To Each Other: A Summer in South Carolina

It was 7:00 in the morning when Lauren woke up. Showered as usual and went downstairs. Ready to go to work she was, looking as stunning as she would any other day. She tenderly kissed her grandmother goodbye, left the house in her Jeep and went about her things.

Her grandmother was a very young-looking lady whose husband had died a few years ago from a heart attack. But she still kept his things around the house as a reminder of the great man and husband he had been in life.

Lauren got to work around 8:00. Congratulated the doorman on his birthday and took the elevator up to her floor. She worked as a journalist at an important newspaper, and everybody around the office seemed to like her.

As should already have been expected by now, her editor comes to her table running and yelling about some story that had been going on for about four months now. Some young girl had died victimized by her boyfriend's anger and jealousy due to some other relationship she had had with one of his friends. Apparently, the trial was stuck because, although they knew him to be the killer, justice couldn't find the body or even a final evidence that proved their theory. Nation was shocked by the delay of the force department on arresting the guy, and the bureaucracy around the trial. Therefore, the newspaper had been busy with this one specific murder, and Lauren had been working on it up till now.

Lauren's editor had decided that she would be head chief of "Pandora's Affair", as they called it: the box of secrets that could have never been open. This fatal triangle should have never happened in despite of anyone's curiosity.

Much like the dedicated and accurate professional that she was, she made a few phone calls trying to dig up the reasons why the latest trial had been revoked. It had become a circus, and the people were becoming more and more impatient. At last, she managed to speak to a very good friend of hers. A young photographer named Carl who always privileged her on breaking news. He had been in front of the criminal court for hours trying to reach any of the lawyers involved in the case. Anxiously, she ran to meet him.

At the courthouse, Lauren, as convincing and persuasive as she was, arranged a quick but relevant interview with one of the defense lawyers: an especially important and respected old man who had been working in the criminal field for most his life, and who declared right then that they could spend years trying to get a confession, but they would never succeed. He also made noticeably clear that he, being the experienced lawyer that he was, would do anything at his reach to post pone the next hearing or even any sort of inquiry about the case towards his client unless they could find a way of linking him to the crime scene.

Lauren immediately called her editor to inform him about the way the so called "lawyer of the crimes" was dealing with the case. The other press members in front of the courthouse couldn't believe how she had managed to get him to speak to her. He was known for never talking to the press. This was actually his first public statement about anything in his long carrier. She went back to the station outraged for not getting better information though.

And so, the day went by in between news. And it was finally time to go home. And she was tired. And she stopped at the newsstand nearby her house and bought every single newspaper that spoke about "Pandora's Affair". At the same time that she was disgusted by the murder, she was also very intrigued by how this triangle had happened. Not only for the simple fact that it was, indeed, a triangle - which was something she absolutely despised -, but also because it had been going on for years nonstop at everyone's eyes and nobody ever saw it. The sickness of the story was simply appalling to her.

As she walks inside her house, loaded with papers, she hears her grandmother's voice on the phone. Grandma Emily sounded overly excited about something on the other side of the line. No matter how hard Lauren's day had been, her grandmother would always try and manage to put a smile on her face. Her simple presence would bring life to the house.

It was Maureen - Lauren's sister - on the phone all the way from England, announcing that she was finally coming back home after seven years away. Maureen had gone to England at first to study advertisement, and when she was done studying, jobs came along. Therefore, there she stayed for years never even visiting home.

It was middle summer, and Lauren felt life was - needless to say - perfect! The only way it would be complete was if her parents came back from their four months (so far) African expedition.