𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕 (𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕)

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎

arvin woke up on sunday with high spirits, but when he went into lenora's room, she was throwing up. he hurriedly grabbed her a bucket, and held her hair back for her as she continued to puke into the tin pail.

"i ain't never missed church before," she said, panting. "i'm so ashamed."

"you ain't got nothin' to be ashamed of," arvin reassured her. "i'm sure the lord will forgive you for missing one sunday. ol' jesus probably had his fair share of bad mornings."

she chuckled weakly. "i love you, arvin." she settled back down on the pillows.

"how's about we, uh, go see your mama's grave when we're better?" said arvin, affection for lenora filling him to the brim. "sound all right?"

she nodded silently, and arvin went along to church. something about teagarden didn't sit right with him. he watched the preacher yell about delusion, and his mind couldn't help but drift back to his father's frantic prayers when his mother got sick.

when arvin got home, he went to check on lenora, but she wasn't in her room. he looked throughout the house, calling her name, but she was nowhere to be found. as a last resort, he opened the barn door, but to his horror, the only thing he saw was lenora's lifeless body dangling from a noose.

"oh my god! oh my god!" he yelled, running over to her.

he wrapped his arms around her waist frantically and tried to lift her up out of the noose, but it was no use. the barn door kept closing as he screamed for grandma, and he kept kicking it open while trying desperately to get lenora's corpse free of the noose.

grandma and uncle earskell came running. grandma stood in shock and uncle earskell managed to undo the rope. arvin couldn't hear anything but the blood rushing in his ears. his stomach was pulling itself into knots, and his limbs felt like jelly. he was lightheaded and woozy. he didn't know what came over him, but he ran. he bolted out of the yard. his legs felt nothing but the impact of the ground under his feet. he yanked the door of his truck open and leapt in, slamming it shut behind him.

arvin didn't know how he'd remembered the way to donna's house, or how fast he'd gone driving there. reality halfway caught him as he stood on donna's doorstep, banging on their storm door. 

"dammit, i'm coming!" calypso's voice called from upstairs. "christ alive." she was wearing a large white tshirt instead of a nightgown, but it covered enough of her bare legs so as not to be totally scandalous. "arvin?" she said when she realized it was him, opening the door.

arvin realized there were tears streaming down his face, but was too distraught to wipe them away. "lenora hung herself," he croaked out.

"she what?" calypso's mouth fell into a perfect little "o".

"she's dead," arvin said, his voice breaking as he truly realized what that meant.

"oh my god," said calypso.

"come with me," said arvin. "please." 

"let me get some clothes on," she said. she ran upstairs and came back down not two minutes later in a navy sundress and her usual combat boots. "come on," she said. "i'll drive."

arvin was too weak to argue, so he got in the passenger seat. calypso got in the driver's side and scooted up to reach the pedals. she turned the keys in the ignition and pulled out of donna's driveway. arvin caught her eye as she put her hand behind his seat and turned around to reverse.

she drove them to the spot in the woods arvin had taken her to talk about her father. but this wound was too fresh to talk about. so she parked the truck, unbuckled her seatbelt, and let him crawl into her arms. he wasn't sure how long he cried into her chest, or when he fell asleep, but when he woke up he was laying on her and she was asleep above him. he felt better until the event of the morning washed over him and he felt a pit in his stomach. he shifted slightly, but she woke up.

"hey," she said, stifling a yawn. "what time is it?"

"dunno," said arvin. 

"i'm sorry about lenora," said calypso. she slipped her hand into his.

the next week was a blur. emma didn't leave her bed, and earskell never left his stash of beer and cigarettes in the garage. the funeral was a small one, with only arvin, emma, earskell, and calypso standing over lenora's closed casket. the household would've fallen into despair if not for calypso. she'd basically moved in, and had taken over the responsibilities of cooking and cleaning. she wasn't as good a cook as emma, but everyone was so preoccupied with their grief that they didn't really notice.  

emma's disapproval of calypso fizzled out after a few days, and eventually calypso began sitting with emma and talking to her to help her through lenora's death. soon she lured her out of bed under the pretense of needing help with emma's signature chicken liver recipe. after that, emma began helping calypso with household responsibilities and even going to church again. calypso didn't try to talk to uncle earskell.

it wasn't until one day at work when arvin was approached by a deputy that lenora's death began to make sense to him.

"need to have a word with you, arvin," said the deputy as the truck was dropping the crew back at their cars. 

"about what?" asked arvin.

"it's about lenora."

"what about her?" 

"i came by here instead of home so nothing's...put on your grandmother," the deputy said awkwardly.

"'put on'? what do you mean?" asked arvin, confused.

"well..." the deputy took off his hat. "ol' dudley, in the coroner's..."

"i ain't never heard of no dudley."

"well, he's a drunk, but he ain't no liar. did you know lenora was carrying a baby?"

the words felt like a slap in the face. there was no way lenora could've been pregnant. "that's bullshit. that son of a bitch is lying."

"i tell ya...dudley ain't a liar. he came to me privately so as your family knew. i felt he was right." said the deputy uncomfortably. "now, i might've put my foot in something. it...wasn't my intentions."

"you know that preacher ain't said no words for her?" said arvin suddenly. "not for people that kill themselves." 

as he was driving home, arvin battled with whether or not he should believe the deputy. he got to his house and immediately went up to his room in search of calypso, not even bothering to take off his work boots. 

calypso was indeed laying on his bed, though it had been more of their bed lately. they hadn't gone past making out and the occasional ass grabbing from arvin, but they shared a bed at night. she was on her back with her legs resting upright on the headboard, and she ran up to arvin and planted a chaste kiss on his lips before noticing the dirt he'd tracked in on his boots.

"arvin, i'm gonna have to clean that up later--" she began.

"a deputy came to talk to me at work today," said arvin.

"what'd they say?" asked calypso, taking his hat off.

"lenora was pregnant."

"wait, what? how? i mean, who? that's impossible," said calypso. she sat back down on the bed.

arvin began to pace. "she wouldn't have done it with just anybody. she was saving herself for marriage, i know that."

"and with how jesus-y she was, she'd have been dead-set on that, so whoever she did it with must've either tricked her into it or...forced her," added calypso.

"no one forced her, she would've said something or prayed for them or whatever," said arvin. "so some son of a bitch tricked her into it."

"i just don't know who in this town would've been smart enough to do it," mused calypso.

"lenora was gullible, but she wasn't stupid," agreed arvin.

"arvin..." calypso trailed off.

"yeah?"

"teagarden," she said.

arvin's eyes widened. it all made perfect sense. why she'd stopped asking him to join her at her mother's grave. the brunette they'd seen in teagarden's car. he felt sick.