The Tombstone

The alarm clock sounded at 6:00 a.m. but Janice had been awake since 5. With a coffee in her hand, she walked back into the bedroom. Her husband rolled over to her side of the bed to turn off the alarm and pulled the covers over his head again.

"You need to get dressed," Janice said. "It's a two-hour drive and we need to leave in

half an hour if we want to get there before peak traffic."

"Why do I have to go?" he mumbled under the covers. "Can you just tell them I'm sick or something?"

"You promised to go and everyone is expecting you to go, sick or not."

"Correction. YOU promised to go. I never agreed to this!"

"Jack, please. I need you to go. For me, please."

"Fine. But just know that I'm not going to like it and I'm not going to pretend like I care about what everyone has to say either," Jack said, sliding off the edge of the

bed.

"I made a sandwich for you. You can eat it in the car. Coffee is in the tumbler," Janice walked back to the bedroom to grab her bag and keys.

"I thought you said we have half an hour," Jack pouted. "Now you want me to eat in the car?"

"You need to get dressed, brush your teeth, AND you need a shave, so I don't think you can finish eating. Can you just hurry up?"

Jack put on the shirt he had hanging on the back of the door and headed into the bathroom.

Janice pulled out something from under the mattress and headed to the kitchen. It was a journal. Jack's journal. She found it two weeks ago hidden under the mattress when she was trying to change the sheets. She probably shouldn't have read it but it was too late now. She tried so hard to keep calm after reading it. She made a plan and convinced Jack to agree to it. She called his parents telling them that they’d be there for the anniversary this year. Jack’s parents invites them to go every year

since he left home, but he never did, not once. Every year on that anniversary,

she would find Jack drunk on the couch, not talking or even eating. It’s been

like this for over ten years. Janice never understood why. She never understood

why he refused to go home and visit his parents on that day. Until she read his

journal. She checked the last page and looked at the address and the hand-drawn map. She took a photo of it on her phone and slipped the journal back

under the mattress before Jack came back out from the bathroom.

－－－－－－－－

The drive to his parents’ house was painfully silent. Neither of them said a word to each other for a whole hour. Janice was at the wheel. She was determined to get to their destination without detours and she knew if she let Jack drive, they may never get there. Jack finally broke the silence. “Why now?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Why do you suddenly want me to go home now? It’s been more than ten years. Why didn’t you push me to go before? Why now? What’s changed?”

Janice was taken aback by his questions. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t let him know she had found his journal.

“I… it’s just. You’re right. It’s been over ten years and nothing has changed. You mope around and drink until you pass out every year on July 29 and I am getting quite sick of it, really. So I want to change that. You need closure and you’re not going to get it if you never go back to deal with your past.”

“What do you know about my past? It has nothing to do with you. What do you care?” Jack sounded annoyed.

“I DON’T know. That’s the problem. You won’t tell me. I’m your wife and you refuse to tell me anything about it!” Janice tried to remain calm but she felt her heart beating fast and her palms were starting to sweat.

“I don’t want to drag you into this. It’s a past I don’t want to share. You won’t understand. I was a kid and I just want to move on. I don’t want to keep talking about it.”

“But you have never talked about it!”

“I can’t, ok!” Jack shouted and slammed his fist on the dashboard.

“Then at least talk to your parents about it! You can’t ignore them forever!”

“I will do it this one time. But I don’t want you to ever bring it up again. And don’t ever ask me again.”

Janice nodded and wiped her palms on her pants one at a time. Jack looked suspiciously at her and turned to look out his window.

“Oh look! There’s a rainbow!” Surprised by the sudden change in his voice, Janice turned and looked. Sure enough, there was a rainbow. Jack pulled up Janice’s bag and took out her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to take a photo. Your phone has a better camera than mine.”

“Wait –” It was too late.

Jack snapped the photo and opened up the gallery.

Janice held her breath and looked straight ahead.

Jack slowly looked up from the phone at Janice and back down again.

“Why do you have this? Where did you get this? Where is it?” Jack’s voice got increasingly louder.

“I… I found it under the mattress. I put it back, I swear. I just… I…”

“Pull over…” Jack’s voice was calm again. Janice didn’t know if she should be scared or calm at his change in tone. She turned the steering wheel slowly and pulled over to the side of the road. She saw a gas station up ahead and started to drive up to it, but Jack stopped her.

“Here is fine.”

Her heartbeat sped up again. She didn’t dare look at him.

“When did you find this? Is this why you want me to go back?” he asked.

“I… I found it two weeks ago. I… thought that with the anniversary coming up, it would be a good chance to get you to go and make things right.”

“You had no right…” he began. “I can’t make things right. It’s too late.”

“It’s never too late. You have to try.”

“You don’t understand… He made me do it.”

“Your brother?”

Jack nodded. “I didn’t want to, not really. He made me. He made me do it.”

“How did he make you?”

“... He said if I didn’t, he’d haunt my dreams forever. So I did. And he still manages to haunt my dreams.”

“Was he sick?”

“He was sick in the head. He was the most annoying brother ever and I hated him and I wanted him dead most of the time. And he told me to do it, so I did.”

“What did you tell your parents?” Janice asked.

“I told them he dived into the lake and hit his head on the rock and drowned.”

“So they don’t know?”

“Of course they don’t know! How could I tell them?! I’m never going to either, so you can forget about your little plan for a happy reunion and catching up and sharing our feelings. I won’t do it! They won’t understand!”

“But they never found his body…”

“You think finding a body would make things better?”

“But…”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. If you really want me to see my parents, I will. But that is all.”

Janice didn’t know what to do. She tried to remember what she’d read in Jack’s journal. She suspected that he had multiple personality disorder. The journal was disorganised and often had different sets of handwriting. She had wondered if the journal belonged Jack or his brother, Joseph. She needed to make sure who her husband was – Jack or Joseph. It was possible that he had kept Joseph’s journal after he died. But it could also be his own journal. He could be Joseph. She had no way of really knowing. She had never met his brother. She didn’t see any signs of multiple personality in Jack before. The only time he ever seemed not himself was on the anniversary of his brother’s death. He seems perfectly fine the rest of the time. It was possible that he grew out of it or he has medication that helped control the symptoms. But everything Jack’s been saying, all his actions and expressions were making her suspicious now. These sudden outbursts were unlike him. The mention of his brother must be a trigger for him.

She needed to find the body but that plan was gone now. The photo she had taken of the address was on the phone, which he was still holding. She wasn’t sure if that was where the body was but she was planning to go to find out. She was going to make an excuse to go pick up something from the store and check the site but there was no way Jack would let her leave his side now. After another minute of silence, Jack sat up and said, “Keep driving. Let’s get this over with. We’ll be there in 30 minutes.”

----------------

Janice was extremely confused and nervous. She needed to get to his parents’ house. He was starting to scare her. She should have left it alone but she had to get involved and snoop and read his journal. Now there was no turning back.

They arrived at Jack’s parents’ house two hours before the other guests would arrive. His parents looked so happy to see him when they pulled up on their driveway. Jack hardly said a word to them and headed straight into the house.

“He’s just tired from the drive,” Janice tried to explain.

“It’s ok, dear,” his mum replied. “I’m just glad you two made it. It’s been so long since we last saw him. And I now I finally get to meet his beautiful wife!”

“I’m sorry we didn’t invite you to the wedding. I wanted to. I asked… but Jack…”

“It’s alright. You don’t need to explain. Jack hasn’t been the same since Joseph died. I have tried to get him to come home to visit but he never did. We never gave up, though, and I’m glad we didn’t because he finally did. And I have you to thank for it.”

“It’s been long enough. I think it’s time,” I said. “Has he never been to visit after all these years?”

“No. He left home when he was 17, a few weeks after Joseph died. He called occasionally – maybe once or twice a year – but he has never been back to visit. We wanted to visit but it’s just not so easy for us. Jack never agreed to let us come and we didn’t want to push it. Tell, me, how did you two meet and when did you two get married?”

“I met Jack at a friend’s house party. We were invited by a mutual friend. I think he set us up but he said it wasn’t his intention. Anyway, we really hit it off and started dating. We got married after nine months.”

“That’s wonderful! I’m glad he’s found someone like you and that he’s not alone," his mother said.

“It’s tough sometimes. He won’t tell me anything about his past and I can feel something is wrong and it’s affecting him. I don’t think it will get better until he deals with it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for convincing him to come. I hope he can finally open up about to us.”

“Did Jack keep a journal when he was young?” Janice asked.

“Not that I know of. Jack wasn't much of a writer. I don’t know.”

“But he writes a lot now," Janice said, feeling a little anxious.

“Oh, maybe I got mixed up with Joseph. Or he kept that journal very private and hidden from us. But I was always mixing those two up. They were identical and the only way I could tell them apart was by their behaviour. And this freckle Joseph had on his arm.”

“Did Joseph have multiple personality disorder?” Janice blurted out before she realised what she had asked.

“Multiple personality? I don't know about that. But Joseph was very troubled. He was very cheeky too. He tried to trick us many times, making us think he was Jack if he wanted to get away with something. Jack was such a good kid compared to Joseph. But Joseph’s death really changed Jack. One day, he packed his bags and said that he couldn’t take it anymore and needed to leave the house. He said he was being haunted. We tried so hard to help him but nothing seemed to work. He left suddenly in the middle of the night with a note saying that he would call us. He just couldn’t live with us in this house anymore. And we didn’t want to move. We wanted to be close to Joseph’s grave. He was troubled but he was still our son and it was so tragic the way he died. We don’t want him to be alone.”

“How exactly did he die?” Janice asked. She wanted to hear their version of the story.

“He dived into a lake and hit his head. At least that’s what Jack tells us. But we never found the body. It’s still a bit of a mystery. How does a body disappear like that?”

“Do you believe Jack’s story?” Janice asked.

“Well, I didn't think Jack would ever lie to us. He’s such a good boy. But I don't know. It is a little strange.”

Jack walked up behind them and said, “What makes me such a good boy?”

Surprised by the question, his mother replied “You were always so helpful and caring. Even when your brother was a nightmare and making a mess, you always helped him and took care of him.”

“How were you so sure? You were always getting us mixed up. How do you know Jack wasn’t the naughty one?”

“He couldn’t be. I mean YOU couldn’t be. I know you!”

“You know we played a game where we would pretend to be each other to see if we could trick you and dad?” Jack said.

“Yes, I know. And Joseph always tried to get you into trouble. We knew you wouldn’t have done it. Joseph was very sneaky.”

“When did you start believing that Joseph was the ‘naughty’ one?”

“The day I found him holding my pearl necklace which had been broken into pieces. I looked at his arm. It had the freckle on it. That was the only way I could tell you two apart. I was sure it was Joseph.”

“I was trying to fix it! It was Jack who had broken it! He was so scared. I tried to fix it! I wanted to tell you but he was crying so much, I just took the blame. And from that day on, you and dad always blamed me for EVERYTHING! Even when it wasn't my fault!”

The whole room was silent.

“Jack? Why are you talking like that?”

“I’m not Jack! I’m Joseph!”

“Show me your arm!”

“I got it removed after I killed Jack! I knew if you thought Jack had died, you’d send me to prison and you’d never believe anything I tell you! I had to make you believe I was Jack and Joseph had died. It was what you all wished for all along anyway! I actually asked Jack to kill ME. But he wouldn’t do it! I punched him and kicked him and told him if he didn’t do it, I’d haunt his dreams. Then I pushed him against a tree and his head hit the trunk so hard... he died. It was an accident. I wanted him to fight me back! I wanted him to kill ME! I was sick of everyone always hating me and blaming me! I know it was stupid, I was a teenager and I wanted to die! But I didn’t mean to kill him! I knew you’d never forgive me!”

“So… you’re Joseph? Jack’s dead?” his dad asked. He was standing by the kitchen door, holding a cell phone.

“Don’t call the police. Please. I can take you to the body.”

“What? You buried him?”

“Yes. Only I know where he is buried. If you call the police, I’ll never tell you.”

“OK. Please, just tell us where he is!” his mother pleaded.

“I hid his body in a cave fifteen minutes from the lake. After I told you what happened, I knew you would call the police and search the lake. They wouldn’t find him, of course. We had the memorial a week later and you and dad put up that tombstone near the lake. Before I left town, I went back to the cave to take out his body. I dug a hole behind the tombstone and buried him there. He’s been there ever since. And I took a bus to get as far away as possible. I never wanted to come back for the anniversaries because I couldn’t stand being back here or that lake. I didn’t want to hear about how ‘troubled’ I was. I just wanted to move on and live my life!”

“You killed my son! You don’t deserve to live!” his mother was furious.

“You need to pay for what you did!” his father pulled out his handgun and lifted it up. “You are a monster!”

Janice suddenly jumped out in front of gun.

“Don’t!” she cried.

BANG!