Best Friend’s Past

It’s a cold chilly evening in Norwich a beautiful small town in the hills where the sun doesn’t reach, making the town cozy and dark with cloudy grey skies at all times. Today, the hills are ready to welcome the first snow of the winters as small snowflake lands on Nicole’s face right as she nears her apartment, making her smile.

Nicole loved winters. She loved the cold. It reminded her of the happy childhood she had as a toddler living in the mountains. After a particularly tiresome shift at the hospital, she manages to climb up the stairs with the little strength she had left and opens her apartment door to find a small letter at her doorstep.

She picks up the letter and reads the name – To Janet Mccoy. She pauses, suddenly realizing who the letter is meant for. As a child, Nicole would often run around the backyard of her best friend Evelyn Mccoy, a lively brunette girl who was the daughter of the town’s mayor. Nicole would often admire the dolls and doll houses, the tiny pink car they would ride around from the front garden to the backyard of the big mansion and the pretty pastel dresses Evelyn would wear every weekend while her family went for Brunch. As an adult, Nicole realized it was all just Frippery.

Nicole had to leave the old town when her father got a job at a mining company. The girls had exchanged their beaded bracelets as they said their goodbyes while their parents pulled them in the opposite direction.

Nicole still remembers the day she got the shock of her life. Her mother ran in to her room and told her that Evelyn went missing. Her mother had a theory that Evelyn possibly ran away from home as her family let her problems fester. Apparently, she was a problem child with too much energy. Nicole always hated the way people spoke about Evelyn. She was just a happy kid.

The letter slowly slips out of Nicole’s hand as she reminisces about her past. But the confusion still remains. Why would the letter reach her instead of Janet Mccoy, Evelyn’s mother.

The lights go out, shaking Nicole out of her thoughts. She lights a candle on her dining table and looks at the letter once more, debating whether she should open it. As her mind took her back to her childhood, giving her a glimpse of how one day she ran to Evelyn’s house only to find her crying in her front garden as her mother stared at her with a stone-cold face. She clearly remembers seeing a huge red mark on Evelyn’s small face. Nicole decides to read the letter that is clearly not meant for her. She slips into the chair and holds the letter near the candle, as she unknowingly is about to read, the dark secrets of her childhood town.

Dear Janet,

I’m about to renunciate everything I’ve worked hard towards. You must know, this is a big deal. The burden of my sin is too much. The betrayal I faced even worse.

I always adored you. I wanted to win you over every chance I get. But something was always amiss. So, you should know that when you invited me on the special dinner party hosted at your house, I was jumping with joy. I put on my most expensive suit, held your hand on the balcony, as your husband, John, busily boasted about your house and the showpieces in front of the guests, as he always does.

You looked me dead in the eye that night and told me to take Evelyn and kill her. You read the hesitation on my face and switched your method as you informed me of the next Mayor elections. You promised that this one small task could get me to be the Mayor. You wanted to marry me and stay with me. “We’ll just blame it on John. They’ll believe it. He has a bad temper. Just give the knife to me and I’ll plant it in the house. You can be the mayor. And I’ll become your wife.”

You should know I had an ephemeral rush of euphoria as you said that. Not from the murderous plan you had sketched but from the idea that spending the rest of my life with you was even a remote possibility.

The fact that you gave me a chance to prove myself was enough for me to take Evelyn in my car the very next day right after school had finished.

You’re an amazing actress. Feigning worry and giving angry looks to your significantly calmer husband, clearly wanting everyone to believe you loved your child more than he ever could. And everyone believed you.

The bitter divorce from John was the first time I felt sorry for that man. As vain as he was, he was clueless. You left the court and told the news outlets about how much you loved your child, choking on your tears.

I became the Mayor the following year while John was awaiting his trial. But my whole world came crashing when I met you at your beautiful house that you were selling. “Why would I marry you when you didn’t do as I said?”.

I immediately understood what you meant. You wanted Evelyn’s dead body in your house. Without a body, getting John convicted would’ve been hard. You didn’t get what you desired. You wanted John to suffer. You wanted to ruin him since you caught him having an affair with his secretary. I get it. As much as I loved you, I always knew you had a vengeful spirit.

You always asked me to tell you where her body is. So, you can get John convicted. But I was too slow and you moved on with another man.

Well, today I want you to get what you always wanted. My one true love, as I get old all I want to do is fulfil your one wish. Evelyn’s remains are with me at Old Stockton, 131. You can still get back at John. I will help you.

Yours truly,

Matthew Bridgers

Nicole jumps from her seat as the lights turn back on. With tears rolling down her eyes and as paranoia clearly takes over her entire body and paralyzes her, Nicole decides to brave it out and go to the address to take one last look at her friend who was rumoured to have run away or go missing by everyone from her former town.

As she battles with the mystery of how she came in to the possession of the letter that is meant for Evelyn’s Mom, she decides to take her childhood bracelet, as a way to bid farewell.

She opens her apartment door when in front of her a food delivery man yells for her neighbour. “Miss Janet Mccoy.” He calls out, lightly shivering as the jacket on his back is not enough to stop the cold air. Nicole stops dead on her tracks as she realized what was happening. Janet was her new neighbour that moved in the previous day.

“It’s so cold. This soup will freeze. Miss, can you keep it with you and give it to her when she answers the door. I have to go. There’s about to be a snowstorm.” He tells Nicole.

“I’m sorry I can’t” Nicole runs away not caring how crazy she might’ve seemed to the man waiting outside the evil witch’s doorsteps. She takes a cab and gives the driver the address as mentioned in the letter.

Her mind races the entire time, her fingers uncontrollably tapping her lap as she tries not to overthink. She thinks to herself that it can’t be a coincidence that she got the chance to say a proper goodbye to the very first best friend she ever made. Anything to cope with the reality that she’s now inside a cab in a bad weather going to see her dead friend in God knows what form. The cab stops in front of a house in a silent street where nothing but the sound of wind and snow boots on wet road could be heard.

“Stay safe. There could be a really bad snowstorm tonight” The driver says dropping her off at her destination, a pretty looking mid-sized pastel yellow home with pastel green trim. Nicole admires the beauty of the house for a minute, before coming back to her senses about the grim reality of her childhood friend’s remains being there in this beautiful home.

She rings the doorbell and when no one answers, she decides to open the door herself, only to be faced with several men pointing guns at her while another one closes the door behind her. An old man and a young brunette girl stand right in front of her, holding a pistol in their hands, with a confused look on their faces. Nicole drops the letter and holds her hands up surrendering. “I don’t know how the letter got to me.” She yells panic-stricken.

Suddenly, the young girl’s eyes lands on the bracelet on Nicole’s wrist.

“Nicole?” She asks, pulling her own sleeve up to show her beaded bracelet. Everyone puts their gun down as Evelyn rushes to hug Nicole and the old man watches with a slight smile on his face.

“How did that letter reach you?” The old man, who is very clearly Matthew Bridgers, asks her.

“She is my neighbour. I think it was an accident.” Nicole says cautiously.

The snowstorm gets worse; the windows and doors keep shaking. Nicole sits with Evelyn as she slowly puts the puzzle pieces together about the life of Evelyn Mccoy.

“Matthew sent me to his mother’s home in a different city. I lived under an alias. It was better anyway. Any place away from my mom was heaven.” Evelyn tells Nicole, both of them gazing at the window and watching the storm causing the window to softly clink. The silence after the heavy news wasn’t uncomfortable. They both very much had an inner understanding.

“Why did Matthew help you? He mentioned how much he loved Janet in that letter.” Nicole asks.

Matthew slowly walks in to the room huffing. He stands near a window and takes a swig of his beer.

“You could just ask him.” Evelyn says.

“Guilt. It makes you go crazy. Evelyn was so young. I just couldn’t kill her. My mom always wanted a grandchild. So, I just killed two birds with one stone.” Matthew says in a raspy voice.

“And what about the guns? Were you all planning to kill her?” Nicole asks.

“Yes.” Evelyn says confidently without hesitation.

Nicole stares at them nervously, understanding the mess she walked in to but felt passionate enough to be a part of.

“I want to help you.” Nicole says. Everyone stares at her before Evelyn nods her head.

Outside the lovely house, the storm calms down, but inside the house, a new storm is brewing.