The Last Thing She Saw...

by Laurel Veil

  “You know,” I said, “Riley and Ava were both very jealous of Dani. Sometimes I think they hated her.”

  “Why were they friends with her then?”

  “You know that saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” He nodded. “I think it was a mixture of that, and they were using her. Dani got noticed by lots of guys. They were jealous, but they liked the attention they got when they were with her.”

  “Girls are complicated.”

  “That’s one word for it.”

  With our heads still resting on the warm, wooden pier, Nolan turned and looked at me. He gave me butterflies again. “Well, you know you can cross me off your list?”

  “Duh.”

  A sly grin touched his lips. “On second thought, maybe you should do an intense investigation. Just to be sure. You can start with a pat-down and—” I put my hand to his face and tried to cover his mouth. “What? I’m just saying. Better safe than sorry.”

  I sat up and slid on my shoes.

  He stood and offered me his hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. Still holding my hand, he looked down into my eyes. What was happening between us?

  “Come on. It’s getting late,” I said as I pulled away.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  When Nolan coasted into his driveway, I was glad when I looked over and saw that my grandma was still out. I was looking forward to having the house to myself for a little while. “Well, thanks for driving me around today,” I said just before hopping out of his truck. “I had fun at the lake.”

  “Me too.”

  We looked at one another awkwardly for a moment and then I turned to go. I could feel his eyes were still on me, so I turned back around and blurted, “We should do it again.”

  “Really?” he called after me.

  I waved before going inside. I was starting to feel a little hungry, so I placed a small frozen lasagna in the oven. It was getting dark, so I switched on a couple of lamps and the TV before jumping in the shower. As I inhaled the rose-scented lather of my shampoo, Autumn’s words from earlier that day haunted me. Nolan couldn’t have been the last person to see Dani alive. The last person to see Dani alive was . . . her killer. Even though the water was hot, a chill came over me and goosebumps prickled my arms.

  I dried myself as soon as I switched off the water because I could feel a cold draft blowing across the bathroom. When I opened the cloudy shower door, my pulse quickened when I saw that the bathroom door was now cracked open. I could’ve sworn I closed it! I thought I’d even locked it. That was what I usually did. Maybe I hadn’t because I was alone.

  “Grandma?” I called out as I took my robe which had been hanging on the back of the door and pulled it snugly around me. I slipped out of the steam-filled room cautiously and looked down the hallway to my right. The house was so dark now, I wished I’d turned on more lamps. As I turned my head back, I saw something in my peripheral vision. It looked like someone was standing in my room. It had looked like a girl—it had looked like Dani. My heart was pounding so hard, it was all I could hear. When I turned to face my room, I saw that it was empty. Terrified, I took a deep breath and slowly walked towards it.

  What I’d seen in the fringe of my vision was so real, I had honestly expected to see Dani—or at least someone—in my room. When I saw that my room was, in fact, still empty, I raced to put on my sweatpants and T-shirt. I felt stronger with clothes on. It was like armor.

  I ran to check the front door. I was relieved to find that it was locked. I could just smell the lasagna baking in the oven. My stomach growled, and I glanced at the clock. It wouldn’t be much longer.

  I went into the den to pass the time and take my mind of things by watching TV. When I scooped up the remote, my breath caught when I noticed the back door was unlocked. Had someone come inside the house? I rushed towards the door and locked it. Grandma had been in a rush to leave that morning. She must have forgotten to check it and simply left it unlocked by mistake, I told myself.

  The rattling of the front doorknob threw me right back into panic mode.

  “Mm, mm. Smells good.”

  I exhaled with relief at the sound of my grandma’s voice. “It’s lasagna. Are you hungry?”

  “Famished. It’s a little chilly in here,” she said as she washed her hands.

  We didn’t say much at first when we first sat down at the table; we were both too hungry to talk. After a few bites, Grandma asked, “So how’s your mama?”

  “Fine, I guess.”

  “Whattaya mean you guess? I thought you were going to go see her today.”

  I mentally kicked myself. “We drove by, but it didn’t look like anyone was home, so . . .” Please don’t ask me what I did today, I willed her with my mind. “Hey, I thought you said you were getting your hair cut?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  “I had every intention, but I ran into some of the gals from church and well—you know how that goes. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew it was getting late.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  That night, I decided I would sleep on the couch. I didn’t want to be alone, in the dark, in my room. I couldn’t sleep at first. For the first time in a long while, it wasn’t because I was thinking about Dani. I kept seeing Nolan looking at me when we were lying on the pier and remembering what it felt like when he held my hand on the couch.

  My eyelids grew heavy with those comforting thoughts, but then they suddenly popped open just as a dream began to unfold. I was in the shower. I could even smell the rose scent of my shampoo. I turned to my right and saw a silhouette standing behind the glass door. Dani? I’d asked the figure. I swiped my arm across the glass to remove some of the condensation, and Nolan was staring back at me.

  I thought about how he had come into the house earlier that day and startled me. How long had he been watching me? Why didn’t he announce himself or better yet, knock on the front door? The longer I thought about it, the more I started remembering all the other times Nolan sneaked up on me. It’s like he was always there, watching. Autumn’s warning, that Nolan could just as easily be a suspect in Dani’s murder as anyone else, played over and over in my mind.

  I pulled my blanket tighter around me. Nolan was not a killer. I’d known him my entire life. He was a jokester, not a psycho. I was letting Autumn get inside my head again. And of course, thinking I’d seen Dani’s ghost was only making things worse.

  I was almost asleep again when a shadow moved across the room. I gasped.

  “Oh, honey. You scared me,” said Grandma. “I thought you were long since asleep.”

  “I’m having trouble tonight.”

  “Me too. I think it’s because it’s so darn nippy in here. I can’t seem to get the chill out of the house. I thought I’d light a fire.”

  “That would be nice,” I said. A fire would make the perfect nightlight, I thought.

  In no time the fireplace was blazing. Grandma sat in her favorite chair, and we watched the flames dance in and out of the logs. I noticed that now and then she would turn and look behind her.

  “Looking for someone?” I teased. But as soon as I said it, I wished I hadn’t.

  “Did something happen here today?”

  “What?”

  Grandma smiled and waved her hand, brushing away what she’d said. “I’m just being silly.”

  “Why did you ask that?”

  “I just got a funny feeling. Like . . . just never mind.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like someone was here. Like someone is watching us.” We both watched the fire in silence. “You wish I hadn’t told you now, don’t you?”

  “I’m glad you told me.” That was the truth, even though it scared me. I didn’t want her to know I was afraid though, so, I pretended I wasn’t.

  “I have to say, you don’t seem bothered like I thought you were going to be.”

  I debated whether I should tell her about thinking I had seen Dani. I wanted to share
what had happened. I knew Grandma would believe me, but I was afraid she might say something that made me feel even more frightened than I already was.

  “I’m going to run and grab you another blanket before I turn in.” A few seconds later, I heard her from my bedroom. “My gosh!”

  I bolted up. “What is it?”

  “It’s freezing in here. No wonder you wanted to sleep on the couch.” A moment later, she handed me the blanket. “I probably should hold it up by the fire first and warm it up a bit.” Her brows furrowed. “What’s the matter?”

  “I don’t want you making a big deal if I tell you.”

  “OK.” She sat down without blinking.

  “I’m pretty sure my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I think I saw Dani out of the corner of my eye today.”

  Grandma was quiet for a long moment. “In your room?”

  I nodded. “How’d you know it was here, much less in my room?”

  “I told you the house felt funny to me somehow. Your room gave me the heebie-jeebies when I went in there to get your blanket. It’s unusually cold in there too. So, is that why you decided to sleep in here tonight?”

  “Yeah. I thought I’d let it air out tonight and maybe tomorrow I’ll try sleeping in there again.”

  Grandma chuckled. “You’re gonna let it air out, huh?”

  “Yeah. I probably should've cracked the window or something.”

  “So, the ghost could fly out?” She laughed a little harder, and I joined her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “There’s not much to say. I was taking a shower and thinking about her. I felt a draft. The door had come open. I-I guess I didn’t close it all the way. When I stepped into the hallway, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye standing in my room. It looked like Dani. Of course, when I turned to look, there was nothing there.”

  “It might not have been anything at all.”

  I could tell she didn’t really believe that. “Probably,” I said anyway.

  “I’ll sit in here until you fall asleep.”

  “Thanks.” I dreamed that Dani was lost. All night long, I ran through the woods, in and out of trees, ducking under branches looking for her. I supposed I was in the woods because that’s where her body had been discovered. I ran until my sides hurt. Could someone die from running too long? At that point, I was thinking, yes. It suddenly felt like something was sitting on my chest. Just when I thought I had inhaled my last breath, I woke up gasping for air.

  My forehead was wet with sweat, and my hair was sticking to my skin. I brushed it away from my face and kicked my blankets off. The fire must have made the room too hot. I looked over at the fireplace, but I couldn’t even see any coals glowing.

  It was early, but the sun was already coming up, so I folded my blankets and put them and my pillow away and went to get dressed for school.

  “Ready for breakfast?” asked Grandma.

  I shrugged. “Whattaya got?”

  “That’s up to you.”

  “I’m not too hungry, and I need to get going, so I think I’ll just have some toast and juice.”

  “You’re an easy customer,” she teased.

  This was the pattern my life followed for the next couple of months. I’d dream about Dani and then go to school like it was just another day. It was just another day for everyone else, it seemed. As I’d feared, Dani had been forgotten. Well, forgotten by everyone but me, Nolan, and Grandma, and I assumed Dani’s mother. I felt a twinge of guilt when I thought about Dani’s mom. I hadn’t been by to see her once since the funeral—and I was supposed to be Dani’s good friend. I made a mental note that I would make a point to at least stop by and say hello. Maybe I’d get Grandma to bake her a cake or something. Grandma liked doing stuff like that.

  I couldn’t wait for summer to get here and this school year to come to an end. I wanted to pretend like it never happened. I continued to daydream as I made my way down the hall. I was suddenly fully conscious when I opened my locker and a black envelope fell to the floor. I looked around to see if I could tell who had delivered it, but no one was watching me. I stuffed my books in my locker and picked it up. I was so nervous about what could be inside that my hands had a slight tremor. A thick black card was inside. I slid it out and read the silvery cursive handwriting. I couldn’t believe it. It was another invitation to meet in the cemetery. Ava and Riley had some nerve. I was going to toss it in the trash can on my way to class but instead ripped it up and let the pieces fall to the floor. If they passed by my locker again, I wanted them to know I’d got their invitation, and what I thought about it.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I told Nolan the first chance I got about the graveyard invite.

  He furrowed his brows. “Did it say it was from them this time?”

  “Seriously, Nolan? Who else would it be from?”

  “You’re right. No one else is that strange.”

  “No kidding.”

  “So, do you think it was a good idea to rip it to shreds like that?”

  “Why? You don’t think I should’ve gone, do you?”

  “No. I just don’t want you getting on their bad side. That’s all.”

  “You mean more than I already am? They won’t even talk to me anymore.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  As the days ticked by, the girls in my PE class started warming up to me again. I was still hanging outside with Nolan at lunch and happier than I’d ever been sitting inside the cafeteria with Ava and Riley. Not only did I look forward to lunch and my time with Nolan, I couldn’t even remember why I’d been so thrilled that Ava had allowed me into her clique to begin with. Sure, Ava could make dull things exciting, but overall, she had a nasty personality. The only good thing that came from Ava’s invitation to her group was meeting Dani.

  I was washing my hands when a girl stepped out of a stall behind me. I glanced at her in the mirror. “Riley?” She looked up. She had been hard to recognize because her face was thinner, and she had dark circles under her eyes. “What happened?” She scowled. I had a knack for putting my foot in my mouth sometimes. “I mean, are you OK?” I shifted nervously. “You look tired, that’s all.”

  “Well, it’s your fault.”

  “My fault,” I said incredulously. She rolled her eyes and brushed past me as she made her way to the door. I stood there with my mouth hanging open for only a second. “Hold on!” I barked as I reached for her arm and gave it a firm yank. “That’s bullshit. You don’t get to say something like that and then walk off.”

  “We gave you an invitation. You didn’t come.”

  “If you guys want to talk, ask me. And we can go somewhere normal—like I don’t know… a coffee shop.” She looked at me with disgust and then stormed off.

  I might as well have cut class. I couldn’t concentrate. As my teacher droned on, my mind swirled with thoughts of Ava and Riley. When Dani disappeared, they were more popular than they’d ever been and loving every morbid second. I wondered what had changed for Riley. And now I was dying to find out how Ava was faring. I flinched when the bell rang, grabbed my books, and darted out the door.

  “Come on,” I told Nolan as I zipped past him.

  “Slow down. What’s the hurry?”

  I gave him a quick recap of my encounter with Riley in the restroom. “I haven’t seen Ava in a while since we don’t eat lunch or have PE together anymore. I want to get a look at her. I thought I could catch a peek. They usually go home this way.”

  “Speak of the devils,” he said, peering over my head. My stomach felt fluttery. I switched positions with Nolan and peered around him.

  “Ava looks like crap too,” I whispered. I knew there was no way she heard me, but she suddenly looked at me as if she had. I was paralyzed. I couldn’t even blink. I supposed I won our staring contest because she turned and walked away with Riley.

  “What’s happening?” asked Nolan.

  “She glared at me and then walked off.” Nolan and I started
our trek home. “I don’t know why I’m feeling guilty. They’re the ones who dumped me. I mean, not only did they not allow me to sit at their precious lunch table, Ava freaking dropped our PE class.”

  “So why are you getting so worked up?”

  “Because something is obviously wrong, and they’re both acting like it’s my fault.”

  “But it’s not, and you know it.”