Azalea: "I guess the next big thing was probably the funeral. Hunter said that was one of the saddest days of his life—I felt so bad for him."

Hannah: "Me too, Azalea. I'm still in shock that so much was going on behind the scenes. It was almost like the funeral was one big cover-up."

Alex: "We lived in one wacked-up town; that's for sure."

Hunter Thomas Singleton:

When I finally heard the news that Friday night, I was broken. I sat dazed and silent—unable to even think, let alone move—for hours on end before my dad told me it was getting late and that I should go to bed. But how could I sleep when my whole world felt like it had stopped spinning?

The woman who birthed me, nurtured me, who'd taught me so much about love and respect...she was dead, never to be resurrected. Never to live and laugh again, never to smile at me as I came home from school, never to share with our family in the joys and sorrows of life. Never to do any of the things that every true mother longs for.

She was forever gone.

****

The funeral was held the day after Labor Day, when authorities had officially identified the body and issued a press release. To all the family who came to commemorate my mother's life, I must have looked awful. I hadn't slept more than three hours on any given night of the past seven days. My eyes were so bloodshot that my irises looked purple, and the bags beneath my eyeballs sagged like weighty folds of fat.

But for once, nobody seemed to really care about the way I looked; everyone was either heartbroken over my mother's passing or hurting awfully to see me like this. As I stood alone and shiftless among the crowd, I hazarded a gaze throughout the room, searching for any friendly face I could find.

"Hi, Hunter," came the low and humble voice of Hannah from behind me. "I'm so sorry about your mom." She paused. "If it helps, all the pictures I've seen of her are absolutely beautiful." She smiled weakly as I turned to her. "I guess now I know where you get it from."

"Well, he definitely doesn't get it from his dad," came a meek but sarcastic drawl.

I gave a small grin. "Hey, Azalea."

She embraced me in a warm, gentle hug as she drew closer to where Hannah and I stood. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," I said lowly. "I'm glad you're here."

"Hey, what about the rest of us?" Alex joked, stepping into view and casually wrapping his arm around Hannah's shoulder as she feigned shock at my comment to Azalea.

I laughed lightly, hesitated. "Thanks for coming, you guys. I really appreciate it."

"Of course, man," Alex said. "You know we're here for you."

"Always," Azalea confirmed, and Hannah nodded her head in agreement.

I lowered my gaze, smiling despite the anguish hanging all around me. "You guys are the best."

The rumbling plod of heavy footsteps sounded behind me, a hand falling on my shoulder moments later. "Hunter," my father's voice mused. "Rest of the family's sitting up front. Service is about to start."

"R-right," I shuddered, turning to follow my dad as he trudged to the front pew, the others close behind me.

My dad's younger sister sat to his right; beyond them, my mom's brothers sat closer to the pew's rightmost edge. Dad, meanwhile, was closest to the left, only one empty seat separating him from the midway aisle in the center of the room. On the row behind, I sat next to Hannah, Alex, and Azalea.

The entire sanctuary was beautiful, the stage decorated with bright yellow and vibrant pink flowers that stood gallantly side by side. Golden ribbons accented with bows as white as clouds were draped across the pews' wooden edges. Rose petals arrayed the central podium and surrounded in perfect square figure the life-size, full-color photographic image of my mother's face, her vivacious smile and laughing eyes still as enrapturing as ever.

I knew I was a guy, and a senior guy at that—but I couldn't help shedding a few tears as the pastor began his eulogy, telling everyone about that marvelous day when my parents first met. My mom had always been a beauty, and when she first encountered my dad at Hale University, he'd said she was the most exquisite thing he'd ever laid eyes on. The two had married in college, graduated, then moved to upper California shortly after having their first child—me.

I looked ahead at my dad, who seemed to be having as tough a time as I was keeping it together. At one point, I thought he might start to cry himself as he buried his face in his hands, shaking with the heaviness of it all—

Click! Click! Click!

I paused, eyebrows quirking as I turned to the smacking of high heels across the sanctuary floor.

Click! Click! Click!

A smoothly flowing black dress swayed past me as I sat motionless, unbelieving.

At the front of the room, the pastor continued on with his words, oblivious it seemed to the

tall brunette woman who sashayed forward before stopping at the edge of my father's row and angling her figure into the singular seat that lay empty on his left.

Her face sliding nearer, only inches from his own, she pulled her lips apart sultrily and began whispering in his ear.

Unceremoniously, as if flinching at a strike of lightning, my father's face contorted angrily and his hands clenched into fists.

The woman glared cruelly at him, thinning those ferocious eyes like the blade of a dagger.

Hesitating as he stared back, Dad backed down, fists unballing. And with a hateful smile, that wiry woman clothed in black stood to her feet and turned to leave.

"Hunter," Hannah mused quietly in my ear. "Who is that?"

"I—I don't know."

"Well, whoever she is, I can't believe she would be so tactless," Azalea added sharply in a low voice. "Look at her, just walking out the back in the middle of the eulogy."

Hannah turned, a matching look of rage written across her own face. And before I knew it, she'd risen as well, stepping over my legs as she darted out into the sanctuary's middle aisle.

"Hannah," I whispered. "Hannah, where are you going?"

She steeled herself before pushing ahead, following the lady out the back door. I didn't know what else to do, so I stood up as well, ran to chase after her. "Hannah, wait!" I called once I was through the door, just as Hannah made it only inches away from the mysterious woman draped in darkness.

"Who do you think you are?" Hannah screeched, the lady turning and raising a hand to her hip. "This is a funeral! What the heck is wrong with y—?"

"Do I know you?" the woman interrupted, her eyes narrowing.

"Does it matter!?" Hannah screamed back. " I know trash when I see it! And if you were even a half-decent person, you'd go back in there and apologize to Mr. Singleton!"

"You're cute," she countered. "But you don't know that man—or his wife."

I gasped. What?

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Hannah raged on.

"Darling, calm down. It was a ten-second conversation. Get your panties in a twist on your own time." She turned her back to Hannah and strode toward the church's main entrance, reaching out to push wide the glass doors.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Hannah yelled.

"Hannah, let her go." I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Come on. We should go back inside."

Hannah held her angry glare.

"Please," I begged. "Let's just go."

Hannah tilted her head toward me, her eyes meeting mine for the first time, and sighed heavily. "Fine."

She finished twisting around to face me meekly, lowering her head right before jumping back suddenly and letting out a terrified scream. "Oh my gosh! Who is that!?" She pointed toward a shadowed alley beside the church, one visible only slightly through the clear glass doors of the building's entryway.

I turned to the right, following the tip of her finger. "Huh? Hannah, what're you—?"

"Someone just ran down that alley! They were staring at me—at us!—and then they just...just booked it the moment I saw them!" She started panting heavily, punctuating her breaths with spastic gasps.

"Hannah, calm down. Are you even sure you saw—"

"Yes, I'm sure, Hunter! Oh gosh, are we being stalked!?"

"Hannah, just hold on a second, okay?" I tried. "Look, this whole situation has you really upset. Just breathe."

By now, the thin brunette had made it to her car. She unlocked the door and seated herself inside, then shoved her keys in the ignition to start it. The engine whirred momentarily but then sputtered off, its raspy screech smothered to a muffling growl.

The woman yanked the keys from the ignition before stabbing them back inside to try again.

Nothing.

Annoyance and anger written all over her face, she ripped out her keys, shoved her way out of the car, and slammed the door. "Screw this! Can anything go right today!?"

No sooner than the words were out of her mouth, all four doors blew off the vehicle as an eruption of fire exploded inside, the force of the blast launching the woman backwards and off her feet. Her slim figure flew from the car, shards of metal and glass slicing through the air like razor blades. The propelling shrapnel slashed her right arm above her elbow just before she landed hard, her back smacking against the concrete as she cried out in pain.

Without thinking, I rushed forward, pushed through the glass double doors before me and bolted over to where she lay stunned on the paved ground. "A-are you okay?" I gasped. "What just happened?" I looked over my shoulder back at Hannah, whose mouth hung agape.

Eyes wide and body trembling, the lady in black stared fearfully all around her. "I...I—I have to go," she responded, trying her hardest to cling to composure.

She pulled her phone from among the splayed contents of her purse that had been scattered in the explosion. Blinking twice, her head still shaking, she began dialing digits.

Pressing through the doors to the church, Hannah took several shivering steps forward into the outside air and knelt to the asphalt, where she picked up the woman's fallen leather wallet. "I...um, I think you dropped this."

She handed over the wallet, and the woman took it slowly as she pressed Call on her phone and awaited a reply.

"Hello!?" she yelled the moment someone answered on the other end. "I'm at the church." She paused and listened, the other voice muttering through before she replied again: "Yes, I spoke with Aaron already, but I think that freak from before put a bomb in my car." She paused again. "Look, I can talk about this more later. I just need you to come get me. Hurry." As she hung up the phone and folded her wallet under her arm, I spotted the edge of her driver's license against the casting shadow of her black dress.

Ashley—I made out a first name but not a last.

"What's going on here?" Hannah demanded as I squinted at Ashley's license. "First, you waltz into that church like you own the place, then you run out here like a tactless witch, almost get blown up, and start yammering on about sketchy freaks and...and a bomb!? What is your deal, lady?"

Ashley cleared her throat, then stood to her feet. "I don't have to explain myself to you," she declared with an edge. "And how dare you children chase after me and interrogate me like this!?"

"Look," I said, eyebrows arching in defiance. "If we hadn't 'chased after you,' you'd still be lying on the ground in a pile of broken glass. I think you owe us an explanation. What did you say to my dad, and who the heck put a bomb in your car?"

"And who was that creepy guy I saw running away?" Hannah added.

"Listen," Ashley said curtly. "I don't have the time or the energy to deal with the likes of you two. Thank you for helping me, seriously. But what I do is my business, and that's the end of it."

A car drove up and blew its horn, and Ashley turned with a sigh of relief.

"That's my ride," she said as she steadied herself on her pointed high heels and began sashaying away. "Oh, and Hunter," she called over her shoulder, a hint of smooth silk finding its way back into her voice.

"...Yeah?" I gulped. How does she know my name?

"If you really want to know why I just had to talk to your daddy today, go ask him," her lips twisted into a sinister curve. "Maybe he'll finally tell you the truth about your mother."

"What?" I gasped. "What...what does that even mean?"

"Oh, nothing," she crooned. "Nothing at all. Have a lovely day." She lowered her eyes at me as she got in the passenger's seat of a silver Hyundai. "I'll be seeing you soon." Ashley twisted her head to the driver and nodded once as she strapped on her seatbelt, the car speeding away moments later.

The doors to the church swung open behind me, and I turned to see two security guards come rushing out. "What on earth happened out here?" one of them asked as he walked over to me.

"I—I don't know," I breathed.

"We heard the explosion from inside," the other officer piped up, motioning to the singed remains of Ashley's vehicle. "Whose car is that?"

I sighed. "Her name's Ashley, I think...but I..." I trailed off, mind blitzing in a million directions. "Officer, I'm so confused."

"Hunter, hey," Hannah whispered. "It's okay. Just take a breath, alright?"

I glanced back at the church, at the growing crowd of onlookers mobbing the exit door. I shook my head, felt my brain starting to throb as I stood frozen in the gray parking lot.

Prying stares bored into me, and furtive whispers seemed to swirl all around. I turned briefly to Hannah, then closed my eyes to all of it. She wrapped a single arm around my shoulder, and I could feel the first of many tears building steadily, unyieldingly, behind my eyes.