chapter five

meghan

“Have they talked to you about this whole ‘hybrid’ thing?”

Jillian leaned against my cubicle wall that afternoon wearing a Poppy’s Bar something I didn’t even notice I did until Jillian pointed it out a couple years ago.

“Do you think a hundred years from now,” Chase started, folding his hands on his crossed legs, “someone will come here and sit beside your headstone, making up stories about your life?”

He’d spoken it so quietly, as though he feared the dead might overhear. The sudden shift in tone made my breath catch in my throat. “Oh, I don’t know. I hope so.”

The thought of nobody remembering me a hundred years from now made my heart ache. Would I fade into obscurity, or would I make a name for myself? Would anyone read my newspaper articles a century from now? I turned to Chase to express these thoughts aloud when Sean’s voice cut through the quiet cemetery.

“Dude, are you coming, or what?” It wasn’t until I saw the flashlight on Sean’s phone that I realized it was completely dark outside now. “I swear I heard some moaning up by the mausoleum.”

“Yeah, I’m comin’.” Chase turned to me. “Uh… I’m covering the library’s unveiling of their new STEAM room tomorrow at nine. You should probably join.”

My mouth dropped open. “At the library?” I scoffed. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

He shrugged with one shoulder. “I don’t know. They called me up and asked me to be there, so…”

“What the hell? They know me there–why didn’t I know about this?” I yelled. He melodramatically cowered as though my disappointment was aimed at him. “I volunteer in the archives department there all the time. Why didn’t they ask me to cover it?”

“Because print media is dead,” Chase said with a grunt as he stood up.

“Yes, Chase, our local librarians must believe print media is dead.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. They’re the ones trying to preserve it.”

“You’re right,” he said, brushing dirt off his jeans. “I guess they just don’t like you.”

“But they like you?” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I mean, I’m the one they called. So… yeah.” He shrugged at me before glancing over at Sean, who looked like he was growing more impatient by the second. Chase started walking toward him, but he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned around to say, “See you, Wednesday.”

“What? I thought you said it was tomorrow?”

“I was calling you Wednesday.”

I blinked. “As in… Addams? Why?”

He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he motioned toward me with one arm, looking me up and down before widening the gesture to include my surroundings. The headstones. The wrought iron fence. The dim streetlamp. “Gee, I don’t know.”

I rolled my eyes, further proving his point, as he walked off to join Sean on the pavement. Just before they disappeared over the hill, however, Chase peered over his shoulder for one last glance. And amazingly, I resisted the urge to flip him off.