To Be Named
Part 2
by cyde

The fog seemed to clear slightly as Jane heard her brother screaming. The world around her seemed somehow... tilted. Almost as if at a slight angle.
'What is he screaming about,' Jane asked herself, 'all I'm doing is looking after...'

A chill ran down Jane's spine as her faculties struggled to orient themselves against the dementia she was beginning to realize she was experiencing.

Almost against her own will, Jane glanced down at the head of her dear friend. The poor thing, one of her... eyes... had fallen... out?

"Daria?" Jane asked, panic beginning to overtake her.

"Wait. Daria isn't..." Jane began again. "dead."

At that exact moment clarity rushed through every neuron in Jane's head. The vomit that followed, rushing from Jane's mouth onto the face of her deceased friend, was almost a foregone conclusion.

Jane barely registered the strangled cry from her brother as he turned on his heel to run upstairs, himself sickened.

'This can't be happening,' Jane told herself, 'Daria was fine just this morning... wasn't she?'

Jane's internal struggle continued as she absently stood, removing Daria's head from her lap and placing it gently back on the pillows of the pallet she had set up for her friend to 'sleep' in.

As Jane wandered up the stairs, mind ablaze, at least one thought remained perfectly clear in her mind, and she clung to it like a drowning woman to a life preserver...

****

Trent wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he came up for air.

"Hello, Ralph?" Trent joked to the toilet bowl in a moment of grim and inappropriate humor, immediately regretting his levity.

"Focus, stupid," Trent muttered, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, "you're the older brother. You need to be the responsible one for perhaps the first time in your life! Ok, ok, think. Yes. Call the police first and foremost."

Trent made his way sluggishly to his room and shut the door just before Jane wandered past, a dazed look in her eyes.

Trent dialed 9-1-1 and spoke to the operator who picked up

"Yes, this is Trent Lane. I discovered a body in my basement. Yes, please send someone out. I'll be waiting in front of my home. My address is..."

****

Jane didn't notice the door to Trent's room closing as she wandered slowly through the upstairs hallway of her home, barely clinging to her sanity.

'Penny would know what to do,' Jane convinced herself, 'out of all of us, Penny would have the answers.'

The movement of Jane's head was jerky and halting as she glanced around Penny's bedroom, taking in her surroundings, studying them.

'What the hell,' Jane thought, 'I might as well spend a little time getting to know big sister again first.'

Jane studied the ornamentation in Penny's room, a hand-carved incense burner, various other knick-knacks. Penny had spent the last ten years south of the border, and it showed in the room's decor. Finally, sitting on the floor in front of Penny's nightstand, Jane began to rifle through the shallow drawers.

"I know it's in here somewhere," Jane said aloud, "where did I see it? A-ha!"

After checking to make sure it was loaded, Jane repeated her anchor phrase to herself. It wouldn't do if she were to come unhinged again.

"Without Daria, what's the fu**ing point?"

Suddenly remembering the Wikipedia article she had read about Christine Chubbuck, Jane placed the barrel of the small .38 caliber revolver to her head, just behind her right ear.

****

Officer Dave Oliva and his partner Jay Santos had just finished taking Trent Lane's statement and were ready to move on to speak to his sister. The poor girl would need extensive therapy from the looks of things. The Morgendorffer girl had, upon preliminary examination, been stricken by a car and died a month prior. Ms. Lane found her, and in the trauma of seeing her best friend's lifeless body, had suffered some kind of a breakdown, dragged the body home and tried to nurse it back to health, not allowing herself to accept the fact that the girl had died. This was one of the days Officer Oliva really hated his job.

"Mr. Lane, we need to speak to your sister. I know she's going to be pretty broken up," said Officer Santos.

"Y-yeah. She's probably in her room now. Follow me."

Upon reaching Jane's room and finding it empty, the trio decided to look elsewhere in the house. As they were glancing through Wind's room, the silence was shattered by the report of a pistol.

Then the phone started ringing.

****
Helen Morgendorffer was in rare form. She had just arrived back in town from a whirlwind vacation of Europe with her husband and youngest daughter Quinn. Arriving at home, the house seemed eerily quiet.

"Daaariaaaa! We're home!" Helen called for her eldest.

Walking into the kitchen to put away the perishables they had brought back with them, Helen noticed the garbage can open, sans-liner.

"That's curious," Helen said aloud, "Daria is always very fastidious about her chores."

A mystery seemed to be at hand!

"Jakie," Helen called to her husband, who was upstairs putting away the luggage, "is Daria up there?"

"No, honey," came the reply from the top of the stairs, "she isn't down here with you?"

"No, she's probably at Jane's. Let me call to let her know we're home."

After the fifth ring, Helen hung up, frustrated.

"Jake, I'm going to ride by Jane's and by Pizza King to see if I can spot Daria. I'll be back shortly."

****

"JANEY!!!" Trent screamed as he kicked open the door to Penny's room, dashing toward her slumping figure.

'How could this day get worse?' thought Officer Oliva as he rushed forward to tackle Trent.

"JAY!!!!" Oliva shouted as his partner appeared in the doorway of the room, "Secure the firearm!!"

The incident had been all but witnessed by the two officers in the presence of a coroner's unit downstairs which would make the paperwork on this latest addition all the easier.

At least there was a positive to all this.

Trent broke free of Oliva's grasp and scrabbled over to his sister's figure.

"We need another bus over here at the Lane residence! Self-inflicted gunshot wound!" Santos shouted into the walkie talkie mic on his shoulder, glancing at the firearm he had confiscated, he related the pertinent info to his partner, who was struggling to catch his breath.

".38 caliber round fired from a Snubbie," Santos told his partner hoarsely. "this day just keeps getting better and better."

Any further conversation was made impossible by trent's keening wail which rose gradually to an anguished scream.

****

Helen's SUV screeched to a halt behind the second police car.

"What in the hell is going on??" Helen asked herself, voice quivering in panic. Trent was sitting on the grass next to the door, his head rested on his arms which were folded over his knees, which he had drawn up to his chest.

Helen almost tripped in her haste to get out of the SUV. She was stopped before she could make it halfway up the walkway by a large police officer. Noting his nametag, Santos, and his badge number, Helen almost switched into lawyer mode.

Concerned mother won out this time.

"What the hell is going on? What happened?"

"Ma'am, this area is off limits."

"My name is Helen Morgendorffer. My daughter's best friend lives here. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???"

****

Trent sniffled and looked up as he heard the SUV screech to a halt. His gut turned to ice when he saw Helen's haste to get out of the vehicle.

Watching the exchange between Officer Santos and Helen, Trent's heart leapt into his throat.

In those few moments, Trent had imagined a lot of possibilities when Santos put his hand on Helen's shoulder to deliver the news.

What he hadn't been expecting was for her knees to buckle like that and for her to crash into the officer's arms.

He couldn't stop the rest of his heart from breaking, or the resulting tears that followed.

Then the gurney containing Jane came out the front door.