Chapter Text
Janice Mullins is many things. In the years after, Pearl will regard her as a young woman taken too soon. She will place flowers in her grave every year on the woman’s birthday, standing beside friends and family. They look at her strangely but let it happen.
Janice Mullins was very young. So Pearl felt an alien connect to her.
“She could have been me.” Pearl says at the grave.
“She could have been me.” Pearl says at the court trial.
“She could have been me.” Pearl says at the interview.
“She could have been me.” Pearl says at the crime scene.
In reality, what happened to Janice Mullins would not have happened to Pearl. Janice had very particular circumstances. Pearl had brushed the edge of them, but not sunk her fangs into them.
So:
Janice Mullins is…