Dead End Tunnel by Nick Roberts

Author:Nick Roberts [Roberts, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spooky WV LLC

Part Six

The Trap

The night Jenny disappeared into the tunnel with what I’ll, for simplicity’s sake, refer to as Max, was the last time I saw my sister alive. After the events of the summer of 1999, Jill went on to live what would be considered a relatively normal life. She got married to her college sweetheart right after graduation and even had her own set of twins a couple of years later. She moved down south last year when her husband got a job offer too good to pass up.

Mom and Dad separated before my fourteenth birthday and were officially divorced shortly thereafter. After Jenny was taken, they became shells of their former selves. From what I remember, Dad started drinking too much and would come home complaining about work every day. He’d loved his job before the summer of 1999. He used to be a great guidance counselor, but when you hate yourself, it's kind of hard to care about others.

I sometimes put myself in his shoes. I can imagine seeing every new girl walk into his office being a constant reminder of the daughter he’d lost. Maybe they had eyes like her, or said something the way she did, or looked like a slightly grown-up version of her, and then bitterness would set in when he realized Jenny would never get to experience that age or anything after. He’d never see her live her life and do all the things dads do with, and for, their daughters.

I’m guessing that’s why he killed himself the following Christmas. When faced with such a loss, people can either cope with it and focus on the ones they have left, or they can choose to end their suffering when the pain becomes too great. At least he did it when Jill and I weren’t at his new apartment. He left a note, but all he wrote was I’m sorry. There was no dedication. Mom assumed he was talking to us, but I feel like it was meant for Jenny. He never could forgive himself.

We moved to Harrisburg, about two hours away from Benson Valley. My mom wanted a fresh start for us, and despite Jill and I throwing hissy fits about missing our old friends, I think we both wanted to get the hell out of there too. It took a year or two, but we planted roots and settled in. We made new friends. Mom went on dates, which was weird at first but as I got older, I just wanted her to be happy. By the time I left for college, she had met and married my stepdad, Randy. He’s a good guy. They live in South Carolina now, but I don’t speak to them much.

Once I graduated college with a degree in philosophy and no job in sight, the only universal truth I knew was that I didn’t know shit. I took a job investigating claims for an insurance company, basically either exposing fraud or screwing people over by finding loopholes that would permit my company to pay out as little as possible.

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