Blood Vows

A dark cloud hangs over the upcoming nuptials of Nola’s best friend Vicki to Nola’s ex-boyfriend.  Seven years ago Nola’s parents were murdered in a clearing in the orchard on their property, and this is the first year that Nola has returned.  Every year after the death of Nola’s parents, a body is found in the same place where Nola’s parents were murdered, the cause of death the same… a single gunshot between the eyes, but the body is secretly removed.  But the old house looks the same when Nola arrives, with everything exactly as it was that fateful day.  The two girls made a pact years ago to be the other’s bridesmaid, but something, or someone, will be missing from this wedding.

***

The photographs were still on the fireplace mantel and she picked up the one of her parents on their wedding day.  They had been so young… younger than Nola was now.  Their murderer had never been caught.  The double homicide was now considered a cold case.  Nola never really understood what was meant by those words… cold case… but just thinking about it made her shiver.  The door to her old bedroom was closed, just as she had left it years ago.  When she opened it, a musty odor was unleashed and she coughed.  She opened the window that she had used to sneak out with her boyfriend after her parents had gone to sleep.  Drake had wanted to marry her back then and she had laughed in his face.  Now he was marrying her best friend.  But who was she fooling?  They weren’t best friends now.  They were best friends seven years ago, but that seemed like centuries ago.

Lost in thoughts of the past, Nola didn’t hear the door slam.  She turned to see a man standing in the doorway of her bedroom.  “Hi,” she said quietly.

“As I live and breathe.  I didn’t think you would come back for Vicki’s nuptials.”

“A promise is a promise.”  She said it casually, as if coming back had been an afterthought.

“What’s new… Collin, is it?  Let me guess… nothing.  Nothing is new about this place or the town.  Nothing ever changes.”

“Still the same old sass, I see.”  He walked away before he was cut down again by the LA woman who claimed not to remember him.  Nola had changed, but Collin supposed he would have changed too if he had lost his parents to a gruesome crime.  If only she knew the truth!