by Laurel Veil
There was a knock at my door, and then Grandma slowly opened it. “You’re awake now,” she chirped when she saw me. “I thought I heard your voice, Nolan. I made breakfast for supper.” She chuckled. “Come on around to the front and eat with us.” She left before I had a chance to explain why Nolan was at my window.
“I’ll meet you at the door,” I said.
“How’s your mom and them?” Grandma asked when Nolan stepped into the kitchen.
“Fine, thanks. Oh, and she said to be sure and tell you thanks again for the pear bread you dropped off. It was really delicious.”
“Oh, good.” She smiled. “Well, I made breakfast for supper because I’m a little bushed this evening and it was easy and fast to whip up. You two go ahead and help yourselves, and I’m going to go shower and hop in the bed.”
Nolan and I were going to eat alone? I think he must have felt a little self-conscious about it too because he shot me a look that made him seem nervous. “Are you sure, Grandma?”
“Yeah, I’m beat.”
I walked over to her and gave her a big hug. “Well, thanks for cooking for us. You shouldn’t have, though, if you weren’t feeling up to it.”
She patted my back. “I was happy to do it.” She peeked around me. “Good night, Nolan. Tell everyone I said hello and take that container of brownies by the stove over there when you go. I made them for y’all.”
“Yes, ma’am, and thank you.”
Nolan poured cran-grape juice while I scooped scrambled eggs onto our plates. I tossed on several slices of maple bacon and a couple of biscuits too. I could feel butterflies in my stomach as I carried our plates to the table. I didn’t know why. Nolan and I used to eat alone together all the time as kids, and we sat beside each other at lunch every day at school. There was just something different about being alone, sitting across from each other at a table. It felt like a date.
I salted and peppered my eggs and then pushed them around my plate with my fork. “So, I talked to Ava and Riley after school today.”
“What did they want?” he asked with disdain.
“You’re not going to believe it.”
He looked intrigued, and I told him the entire conversation. “That’s messed up. I told you that you need to stay away from them. They’re psycho.”
I agreed. “So, then I went to my mom’s, and I couldn’t get in.”
He furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”
“Rick changed the locks.”
“So, did he give you a key?”
“No. He told me they didn’t want me barging in on them anymore.” I couldn’t believe it when my eyes started to tear. I thought I was over it already.
Nolan reached across the table and placed his hand on mine. I pulled my hand away and wiped my eye. “Stupid pepper. I put too much on my eggs. It’s making my eyes water.”
“It’s OK to feel bad, Noelle.”
“I don’t even care.”
“So, when did Rick become such an asshole?”
I laughed. “Well, my mom let him do it, so . . .”
“Just tell me when you want to, and I’ll go with you to get your stuff.”
Nolan was so thoughtful. It hadn’t even crossed my mind, but he was right, I did need to get my things. I suddenly realized we were gazing at one another, and I felt my face flush. “Thanks,” I said as I quickly stood and collected our dishes.
An idea started gnawing at me as I began to tidy the kitchen. “I want to do something, but you’re going to think I’m crazy,” I said as I put the leftover bacon in the fridge.
“I already think that. So, just say it.”
“I want to go to the place where Dani’s body was found.”
Nolan’s face lost all expression. “Why?”
“I want to see the last place she was alive. I want to see the last thing she saw. I don’t know why. I don’t really want to. I feel like I need to. Like I have to.”
“Well, I can take you tomorrow if you really think you should.”
“She didn’t die in the morning. They said she died at night. I want to go now.”
Nolan thought long and hard for what felt like an eternity. “Do you have some flashlights?” I went to the junk drawer in the kitchen and found three, but only one had batteries that worked. “We better hurry before my parents come looking for me.”
Nolan and I walked so quickly; we might as well have been jogging. We reached the park in record time. “It’s so much scarier here at night,” I whispered.
“If you think this is bad, just wait. It’s worse in the woods. That’s where she was found—just off the jogging trails.”
I stopped before we entered the forest. “I’m not sure about this now, Nolan. It’s so dark. I’m scared.”
“It’s probably not the smartest thing we’ve ever done. Come on. Let’s hurry and get it over with or you’re going to regret it.”
We walked along the trail for about a mile. “We’re getting close,” he said.
When we were almost to the pond, he shined the flashlight all around until something caught his eye. “There. Do you see it?”
My heart was pounding. “No. What?” I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut.
He stepped forward. When he noticed I wasn’t following, he came back and took my hand and led me into the trees. “What is it?” I asked when I finally saw the tiny piece of shiny, yellow plastic that was tied around a skinny pine.
“It’s what’s left of crime scene tape.” He shined the light on the leaves and pine needles that blanketed the ground and sighed heavily. “This is it. This is the place.”
My breath caught. I stared in disbelief for a moment and then slowly walked to the spot where my friend’s body had been discovered. I looked all around before sitting down. I patted the space beside me, and Nolan joined me. “Turn it off,” I whispered. With a click, we were engulfed in darkness. I took a deep breath and lay back. Nolan followed and we rested with our shoulders touching and looked up between the finger-like branches into the starry night.
If I hadn’t known what had happened there, I would’ve thought it was one of the most amazing views I’d ever seen. It was almost incomprehensible that the beauty I was gazing at had been so utterly horrific for Dani.
The air was still all around us and in the inky blackness, you could see more stars than you could at home. The only sounds we heard were crickets. “Come on, Dani. Talk to me,” I whispered. “Let me know who did this to you.” I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to happen, but nothing did. “Are you there? Can you even hear me?” Just then, the branches started to move when a gentle breeze shook them. Then a gust of wind swirled around us. It happened so fast I wondered for a moment if it had happened at all.
“What was that?” whispered Nolan.
“I think, maybe, it was a sign.”
We lay there without moving. I think it was a while before I even started breathing again. The longer I looked at the stars, the more they seemed to twinkle. I felt my heart jump when one of them shot across the sky. “Whoa,” whispered Nolan.
“I know,” I whispered back.
We lay there so long my eyelids felt heavy. “Ready?” asked Nolan. His voice was scratchy from not speaking. I didn’t want to leave, but nothing else had happened for quite some time, and I honestly didn’t think anything else would, so reluctantly, I nodded, and he pulled me to my feet.
Luckily, my grandma never woke up while we were out so, we were able to slip back inside with no problem. I didn’t want Nolan to leave yet and I didn’t think he wanted to either because he offered to help me do the dishes. I decided we would hand wash them because that would take longer than plopping them into the dishwasher. We stood next to each other at the sink. We were so close our shoulders sometimes touched. I washed each dish slowly and thoroughly. “You never told me what happened at the station.”
He shrugged. “Not a lot.”
“But you were there for a long time.”
“Yeah.
I mean, they asked me questions, but it was the same few over and over. And they had different people ask me. I think they were trying to see if my story stayed the same. But I spent a lot of time alone. A lot. There were cameras in the room. I’ve seen enough TV to know they were watching me—my behavior.”
“What kind of questions did they ask you?”
“How long did I know Dani? Did I like her? Did anything happen that night that made me jealous? They were looking for a motive. They kept asking me if I was certain I didn’t hang around longer than I’d claimed and that maybe we’d gotten into a fight.”
“How well do you think you answered? Do they think you have motive?”
He was quiet for a moment. Still looking down at the sink he said, “I told them I barely knew her but that she was nice. And that we didn’t fight. I told them I was jealous, though.”
“Of what? Why would you say something so stupid? Jealousy is always a motive for murder.”
“I told them that I didn’t hang out at Dani’s that night. That all I did was tell her good night and leave because I ran back to my house hoping to see you at your grandma’s.” He swallowed. “When I saw you and Jace sitting in his truck, I got jealous and chucked a rock at his back windshield.”
“That was you?!” I swatted his shoulder, and he chuckled. “You scared us to death, you know?”
“I wasn’t trying to scare you. Just interrupt.”
“Well, you didn’t really interrupt anything.” His words began sinking in. I had been so jealous of him and Dani that night, I hadn’t been aware that he had been jealous of Jace and me. The way he was looking down at me now made me nervous. “I can vouch for you to the cops that you were there and not with Dani.”
“You might have to, but I’m pretty sure they’ve already contacted Jace to verify my story.” He glanced up at the clock as he dried his hands. “I better get going.” He leaned in, and my heart began to thud. I thought he was going to kiss me. “I can’t forget these,” he said as he reached around me and grabbed the container of brownies.
“Yeah. The brownies,” I said awkwardly. I was so embarrassed, I walked toward the door so he couldn’t see my face.
“Well. See ya.”
“Bye,” I said as he stepped out into the night.
The second I closed the door, I felt lonely and wished that he was still there. It would’ve helped if my grandma had been awake so we could talk or watch some television. It had been a while since we’d done that.
Just then, I saw her silhouette step into the den, and I followed. “Oh, good you’re up,” I said. “Why are you in the dark?” I asked as I clicked on a lamp. When I saw the room was empty, my pulse quickened. “Grandma?” I called out meekly in the direction of the kitchen.
When she didn’t answer, I looked down the hallway toward her bedroom. The door was closed, and no light was shining from underneath. When I turned back around, my blood turned to ice. I knew I’d caught a glimpse of Dani’s golden ringlets as she stepped into the den. Somehow, I managed not to scream and stepped closer. When I peeked around the wall, again, no one was there.
I was trembling so hard; I could feel the bed shaking when I was finally brave enough to go into my room and lay down. I didn’t dare turn off my lamp. Why did I go to the woods tonight? I had caused this! I had woken something that had been asleep.
14.
I woke before my alarm went off, jumped up, and got dressed. I couldn’t wait to tell my grandma what had happened last night, and that Dani had come to me in my dreams. Of course, I was going to leave out the part about Nolan and me going to the woods.
“You’re up early,” she said as she placed a box of cereal on the table.
“I wanted to tell you what happened last night.”
“What do you mean?” she said as she grabbed the milk from the fridge.
“Last night, after Nolan left, I thought I saw you—your silhouette—walk into the den.” She looked at me with intensity now. “I was so certain I’d seen you; I even spoke. But of course, when I turned on the light, you weren’t in there.”
“Go on,” she coaxed.
“So naturally, the first thing I did was check your room. I was scared to death when I saw the door was closed and your light was off. When I turned back around, I—”
“What is it, honey?”
“I know I saw the back of Dani’s head as she stepped into the den. You know how distinct Dani’s hair was. No one had long, blonde ringlets like her.”
“Of course, I remember.”
“When I stepped back into the den, she wasn’t there. But then,” my voice caught, “I dreamed about her.”
“Well, that’s understandable. You thought you saw her right before you fell asleep.”
“It wasn’t a good dream. It was terrible. And I think it was more than just a dream.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think she was trying to communicate with me. I think maybe that’s why she came to me before I had the dream. So that I would know it was more significant than just any old dream.”
“What do you think she was trying to tell you?”
“I’m not sure. In my dream she seemed smaller than what I remembered—younger, I guess. She was crying. She was in pain. Chunks of her hair were missing. She was in a hospital, though, so I don’t know why no one was helping her. All of a sudden, small lumps began to rise up in the white sheet that was covering her. She stared at me and without speaking, ripped the sheet off and let it fall to the floor. Hundreds of syringes were sticking out from all over her body. She looked like a pincushion.” Grandma winced. “What do you think it means?”
She was thoughtful for a long moment. “I-I really don’t know. I sure wish you could have seen her on a beach or in a field of flowers.”
“Me too.” I took a few bites of cereal. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you. I went to my house yesterday.”
“Oh? How’s your mama?”
“I don’t know.”
“She wasn’t there?”
“No. Rick was though.”
“Why did you say it like that? Did something happen?”
“He changed the locks on the door. He wouldn’t let me in. And he didn’t give me a key.”I felt my eyes welling with tears, but I fought back the urge to cry. “He said that they didn’t want me barging in on them anymore.”
Of course, Grandma didn’t cuss. She never did. She never said anything ugly about them or anyone for that matter. But I could see rage in her eyes that I’d never seen before. “You never have to go back there again,” she said. Then she tapped the table slowly to emphasize each word and said, “This is your home.” I nodded and brushed away the grateful tear that tried to run down my cheek.
We finished breakfast, and as I was slinging my backpack over my shoulder, Grandma said, “Nolan is still walking with you to and from school, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That’s good. He’s such a nice young man.” She smiled. “Why don’t you invite him over for pizza tonight, if you want? I have to do a little running around today. I’ll pick one up and try to be here not too long after you guys get home.” I gave her a hug and went to find Nolan.
♦ ♦ ♦
“You’re not going to believe what happened to me after you left last night.”
“What?” asked Nolan.
I retold the same story I’d just shared with my grandma. I could tell it spooked Nolan by the look on his face. “Oh, by the way, my grandma said you’re invited to come over after school for pizza.”
“Uh, no thanks.”
“What? Why?” Nolan had never told me no, and I don’t think he’d ever turned down food.
“You just told me your house is haunted.”
I laughed. “Well, how do you think I feel. My grandma said she would get home after me. I don’t want to be there alone.”
“So, you’re using me?”
“I don’t know if it’s considered using if I
’m paying you with pizza.”
“Will you finally show me the picture I helped you steal the other night?” I must have made a funny expression. “What is it? What did you do now?”
“I’ll show you. But . . . there’s something else—” Just then, the bell screeched as we stepped through the school’s entrance. “I’ll tell you when we get to my grandma’s.”
“You can’t do that to me. Tell me now.”
