Page 61 of The Deadly Candies

Janey pushed open the door, and it collapsed inward, sending up a cloud of dust and decay.

She pulled a handkerchief to her nose, stepping carefully over the rotted floorboards. Ely instinctively pushed Kathy behind him, his body tense, protective.

She wanted to tell him she wasn’t afraid, but she wasn’t sure if that was true.

“Careful, Janey,” Ely warned. “It ain’t safe.”

Janey didn’t look back at him. “It was never a safe place,” she murmured.

Kathy stepped inside and looked around. The ghosts of the past still lingered there. Old pots and pans sat where they had been left, rusted and forgotten. A chair stood in the corner, broken but present. The remnants of a small bed lay in one corner, the mattress long gone.

Janey walked forward slowly, her fingers grazing a shelf—then she stopped abruptly.

Something caught her eye. She knelt and reached for a single, abandoned shoe.

It was small. Worn. Janey dusted it off gently, then held it to her chest like a precious jewel.

Kathy swallowed hard, unable to look away. Janey’s back was to her, but she saw her shoulders shaking. Kathy wanted to speak. What could she say?

A moment passed.

Then, from the corner of her eye, Kathy spotted a small book tucked under debris near the stove. She reached for it, brushing off the dust. A journal?

Before she could look inside?—

“Mama!”

Janey’s scream shattered the silence. Kathy’s heart stopped. Ely rushed forward, and Kathy was right behind him. They found Janey on her knees. She was clutching something—a dress, old and tattered, as if it had once belonged to a ghost. She rocked back and forth, hugging it, crying.

Ely hovered nearby, his face tight with concern, unsure if he should touch her.

Kathy didn’t hesitate. She knelt beside her aunt, wrapping her arms around her, holding her close to her heart. Janey groaned and sobbed; her body racked with grief.

They stayed that way for a long time. Then, suddenly—Janey inhaled sharply, sat up straight, and sighed. She stood. Her face returned to its usual mask of beauty and poise, her tears wiped away as if they had never fallen.

“Y’all ready to go?” she asked lightly.

Kathy blinked up at her, stunned by the change.

Ely helped Kathy up, exchanging a look with her, but neither spoke.

Janey tossed the shoe and dress aside like trash and walked out the door, back to the truck, as sassy and untouchable as ever. Kathy stared after her, then quietly picked up both the dress and the shoe. She also grabbed a small change purse sitting on a shelf.

Ely took them from her. “I’ll put ‘em in the truck,” he said. “Janey won’t see.”

Kathy smiled at him. “Thank you, Ely.”

They walked back together.

“Hurry up!” Janey called from the truck, her sunglasses back on. “I wanna rest and change.Goin’ to the Juke Joint tonight.”

Kathy slid in beside her. “What’s a Juke Joint?”

Ely and Janey burst with laughter.

Kathy justsmiled, not knowing what was funny.

19

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