeded and immediately forgot the secret because he was never very bright.

However his cat leaped out of his Walmart grocery bag and went into the streets selling pamphlets that detailed John’s secret.

John took one for $7.98 but there was a problem.

John had forgotten how to read.

Now the secret will never be known except by the millions of people who live in New York.

I actually don’t know how many there are and I don’t want to search it up, so don’t correct me if I’m wrong.