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Then, when I laid in bed, I kept denying the thought of Purgatory as a whole. There is no way it was only a short drive away from my house, in the high hills of the countryside, hidden away but still findable. In the whole face of the Earth,that’swhere Purgatory is?That’swhere people’s answers lie? And somehow, it has managed to stay a secret this whole time? It just didn’t make sense, and therefore, it couldn’t be true.
And finally, when I dreamt, I pictured my uncle, satisfied with where he was resting. Even in the doom and gloom, he was content with his choices. He was happy.
But then I woke up and knew my mind had to be playing games with me.
This whole situation felt like one giant puzzle that I needed to fix. Or destroy. Or ignore altogether.
A few minutes later, Serena came out of her house with her arms full. She held Nolan in one elbow, his smile as happy as can be, and his car seat and diaper bag in the other. I quickly hopped out of the car and reached for Nolan, who reached for me back.
“This better be good. Nolan was happily napping when you called.”
Nolan squealed in excitement as I bounced him up and down in my arms. “He seems to still be happy.”
Serena hooked up the car seat in the backseat and replied, “Yeah, give it an hour. He’ll be cranky again.”
“I’m sure Mom will have no problem with him.”
With Nolan safely buckled in, we all drove to my parents’ house. My mom was more than happy to watch Nolan, and when we dropped him off, he was still his smiley self as he chewed on his rubber teething toy. When we got back in the car and began to drive away, that’s when Serena started asking her questions.
“Where are we going?”
“To see Uncle Russ.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ve been wanting to see where he’s buried, but why? Why now?”
With a subtle shake of my head, I tried to remain vague without giving too much away. “I just thought you could go with me this time.”
“This time? Do you do this frequently?”
“No,” I said in a half truth. Idon’tvisit frequently, but in her question, I realized that I’ve been there more often than most people. “I was referring to the burial service,” I added, swallowing my lie.
Serena accepted my answer, and we continued to talk as the drive went on, mainly about the memories we had with Uncle Russ. I could tell Serena was beginning to get emotional, which I had expected since this was her first time visiting him.
And hopefully, we’ll have no problem getting through the gates.
When we got close, Serena’s phone lost all service. “What the fuck?” she asked, turning the screen of her phone to show me the lack of signal.
“Yeah, it does that here.”
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“It’s just a dead zone, I guess,” I added.
We turned onto the winding road. Fog covered every inch of visibility as I followed the curved path. Serena leaned forward, squinting her eyes as she tried to seeanything.
“How can you see where you’re going?”
“I can’t, really.”
The rain began in small taps on the windshield, growing heavier as I continued on.
“Holy shit, Cel. This is creepy.”
I nodded in response as we finally made it up the hill. The dense fog broke, and we drove up to the gates. The man at the booth took one look at my car, gave me a quick wave, and shouted over the rainfall.
“Good afternoon, Miss Castell!”
I smiled and waved back from my window, hoping he was able to see my greeting through the streaks of rain.
