This is Part XI. Part I of Humpty Dumpty is here. A slightly different version of this story was going to be the original pilot of the TV show I was working on in 2006. You can read about that story here.
“You knew her?”
“Yes. I was her closest friend here. She was like a sister to me.”
The redhead continues. “She made us laugh when we all wanted to cry. But he broke her spirit. He kept saying none of us could make him happy. He took out all his anger on us girls.”
“Please tell me where she is.”
The redhead starts to cry. “She’s not with us anymore.”
“She escaped?”
“No.”
“Tell me.”
“You wouldn’t understand. The fakes smiles. The loneliness. The smell. None of us wanted to live any more.”
“Is she-”
“I stole some of his money. Bought poison. I loved her dearly. I loved her so dearly that I…I gave her mine.”
Don Juan puts his head down. He pauses. The redhead doesn’t know what to do. She wants to move forward and touch and console him. But she doesn’t.
“Where is she buried?,” Don Juan softly asks.
“They burned her body. Didn’t even give her a proper burial.”
“Her gold cross?”
“Wait.” She retrieves it, holds onto it, then hands it over to Don Juan. It’s a gold cross with a gold heart pendant. “Here. I’ve been hiding it from him. She was his favorite.”
“Thank you.” Don Juan takes the cross with the pendant, kisses the redhead on the forehead, and leaves the room.
—
