By the time Benny and Whit make their way over to Laurel’s house it’s already almost ten in the morning. Laurel had been patiently waiting on her front porch steps for her boys to arrive. She had been expecting Whit though to arrive much earlier than Benny because Whit only lives a few blocks away from her whereas Benny lives on the other side of town so she’s silently surprised to witness the two of them walk up to her house together.

“Heya, Laurel!” Whit bounces up the steps and sits to the left of her. “Skipping school?” He grins boldly.

Benny takes the space on the other side of her, “Did you hurt your hands?” He asks while looking down at her blood stained knuckles.

Laurel just sighs, “So… I slightly killed my father.” She says this as if she herself is still trying to digest this information.

“”Oh.”” The two boys say in almost unison.

“Ya’know, it was just last night me and Benny were talking about killing him. You should have called us sooner, we would’ve helped. Glad to know we’re all on the same page though.”

Laurel whacks him on the shoulder, “It wasn’t like that. It just… happened.” This is a lie that she knows is a lie, but tells it anyway. Everything that had happened had happened because she had escalated it to that point. If she had kept her mouth shut and waited like she had been she could’ve walked away from this life with her hands clean. But on this morning her patience had felt like a fuse burned through and gone and the anger had exploded out of her from the dark place she kept it tucked away inside her.

“What about your mom?” Benny looks back at the house as if expecting to see her suddenly pop out.

Laurel just gestures in the air, “I don’t know. When I walked out afterwards she was on the floor practically catatonic. She’s probably still in the same position I left her in.”

“And how are you?” Benny looks at her carefully waiting for… anything to happen.

Laurel sighs, “I don’t know. Fine I guess. I just… I don’t know. I can’t decide if everything just hasn’t sunken in yet or if I don’t feel anything because I really just don’t feel anything.”

“I guess that’s… good.” Benny is at a lost as to what he should do in this situation, luckily Whit is there as well.

“You know what we should do now?” Whit asks rhetorically, “We should go to school and kill the bullies who beat me up all the time.”

Laurel laughs and then laughs some more. For some reason Whit’s comment is the funniest thing she’s heard in a long time and she grips her sides while laughing so hard. When she’s done she wipes the tears away with the palm of her hands.

“You fucking idiot,” She says to the blue sky, “school was cancelled today.” It occurs to her that if the school hadn’t closed today her father would still be alive. The seemingly freak occurrence of cause and effect leaves her baffled. The universe is infinitely strange.

Whit frowns, “I’m suddenly disappointed. I didn’t think I’d ever be disappointed about school cancelling… ah, I feel betrayed.”

“Um, can we bring the discussion back around to the already dead person in Laurel’s house.”

Laurel inhales, “Right,” she exhales slowly, “would you like to help me bury a body?”

““Yes”” The boys readily agree together.

Laurel had never felt more loved than in that moment.