In May 1995, I’d lost my best friend and love of my life through betrayal and deception. It made sense that I didn’t remember this news story. The last thing I would’ve wanted to hear was about a guy killing himself.
By the end of May, I’d stopped seeing college football scouts and didn’t consider playing as an option anymore. I didn’t leave the house or talk to anyone. Didn’t even go to graduation.
Faith had come by the house with a present.
I refused to see her.
News traveled that Brett and Faith left town a week later.
The whole summer, I stayed at home and lay in bed.
Mom couldn’t get me out. She’d gone to Addie Mae for help, but for whatever reason, Addie Mae refused to answer the door. No one saw Addie Mae until a year later.
Why did it have to be the same month and year?
This was all too much of a coincidence and I couldn’t figure out why.
I read on.
A reporter had interviewed Remington’s mother. She declared that he’d fallen in love with the wrong sort of girl. I wondered what made her bad.
The Townson name was all over town. They were a rich family that had settled in these mountains long ago. I’d never heard of Remington, but then I didn’t take note of any of them. Just Mayor Townson because he was on the high end of my chain of command.
Who did Remington fall in love with and why was she the wrong one?
Sighing, I scrolled down.
The mother went on to declare that Remington hadn’t killed himself, but had died from a spell casted by a voodoo woman. She claimed that this tricky potion made him go crazy. Later, she went on about demons and gay people. The article ended there. It didn’t look like the cops or news people took it seriously. I checked around for more on him, but didn’t find anything.
I couldn’t think of anyone using voodoo in our area, but I knew the hoodoo woman that she must’ve been talking about.
Addie Mae.
I shut my phone off and walked over to the window.
This Remington could be Remy. No. It is him. I think. Well, if this is all true. Maybe, Faith knew the story and reimagined it as she. . .just say it, man. As she went crazy.
Although the house had warmed up nice, snow fell and the wind blew cold on the outside. I rubbed the glass to check on the ice sculpture. Flakes rained down from the sky, blurring my view, but I could’ve swore that the sculpture had moved.
Where did it go? Fuck. Now she has me going crazy. I’m sure it’s there.
I rushed to the dining room and shoved the drapes to the side. Squinting, I only saw the elves by the car.
She said that they didn’t move, but the others did.
Sure enough, Santa and the mermaids had disappeared.
And so had that fucking Remy.
I closed the drapes and listened to the house.
When’s the last time I heard Faith move upstairs? Have I even been listening? No. Just trying to make sense of all the stuff she’d said.
I checked my watch. Thirty minutes had passed. My heart hammered in my chest. She’d been gone for too long. Even if she’d showered, she should’ve been making noise as she packed.
Not thinking, I raced toward the stairs and ran up them. “Faith?”
I hurried down the hallway and burst through her room. “Faith?”