by John Manning
After Marjorie left, Billy took a bite of his burger and fixed his eyes on Bernadette.
“So,” he asked, “what do you think happened to Sue?”
Sue. The name had not passed his lips since the night of the fire. He’d been wanting to ask Bernie about her, but hadn’t dared. Mr. and Mrs. DeSalis had refused to let Billy’s mother speak to the girl for the article she was writing, and Billy refused to be put in the position of knowing something his mother would try to pry out of him. Not that Mom could intimidate him quite as easily as she once had. He believed her when she said she hadn’t known the cult planned on murder, but he had his doubts over her claim that she’d only gotten involved in order to land a scoop. He knew his mother too well, and she knew he knew her. There was a new balance between Billy and Gayle, and he was glad of that.
But now, after nearly a week, his thoughts had returned to the girl he had loved so briefly. The girl he’d never really had the chance to love—but whose feelings for him, and his for her, might have prevented something even more terrible from happening that night in the dean’s basement.
Neither Bernie nor Mike said anything in response to Billy’s question. They simply looked down at their plates.
“I know she must have burned to death,” Billy said. “Even if they’re still unable to identify her body.”
“Then why are you asking, dude?” Mike said.
“I mean—well, do you really think she was what they said she was?”
Bernadette lifted her dark eyes to face him. “What does it matter now, Billy?”
“I just want to know—if she died—what happened to her.”
Bernadette looked out the window, and seemed momentarily interested in something she saw there. Then she smiled, and returned her eyes to Billy.
“Remember what Dr. Marshall said,” she told him. “Sue was as much her mother’s daughter as her father’s.”
Billy just nodded, and began eating his lunch.
“Excuse me a minute, guys,” Bernadette said. “I just saw a friend of mine from school. I’ll be right back.”
She slid out of the booth, struggling into her down parka. Outside, she crossed the street, and hurried after the figure in the blue jacket she’d spotted from the window.
“Wait!” Bernadette called.
The figure, wearing a wool hat and scarf, paused.
“Where are you going?” Bernadette asked.
She looked up at the other girl’s face.
“I’m not quite sure,” Sue answered.
Bernadette was certain Billy and her brother couldn’t see who she was talking to. She smiled at Sue.
“I was positive that you survived,” Bernadette said. “But I’m no longer absolutely certain about things. I’ve kind of lost my second sight.”
Sue smiled. “You get to go back to being a normal girl. Lucky you.”
“You can be a normal girl, too.”
Sue scowled. “After all that’s happened? After all I’ve learned?”
“You’re just as much—”
“I know, I know.” Sue looked back at the diner. “Just as much my mother’s daughter.” She sighed. “I just wanted to see Billy one more time, even from a distance. That’s why I walked past the diner on my way to the bus station.”
“Are you leaving town? Oh, no, Sue! There’s so much you could tell us. The police, Dr. Marshall…”
Sue shook her head. “It’s better that I go far, far away. There are those who are still out there. Very powerful people who want to bring about the end times. They’ll be looking for me.”
Bernadette grabbed her hand. No electric shock this time. Just the warmth of two hands coming together in the cold air. “You have free will, Sue—the right to choose,” she told her. “I might not be in direct communication with the divine anymore, but this much I still know. You have the choice to do good, to do evil, or to do nothing at all.”
“Yes,” Sue said, her eyes betraying nothing as she looked at Bernadette. “I am aware of that.”
“So—what then?” Bernadette’s eyes pleaded with her. “What will it be, Sue? What will you choose?”
She didn’t answer. She looked away, her face folding in anguish. She seemed not to know the answer.
Bernadette let her hand go, and Sue resumed walking.
“Where will you go?” Bernadette called after her.
“We will see,” she said, without looking around, “where the road leads.”
Bernadette stood there watching her until she was just a tiny dark figure against the bright white of the snow.
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Copyright © 2009 John Manning
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