Family Reunion

My stomach churned as I waited in the faux leather seat. The scent of “New Car” wafted around me like a foul odor as my hand wrung the steering wheel, over and over again. My eyes darted down the narrow cobblestone drive where no sign of life appeared. Come on... I thought to myself as I glanced at the gray obelisks that surrounded me.

Caroline and Elizabeth pulled up in a dark red car. Elizabeth stepped out of the passenger’s side with elegance. Her blonde hair pulled back into a neat bun, makeup done to fit the occasion and a short black dress to finish it off. Caroline jumped out from behind the driver’s wheel, slammed her door and began bickering with our sister. I watched as her brown hair lightly caressed her features and her dress ruffled in the wind.

Elizabeth looked over at my car and raised her voice, “Oh, it isn’t like you haven’t seen us in three years Lexa!”

It was true, I hadn’t seen them in three years, but on a day like today I wasn’t excited to see anyone.

I slowly pulled myself out of the car and approached my older siblings. After getting through the hugs and physical critiques I took a deep breath and sighed, “Let’s do this.”

We approached a tombstone with “Tucker Eckman” etched onto its face. “Hey bud,” I said softly as I lowered myself onto the grass.

Caroline grabbed my shoulder and squeezed, “We missed you.”

I didn’t feel the presence of Elizabeth, which worried me. Sometimes it was hard to come here and that’s why we did it together. I turned abruptly, startling Caroline, to find Elizabeth a few plots over looking at the ground. I didn’t have to ask her what she was doing, I already knew, but the question was why?

After a few moments, she looked over at us and smiled, as to apologize, then pointed to the headstone embedded in the ground, “Looks like Mom had a visitor, I don’t know who, maybe a fan.”

“God knows we don’t come here to visit her,” Caroline gaffed.

Elizabeth made her way over to Evan’s headstone, “That bitch doesn’t deserve our time.”

I sat there in silence. I felt the same way about our mother, oh god maybe worse if I could, but something had been eating at me. I swallowed my nerves and went for it, “Hey guys,” Caroline and Elizabeth both looked at me, eyes wide, “What... what if Mom was the one that did it?”

I never heard a louder silence happen in my life.

**This is the start of a longer story! I wanted to post this to see some feedback.**

#Prose #Fiction #Thriller #Mystery #FlashFiction #Begining #NotFinished #Fire #Grave #Graveyard