Bill Townsend

Julia's Diary

The girl was still strikingly beautiful - even though she was dead. Thomas had seen enough death to know that she'd been dead for a few days, maybe more, and that she had probably taken her own life. Lots of people did these days. Though what was she doing out here, deep in the bush two miles outside Newport, Vermont was anyone’s guess. Thomas came here often, just to find a place to think and be alone. He'd never seen another soul until now. He guessed that she was was close to his own age – say, seventeen or eighteen. The tear in her blouse revealed a small tattoo above her left breast. It was a crudely drawn butterfly in a circle with a line across it. There was a gold, heart-shaped locket on a chain still clutched in her hand. Thomas stooped and gently took the locket and clicked it open. Inside were pictures of two people; a woman in her thirties and a man who looked about five or ten years older. They were probably her parents.