Six Feet Under

chapter six

[ 09/28/2015, Clairmont Cemetery, 0955 ]

Adelaide rubbed mercilessly at her eyes until they were red and raw, lending an appearance of tears. She stood at the edge of the crowd, tuning out Madison's eulogy with a practiced ear, and felt the burning in her eyes with something akin to satisfaction.

The trick to living in Clairmont Cove is to be seen with the appropriate level of emotion; not too little, God forbid, or you could be branded a sociopath, and certainly not too much or you'll be branded hysterical. Adelaide's had a lot of practice with fine-tuning emotion.

"Are you alright?" Leah murmured from next to her. "How are you dealing with all this?"

No, I'm not alright. I haven't cried once since her death, I don't know if I can. Am I a sociopath like Madison?

"Peachy," she replied, digging her nails into her fist. "Don't worry about me."

"Your mom just died," Leah gave her a strange look.

"Yeah," Adelaide quickly attempted to remedy her apathy. "I'm trying to keep going, you know, as best as I can."

Stupid, stupid. Don't overdo on the emotion concealing front, Adelaide.

"If you ever need anything," Leah patted her hand gently. "Just ask."

"Will do," Adelaide forced her lips to quirk into a smile. "Shush now, Madison's still talking."

"Like you care," Leah scoffed playfully.

She forced another smile onto her lips and laughed airily, keeping her eyes fixed on Madison's solemn figure at the front of the crowd as Leah slipped away.

Madison's mouth stopped moving, but Adelaide couldn't really tell if she actually stopped speaking. Her ear buzzed dully, like she was underwater and everything else was white noise. Despite her best efforts, her fingers began to shake.

Madison reached up a hand to wipe away a tear. The shaking continued up into her hands.

She caught the tail-end of a sentence: terribly missed. She tried to stop her hands from shaking. Her eyes felt so dry again, like she was walking through a hurricane with her eyes wide open.

Madison stepped off the podium and the crowd swarmed her. Adelaide looked away guiltily.

"Hello, Adelaide." A voice from behind her. She startled slightly and smiled extra wide to cover it up.

"Camilla," she reached out mechanically for a hug. Somewhere in the back of her mind the white noise faded into insistent static.

"I came back as soon as I heard," Camilla smiled coolly. "Are you alright?"

"Just fine," Adelaide replied. "Are you staying long?"

She winced a little at how blunt it came out. She was normally a lot better at this; this town didn't call her Amazing Adelaide for nothing, after all.

"No," Camilla filed her fingernails carelessly. "I'm leaving tomorrow."

She didn't want Camilla Clark in Clairmont Cove at all. There was a reason she drove her old best friend out of the town, and that reason needed to stay buried lest it interfered with her reputation.

"Where are you staying?" She asked, pressured by the need to keep the conversation afloat.

"Why, are you offering?" Camilla laughed dryly before the laughter died off awkwardly. "With Blair."