4338.206 · July 25, 2018 AD
Candlelight for Joel
Four people gather in candlelight to mourn a boy they never knew. Beatrix arrives wound tight from the gala, still in her cursed black dress. Gladys brings scented candles and questions. Luke wakes to uninvited company. Cody arrives early with whiskey and warnings. In the flicker of flames, they toast Joel—Jamie's son, nineteen, dead under tragic circumstances. But beneath the grief, secrets simmer. And Cody's final words linger: "Death is but a mere process."
July 25th, 2018. Late night. Luke's kitchen.
Four perspectives converge for an impromptu memorial.
Beatrix picks up Gladys at 10:50 PM, frayed from delivering Leigh's package to a cop, from Jarod's Wrest Point invitation, from lies piling on lies. The black dress she wore to Brody's funeral clings to her like a curse.
Luke wakes to Cody's knock—uninvited, early, bringing whiskey and cryptic warnings about Portal Pirates and "tough weeks ahead."
Gladys rushes out with mismatched candles, sensing Beatrix's unravelling, wondering why Cody texted her so quickly.
Cody arrives carrying more than whiskey—he's carrying the weight of disposing of Joel's body, of stolen phones and missing pirates, of secrets about Luke's importance he can barely comprehend.
Candles lit. Lights off. Whiskey poured.
Four toasts in the dark.
And one phrase that changes everything: "When we learn to master that process, we will master death itself."
