The Wreck by Marie Force

end.
    The white paint had been chipping from
crosses covered with slimy moss. Over the next month, Carly had made multiple
trips to the site, once carrying paint and brushes, another time bringing
clippers and a trash bag.
    Today she was pleased that the
wildflowers she’d planted before the April rains had exploded into colorful
blooms. She pulled the weeds from around the crosses and trimmed back the
snapdragons and cosmos so they wouldn’t block the view of the crosses from the
road.
    Maintaining this place had been
therapeutic for Carly. She saw it as something she could do for the friends she
had lost, a way to honor their memories. Only when she was here did she allow
herself to dwell on the events of that long-ago spring. She wondered what they
would all be doing if they had lived. Would Toby still be in the Navy? Would
Pete have ever honored the promise he had made to his parents to return from
his travels and go to college? Would Jenny work at the fancy new hair salon
that had opened downtown last year? Or would she have her own salon by now?
    Carly wondered if she and Michelle might
have raised their children together, the way their mothers had raised them. She
suspected Sam would’ve followed his father into the police department and Sarah
might’ve been a doctor. Envisioning how their lives might be today was a source
of comfort to Carly since it allowed her to briefly entertain the fantasy that
they were out there living their lives somewhere. She didn’t spend a lot of
time wondering how her own life would have turned out, because she knew. She’d
be married to Brian, and they would have at least three children by now.
    All over town last week and especially at
Miss Molly’s, people had been abuzz about his big win. Carly had recorded his
interview on TV and replayed it again and again. She had seen photos of him in
the newspaper over the years, but it had been so startling to hear the new
deeper timbre of his voice. He had matured into rugged good looks that reminded
her of his father as a younger man.
    She was so proud of Brian. He’d done
exactly what he had set out to do and was obviously an amazing attorney. She
wasn’t surprised he had chosen to be a prosecutor. It was just like him to want
to help people, and public service was in his genes, after all.
    When she finished pulling the weeds and
collected a few pieces of trash, Carly stepped back to take a critical look at
her work. She wished she could tell them all how much she loved and missed
them, but she suspected they knew. She liked to picture them together in
heaven, doing the same things they’d always done, going on like nothing had
ever happened. She knew what it felt like to be alone, so imagining her friends
still had each other took the edge off her sadness.
    As she was getting ready to walk away,
one last piece of paper poking out of the wildflowers caught her eye. She
reached down to pick up a white scrap with vivid red words that said, “WHORES
AND ASSHOLES.” Shocked and repulsed, she quickly pushed the paper into the
trash bag. Who would leave such a thing here, of all places?
    A ripple of fear went through her when
she suddenly had the overwhelming feeling she was being watched. Looking left
and then right, she saw no one anywhere in sight. Telling herself she was being
ridiculous, Carly gathered up her gardening tools, grabbed the garbage bag, and
set off down Tucker Road. Adrenaline had her walking faster than usual, until
she finally broke into a jog on the way to her parents’ house.
    To get to South Road, she had to pass
Brian’s parents’ house. Seven hundred and eighty-six steps later, she stood at
the front gate to the house where she had grown up. Anytime Carly made that
walk, she remembered the night she and Brian had counted the steps between
their two houses. Filled with nostalgia that was less sad than it used to be,
she used her key in the front door.
    Even though the windows were open, the
house was musty,