"Madison...like Mallory Madison?"
It was Karyn's turn to look confused. "Who?"
"You know...our age, kind of a funky dresser. She has a sister in the school too...Zoe."
"That's Jon's..." She trailed off. The girl on the phone...someone else was in Jon's house, living his life...but not his life. She felt overwhelmed again.
She quickly found herself sitting there as Ellen tried to do her own little version of This is Your Life. She'd found Karyn's photo album, and was starting at the beginning.
"This is where we first became friends," Ellen said, pointing at some pictures. It was her sixth birthday party, at a local pizza and game place. Her parents had invited everyone in her class. Many of them were still in school with her today.
She'd seen these pictures many times before, and whenever she looked for where she knew Jon had been...even though they hadn't been best friends then...he wasn't there. And she kept spotting an unfamiliar little girl in many of the shots.
The pictures seemed to diverge more and more from what she remembered as Karyn got older. She spotted Tim and Pete in the background of some of the pictures, but clearly they weren't friends...Jon had been friends with them during his girls have cooties stage. Without him, they'd never become friendly.
Ellen appeared in many of them. She and Ellen in Girl Scout uniforms...apparently she'd stayed in the scouts longer this time. And the Karyn in the pictures was certainly not effeminate, but wasn't quite the tomboy Karyn was. She decided to call the Karyn in the pictures Artist Karyn, as her tastes seemed related to the fact she seemed to be a dedicated artist.
The photos moved to high school...pictures of her and Ellen with Kyla Leeson and Gladys Brewer, both girls she already knew. Her painting sets for the school play. Ellen pointed in the background of one of the pictures. "There, we caught Mallory in that one..."
She recognized the photo. It was at the 100th homework party in her math class last year. It was this weird tradition some student had come up with while trying to get out of class, as their teacher numbered all her homework assignments for the year. When they reached the hundredth assignment, their teacher had a math-themed party, with cheesy Math music and light refreshments.
There, in the background of the photo was a girl who certainly resembled a member of Jon's family, but didn't look anything like him.
Ellen moved on to more pictures...even some of Karyn going on a date. The most recent picture in the album was almost identical to the one she remembered...her parents' anniversary party. She'd invited Jon. Except this time...where Jon was supposed to be standing...was empty space.
