Page 22 of Landon (In Safe Hands)
“I-themorgue?”
“Yes,ma’am. I have the number and address for you.”
Aftertaking down the information, I hang up and flop onto the bed. I don’t know howto feel. They hated me. They hated Ethan. But they were our parents. Shouldn’tI be crying? Shouldn’t I be feeling something other than shock?
Theyhave no other family, so like it or not, planning the funerals falls on me.Maybe I should just call their preacher. He’s the one they’d want handlingthings, not me. A stubborn hurt part of me just can’t make that call. He’s theone who told them to rid themselves of their evil children.
Theyforced me to go to church, and I complied until I turned eighteen. When I toldthem I wasn’t going to go anymore, that I didn’t believe the same as them, theykicked me out. I had nothing but a part time job, not even a real high schooldiploma since they homeschooled me. If it hadn’t been for a local homelessshelter, I’d have been on the street. They gave me a place to stay, paid for meto get my GED and helped me find a full time job. Four years later, theyrepeated their actions with Ethan when he came out.
Suddenly,I’m pissed. How dare they do all that to us then expect me to do anything forthem? Dead or alive. Maybe they had a will. I know what lawyer they use.Hopefully, they’ve left instructions for someone else to handle everything.After a quick internet search, I leave a message at their lawyer’s office.
“Bye,Zo!” Ethan calls from the living room as he leaves for school.
“Becareful!” I shout, my usual parting words to him. He’s having a good day.There’s no reason to tell him yet. He’s been through enough, and I can dealwith this.
I’mstill sitting on my bed, my mind running a thousand miles per minute whenFrannie knocks on the door. “I’m coming in, hooker! I got to pee!” Her keyrattles in the lock and I hear her use the hall bathroom before she hunts medown.
“Zo?”She peeks in the room and sees me curled up on the bed. “Shit, what’s wrong?”
“They’redead. I can’t fucking believe it, Fran, but they’re dead.”
Hereyes widen and she sits beside me. “Who’s dead?”
“Myparents, both of them.”
“What?What happened?”
“Carcrash. A cop called. I have to ID the bodies. Ethan doesn’t know. I have tocall in to work. Miss school, I guess,” I babble until she wraps her armsaround me.
“Slowdown, girl. One thing at a time. Are you okay?”
Shamecolors my cheeks. “I am. I know I shouldn’t be, but I am.”
“There’sno way you should or shouldn’t feel, especially given what they did to you andEthan. When are you supposed to identify them?”
“Idon’t know. I have to call,” I reply with a sigh, picking up the phone again.The receptionist at the county morgue explains in a soft voice that I can comein anytime today, then they can release the bodies to the funeral home. As soonas I disconnect the call, the phone rings in my hand. It’s the lawyer.
“Ms.Page, I’m very sorry to hear about your loss,” he says.
“Thankyou. I know you handled a few things for them, and I thought they may have awill I’m unaware of.”
Franniebrings me a glass of water while I’m talking, then starts digging in my closet.“Yes, I have a will they filed about eight years ago. If you’d like to come in,we can go over it, but it’s not really necessary. As their oldest child, theyleft everything to you. I have the insurance company’s information as well, soyou can contact them and file a claim for the life insurance.”
“Theyhad life insurance?”
Ican hear the ruffling of papers. “Yes, ma’am. Two policies, one for fivehundred thousand dollars that lists you as a beneficiary and one for twohundred fifty thousand that goes to your brother, Ethan Page. Assuming theydidn’t let the policy’s lapse, of course.”
NowI know I’m fucking dreaming. Laughter bubbles up from my chest and I toss thephone aside, letting the hysterics take over. “Shit,” Fran mumbles, which justmakes me laugh harder.
Shesnatches up the phone and says, “I’m sorry, Zoe can’t continue right now.She’ll have to call back.” A pause, and then. “Yes, yes, I understand. Thankyou.” She scribbles something on a piece of paper before hanging up.
Tearspour down my face as I choke off the laughter. “I’m sorry, but he said we wereinheriting seven hundred fifty thousand dollars!” I collapse into gigglesagain. “Isn’t that ridiculous? It’s a mistake. They wouldn’t leave us shit.”
Franniehugs me, then hands me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Get dressed, hon. We’llfigure it out. The lawyer gave me the insurance info. All we have to do is calland check.”
Ipull myself together and get dressed, choosing to put off dealing with theinsurance company until later. I’m sure there’s nothing there anyway. They madethe will before they disowned us, so I’m sure we inherited the house, and if Isell it I can at least get us out of this apartment. First things first, themorgue.
Frannieaccompanies me back to the sterile room that smells strongly of chemicals. Theygive me the choice to view on a screen, but I need to see them, really see themand know it’s real. It still doesn’t feel real, even when a man in a white coatleads me into the room where they lie on two gurneys, only their faces uncovered.I haven’t seen them in almost five years, but they haven’t changed much. Thecoroner has done his best to clean them up, but the blood crusted wound on mymother’s forehead sends a sick spike through my stomach.
