Chapter 14 - Be strong

Marnie’s POV

Just like Reggie said, when I arrived in Miami, my grandma was there to greet me. I ran into her arms since I hadn’t seen her since Mom’s funeral, and started to cry. I didn’t care that people were looking at me strangely, I not only missed my grams, but I also couldn’t believe that Vivien was dead. I had to go into the police station today and give a statement to them, since I was… Am, her sister. The Miami PD had talked with me over the phone while I was at my layover in Denver, and I was to come in immediately after I landed to talk about Vivien. I was supposed to call them to tell them that I was on my way after I landed.

I turned my phone on, then sighed and closed my eyes when I saw that I had about a million missed calls and the same amount of text message, and I had some voice mails too. I looked at the list of missed calls, which revealed to me that Jessie called me about three times, Lucian called me about five times, the boys called me a couple times, and Ethan called me the most. The phone couldn’t even count how many times that he had called me, and sent me text messages. I shook my head with a sigh and put in my password for my voicemail and listened to my friends leave messages on my phone while staring at the palm trees.

“Hey, Marnie. I’m just checking in on you. I’m worried, and I know that you’re in the air right now, but I really just wanna know how you are. I know that you’ll probably be busy when you do turn your phone on, so I won’t bother you anymore, but please, please call me to tell me how you are. I need to know. I’m really sorry about your sister, and I hope everything goes well. Keep me updated if you can.”

That had been from Jessie. I could hear the stress in her voice, the worried tone that filled every word that she spoke. I should call her back, to tell her that I didn’t know how I was feeling. But one look at a girl with long brunette hair like my sister had, I reminded myself that I was just going to check my voicemail and then call the PD so that I can go get the interview over with and then go to my cousin and cry with her. No doubt will I be seeing my whole family, but I wasn’t excited for that. Not this trip, because one person I wanted to see the most wouldn’t be there.

“Marnie? It’s Lucian, you need to call me, like immediately. Ed told me what happened, and I need to know if you're okay. If you don’t tell me that you’re okay then I’ll cancel the flight down to Miami right now and stay here, if you want me to that is. I kind of need a vacation though now that I think about it… Just call me, because we need to talk. If I don’t talk soon I’ll be seeing you in about a week.”

I sighed and dug through my purse until I found a pen. I wrote down on my hand to call not just Lucian later, but all my friends. I continued to listen to the messages.

“Marnie, Jessie told me what happened. I’m really, really sorry to hear about what happened to your sister. I know how much she meant to you, since Daniel died. I just wish that we could have talked before you left so that I could just understand what you’re going through, so that I could be there for you, because I want you to know that I care about you, and that whatever you feel I will feel too. I just really need you to come back, or at least talk to me about what’s going on. I need to know, Marnie.” a pause. “Also I have something to tell you when you come back, so hurry back, so I can tell you. I don’t know how you’ll react, but it’s nothing that I can say over the phone. I have to tell you in person, so please, just get back as soon as possible, because it’s big, and it can’t wait any longer. It’s waited long enough.”

That was the end of the messages that had been sent to me. The voicemails, anyway. I bit my lip, deleted the voicemail and then locked my phone. I put it in my lap and continued to look outside as I thought, but this time not about my sister, about Ethan, and what he had said to me. Apparently he needed to tell me something, and by the tone of his voice it was a huge thing that he needed to tell me. I wanted to know, but if he wanted to tell me in person I wasn’t going to coax it out of him. He would tell me on his own terms, whatever it was that he wanted to tell me. I sat back and thought about all the things that he could possibly want to tell me, though I couldn’t really think of anything at all. I didn’t know if I wanted to know.

I shook off the thought as we stopped at a traffic light, and then looked through my phone for the number to the police department. I put the phone up to my ear and waited for someone on the other end to answer.

“This is Detective Kipling.” a calm voice on the other end of the phone said.

I took a small deep breath. “Detective? This is MarnieRae Andrews, sister to Vivien Andrews. We spoke on the phone? Well, I’m in town, if you wanted me to come in.” I said softly with a small shrug, even though I knew fairly well that the detective couldn’t see me.

“Yes, I remember.” he said in a soft tone as well. “You can come to the department whenever you wish, but I’m going to the crime scene right now. My team back at the department will help you with anything that you need, and in return they would like to ask some questions about your sister, just to get to know her a little better since you probably knew her best.”

I bite my lip and close my eyes. “I would like to see her body.” I blurt out without thinking. Grams gasps and nearly swerves on the road, but catches herself before she does so. “If that can be arranged.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. For a moment I thought that our connection had gotten lost, but then I heard a car horn in the background, distant. “I don’t think that’s a smart idea.”

“Please, detective.” I begged him, my voice shaky. “I need to see her, just one last time. Please.”

“She doesn’t look like herself.” he said, still as calm as ever.

I shook my head still, tears still wanting to rush down my face. “I don’t care. I have to see her.”

There was silence yet again. I knew that he was just thinking about what to do, and that I didn’t need to say anything else and to just let him think, but I just wanted to do whatever I could to see her. I don’t know why I wanted to see my sister's dead body so badly, maybe just to see whether this was a trick or not, but I just had to, I needed to, and I didn’t have an explanation for it. I waited patiently, or as patiently as my heart and mind would let me.

“Very well.” he said with a small sigh. “I’ll let my colleagues know that you would like to see her body at the end of the interview. Now I have to go, but I have a feeling that we will be meeting very soon, all right?”

I wiped my teary eyes. I would get to see my sister one last time before she was put into the ground. “Thank you, Detective Kipling.”

With that, we hung up, and I closed my eyes tight. I held the phone in my lap, and then I felt Grams put her hand behind my back and rub it gently. I look over at her, trying my best to not let a tear slip. If I let a tear slip then I would crash and burn and start to sob until I had nothing left to cry. I didn’t want that. I wanted to stay strong, because after all of the shit that’s happened in my life, I somehow managed to stay strong, and I was going to stay strong still.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Sweet one?” she asks in her cracked voice. Without answering, I nod and look out the window again. I thought about home, about Ethan and Jessie and Lucian and the others, so that I could get my mind off of Vivien and the murder, and the fact that I was going to get to see her dead body later today. I don’t know what I was thinking, asking if I could see her body, all I knew was that I had to, that I had to see what the murderer had done to her. I felt angry at the person who took my sister away from me, and I wanted to see how they did it, if it was out of revenge, or anger, or if she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time… But then, she was at her home, wasn’t she? So how could she be at the wrong place at the wrong time if she was at the safety of her own home? And where was her boyfriend? Then I realize what Reggie had said. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but the murderer, whoever it was, had killed not only Vivien, but her boyfriend Trey too. Trey was like my second brother, the brother that replaced Daniel, but didn’t entirely replace him at the same time. He was part of the family, even though he never married Vivien. He was the only person who ever cared about Vivien for her, and not for the fact that she had a mental disability or not. Sure, he had financial issues, but once he moved to Florida, he was just starting to be able to provide for the both of them. He had talked to me just before I met the boys, and had talked to me about marrying her once he got enough money. I gave him my consent, since it was my decision because I was her sister, and that was that I hadn’t heard from them since, and I wish I called them every week now. I wish I had done a lot of things.

“Would you like something to drink, Miss Andrews?” a female detective, who went by Detective Greene asked. I shook my head, and she nodded softly, her brunette curls bouncing slightly off of her shoulder. “All right, then why don’t we start by you telling me what your sister was like.”

I sniffled, though I didn’t cry. Talking about Vivien was going to be difficult, but I had to get through this. I wanted to get to Reggie’s, where I would be staying, and fall asleep for the day. I was exhausted, and just wanted this day to be over. I knew that I had to get through this first before I did anything else though. I was willing to get through it, just to help find my sister’s and her boyfriend’s killer.

“Well,” I started softly. My voice cracked, which I didn’t like, so I closed my eyes and cleared my throat, and opened my eyes to continue. “She was mentally handicapped. Her mind was stuck at an age of around thirteen years old. She was very sweet and intelligent, despite that. She took care of me when our mom died and our dad disappeared. Our dad murdered our mom, and our brother died about fifteen years ago, and we were living in Alaska at the time, so we were all that we had left. But when I turned seventeen she moved away with Trey, her boyfriend, and I kept the apartment until I moved in with my friend back home.” I paused and looked down. “Trey was going to propose to her. He asked me for his consent the last time I talked to them.”

Detective Greene paused, and then finally spoke when I looked up. “The victim-” she paused, realizing that I was in the room and that there was no need to say that word. “Vivien,” she said softly, making me tense a bit. “had a ring on her finger. She was engaged.”

I don’t know why, but I smiled. That small fact made me smile. They were going to get married. They were supposed to. She would have told me, so they must have gotten engaged just a few hours before the incident. I bit my lip, thinking that it should make me sad and upset, though it didn’t. I was happy for them, even though they would never be married. In some way, maybe they will be, up in the clouds. I wasn’t sure if I believed in that kind of stuff, but it made me feel better thinking that my mom, Vivien, and Trey were somewhere happy and safe, away from my murderous father. Maybe Trey  and Vivien will get married up there, and Gramps can walk her down the aisle and give her away. Maybe Daniel will be there too, to be their ring bearer. That thought made me smile, and made me feel happy despite all the murder and bloodshed in my life.

“Was your sister close to anyone other than your family and her fiance?” she asked quietly, writing everything I said down. “Any friends? Roomates?”

I shook my head. "Not that I know of. We were close. I mean, we're all that we have left. We tell each other everything."

Detective Greene wrote down something else and then looked back at me. She seemed to hesitate before speaking. "You said before that your father murdered your mother..." she hesitated again, waiting for my reaction. "Has he ever been caught for it?"

I don't say anything for a long time. I don't know how to answer her. I should have just said no, simple and the correct answer, but it was like my voice had disappeared from me, I didn’t really know how to say that he hasn’t been caught. Thank, God, Grams was there, for she answered for me while resting a hand on my shoulder.

“No, he hasn’t been caught.” she said with a sigh as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “That man murdered my daughter, and now murdered my granddaughter and the boy who was supposed to be my grandson, God rest their souls.” as she said that, she made the cross with across her chest. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did this. That man brought Hell onto my family, and I can’t stand to take another minute of it.”

“Grams,” I said softly. I had no clue that she was feeling this way, though I wasn’t really surprised at all. I’m mad at my father too since he took away my mother, but now that I think about it, I wasn’t surprised if he had done this too. I look back at Detective Greene who was writing more things down. “Did the other Detective talk to you about letting me see my siblings?”

Detective Greene stopped scribbling down things on her notepad and looked up slowly. I stared at her, making my eyes as big as they could be and then bit my lip gently. I wanted to see them, I really did. I wanted to see what the murderer did to them. I wanted to know what happened. I had a strong stomach, and I used to watch crime shows all the time. I used to eat while watching Bones, while Vivien used to hurl every time we ate while watching it. Then Trey would laugh and sit down on the couch and watch it with me, and Vivien would shake her head and mutter under her breath about how disgusting we were and how we were strange if we could eat while watching the show. It was a fun memory, and the best part was that as often as it had happened, it never got any less funnier. I always laughed and then smiled at the memory. A memory that seemed so far gone now, the remnants of an event that seemed to have happened so many years ago, like another lifetime ago.

“Sure.” she says softly, then gets up. Grams and I get up after sharing a look with each other, then we following Detective Greene out of the break room and go down the hallway towards the elevator. It was a quiet and small trip to the morgue that was downstairs in the basement. I looked down at my feet, wondering what I would see when we got there. Would I see just bones covered in blood and a bit of muscle, like what had been on bones, or would I see humans with scratched up faces who looked like they were just sleeping, like in Castle? I didn’t know what I was going to see, but I was prepared for anything.

“Dr. Laste,” Detective Greene greets a young male doctor when we enter the morgue. Grams stayed outside with another officer, but I wasn’t backing out of looking at my sister and the man who was like a brother to me. “You got my message, I’m guessing, about Miss Andrews saying goodbye to her sister?”

The only doctor in the room, Dr. Laste, looked up, his green eyes looking at Detective Greene from the utensils that he had been cleaning, and then looked at me when he saw that I was a stranger. He stared at me for a moment before looking at Detective Greene, and nods softly. “Yes, I have.” he looks over at me and takes his latex gloves off, then puts on new ones. “Are you sure about this?”

I don’t say anything for a moment, like I hadn’t been able to since the question about whether my father had been caught for the murder of my mother yet or not. Both of the adults in the room look at me, and I look down at the floor, feeling uncomfortable under their gaze. I gave a curt nod, then Dr. Laste walks to the place where the bodies are held, and unlocks one. Slowly, I walk over when he pulls out a body, Vivien’s body, that was covered with a sheet. Without thinking, I take Detective Greene’s arm, and she makes me release it, but takes my hand instead. I take a deep breath as we stand in front of the body that was lying on the table. I close my eyes, then nod as they ask if I’m ready. I hear the tarp being pulled away from the body, then I open my eyes and I’m staring at the lifeless body of my sister.

She looked so peaceful as she laid there, and could imitate a dead person easily. I know people say that about their dead ones a lot in books and movies, but she really she could be sleeping soundlessly. Her brunette hair was pushed away from her face, tucked behind her ears. Her face was pale, though it wasn’t that pale, because she had been a bit tan while being in the Miami sun. She looked a bit sunburnt in places too. The one thing that reminded me that she was dead was the slashes that were in the side of her face. The three marks, and then the dents in the side of her face in the same spot.

Suddenly, I was taken back, as if in a flash back, to the night when my mother had died. She had came into my room and locked my door, making me jump from fright and take my headphones out. My dad had gotten drunk again, and it wasn’t pretty when he was drunk, so I resided to music blasting through my headphones. I stopped my favorite song at the time, Arms by Christina Perri, and took the headphones out of my ears. I looked at my mom worried, who was frantically dumping everything out of my school bag and putting clothes inside, and a wad of cash. My eyes widened, and I had jumped off of my bed and rushed to her side.

“Mom.” I said as I sit down next to her. “What’s going on?”

Mom just shook her head and zipped up the bag and handed me my shoes. Not wanting to displease her, I put them on and tugged my jacket on. “MarnieRae, we have to run. It’s not safe for us here anymore. We’ll go to Vivien’s, and then we’ll take her and go someplace else. That will be the first place that he looks, after that I don’t know where we’ll go.” she says in a shaky but quiet voice. As she closes the bag down she gets up and opens my window, then pops the screen out. My eyes widen as I realize what she’s doing, what we’re doing.

“Mom, are we leaving him?” I was scared, I was only a child at the time, I was fifteen, but still a child. Since Dad had started to drink, and since it had been ages since I had last seen him sober, I wasn’t upset about leaving him. I was glad to get away from him. I was glad that Mom and Vivien and I were finally able to get away from him for good, and that we weren’t going to have to listen to his bickering and bitching all night long, every single day. Whether it be about him losing his job, or about our faults. I was done with him, and I had been for ages. I guess that Mom had finally gotten done with his bullshit too.

“We’re leaving him, Sweetie, and we’re never going to see him again.” she said as she pushed the bag out of the window. Just as she did so, Dad’s stomping came from down the hall, and I gasped as he stumbled against the door, and rattled the handle, though it wouldn’t open the door. I heard him howl in rage, and my eyes widened. Mom grabbed my arm and then handed me her keys. “Go to the truck immediately, all right?”

“You’ll be right behind me, right?” I whispered. I wasn’t going to leave her here, I refused to do anything else that might make me think about leaving her. The thought of leaving my mom here so that she was alone with my dad scared me. There was no telling what he was going to do if she was all alone. I didn’t even want to think about it.

She gave me a small smile and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Of course, I’ll be right behind you. You have nothing to worry about. Now go, so that we can go as quick as we can.”

I nodded and hopped up onto the windowsill, and was grateful that we lived in a one story house so that I only had about a five foot drop to the grass. I looked back at Mom, and then my eyes widened when my door was broken off of it’s hinges, and Mom turned around to see Dad walking towards her. I reached for Mom, to have her jump out with me, but she turned around before I could grab her, and her eyes widened. “RUN, MARNIE!”

Then Dad grabs Mom from behind, and whispers something into her ear before pushing her down, making her slam her head down on the table, making her scream. I scream too, which probably wasn’t smart, because then he looks at me and reaches for me, but I’m quicker and jump down, taking the bag and running. I jump into the truck and shakily with tears falling down my cheeks turn the car on and back out, knowing that I had to get help for Mom before something bad happened. I had my permit, but I didn’t have a license, and hopefully a cop would stop me for speeding on the way to the station.

I don’t remember much after that, but what I do remember is going into the house with the police who had guns, and finding my mom lying on the floor, the side of her head bludgeoned, and scratched, and bloody. Her eyes were opened wide, and were lifeless. I screamed, and rushed to her, trying to get her to wake up, and no one stopped me. No matter what I screamed at her, she stayed motionless, and those eyes stayed lifeless. It was my fault that she was dead. I shouldn’t have left her, I should have fought my father so that she could get away. I shouldn’t have let her fight for me to get away. She should have been the one to get away, not me.

The wound on the side of Vivien’s face were the same as the ones on my mothers, that day one spring ago, just three years ago. The ones that my father had inflicted.

Vivien and Trey had been murdered by my father.

I take a couple steps back, and then I run out of the morgue. Both the detective and the doctor yell after me, but I’m long gone. Grams is yelling after me too, but I ignore her and run outside. I jump inside of a cab that someone just got out, and tell the Cabbie to go straight to the airport. I don’t care about the suitcase full of clothes that was in the trunk of Grams car, I could get more later, I knew that I just had to get out here before anything happened, because right now, I was in the same state as my father. He was closer to me than I ever thought, and I couldn’t be that close to him. Being in the same state made me think that he could reach out and touch me out of nowhere, that I could end up just like the three people in my life that he has already murdered. I had to get away before I endangered myself, even though I was already in danger, because this murder, the murder of my sister and my brother, was a message sent from him that I understand now. It was a message directed towards me that said, “I’m coming, are you scared yet?”