Bradley Somers made someone smile.
It wasn’t right.
It was so, so wrong.
You love them, but in the end, you will be all alone.
“They’re awfully friendly.”
I groaned. “Don’t you have anything better to do than harass me? I thought you worked or something.”
Rosie ignored my statement and pulled out a chair next to me, sitting down. She crossed her legs together and watched my friends as they waited to get their food.
“So what has you in such a tizzy, sis?” Rosie arched her lovely eyebrow.
“I’m not your sister. I never have been,” I reminded her. At one time I wished she had been. In the beginning, before I saw how horrible she could be.
“Did you put on makeup this morning? You look ridiculous,” Rosie spat out. Was she annoyed at my rejection? Could it possibly bother her? I hoped it did.
I self-consciously wiped at my face. “I just wanted to try something new,” I said softly, lowering my face, hiding away as I always did with Rosie. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. No sense in wearing a target she could shoot at.
Rosie snorted. “What’s the point? You’re still disgusting.”
It hurt.
It would always hurt.
Nora Gilbert is ugly.
Nora Gilbert is a freak.
“Why do you think those two are spending so much time together?” Rosie asked pointedly. I lifted my head and watched my friends again. They were still in line and though they weren’t chatting any longer, something was different between them. It made me nauseated.
“How do you know they spend time together?” I demanded, hating how easily Rosie made me doubt.
Rosie didn’t bother answering me. She let my mistrust linger in the air between us.
“I never understood why Bradley was so attached to you. It never made any sense to me. He’s ridiculously hot but incredibly weird. He and I hung out a few times and he would never say much,” Rosie mused, staring off into space.
Her long, brown hair was swept up into a tidy bun at the nape of her neck. Her nails were freshly painted and her silver ring glinted in the overhead lighting.
I frowned.
She was wearing her ring.
I pulled the ring out of my pocket and put it on. Just for a moment. I didn’t want Mother to see. I could only imagine her reaction if she saw it. It felt good to slip it over my knuckle so that it sat snuggled on my thumb.
I held my hand up to admire it. It was too big. My fingers were much smaller than hers. But it still looked nice.
I realized what Rosie had said and I couldn’t keep quiet.
“What are you talking about?”
Rosie grinned maliciously. Her favorite kind of smile.
“Didn’t Bradley ever tell you that we would meet after school when we were younger? He’d walk me home. While you waited for him at school, he was with me.” Rosie giggled. “I liked the strong silent thing he had going on at first. But then it just got weird.” Rosie frowned. “There’s something wrong with that guy. But I guess that’s why the two of you get along.”
I felt the stirrings of an all too familiar anger.
Bradley and Rosie had spent time together?
My head started to throb.
I had to close my eyes because the fluorescent lighting was suddenly too bright.
Bradley and Rosie had hung out and he had never told me.
The betrayal stung.
Then I felt something else. Déjà vu, perhaps?
Why did it feel like I should already know this?
I followed behind them so they wouldn’t see me.
I had been in shock when Bradley walked out of school with Rosie beside him. He hated her as much as I did. We spent a lot of our time plotting ways to get rid of her.
So far hitting her on top of the head and tossing her into the river seemed the best option.
He knew how horrible she was to me, yet there he was, walking with her. Forgetting about me.
And that was the worst part.
With Rosie by his side, I was a non-entity. Left behind.
I should be used to it.
But not from Bradley.
“Go away,” I whispered.
“It bugs you, doesn’t it?” Rosie asked, so happy.
“No!” I shook my head, refusing to give her what she was looking for.
“It’s funny how easily your mind blocks out the things you don’t want to remember. Must be awfully convenient,” Rosie commented, cocking her head to the side as she regarded me.
“Seriously, just go away,” I repeated, tired of her taunts.
“I’m already gone,” Rosie said and I heard her chair scraping as she got up and left me alone.
“Are you okay, Nora?”
I opened my eyes to find Maren and Bradley sitting down on either side of me. Maren on my right. Bradley on my left.
A perfect triangle.
“Just a bit of a headache,” I lied.
Bradley handed me a sandwich and a bag of chips.
“So, I was telling Bradley that maybe the three of us could go see a movie this weekend. The old theater in town is having a silent movie night that could be kind of cool,” Maren suggested, eating a bite of her salad.
I glanced at Bradley, expecting him to shoot down the idea. I was surprised to find him looking at Maren. He watched her with the same intensity he usually reserved for me.
Maren looked up to find his eyes on her and there was an unspoken communication. “What do you think? Should we give it a shot?”
My face flushed hot. I felt as though I was being excluded and I didn’t like it. Not at all.
“I don’t think—” I began but Maren interrupted me by handing me a bag of cookies.
“I got these for you. I know how much you like them.” Her eyes sparkled and I couldn’t help but sparkle back.
“Thanks, Maren,” I said with genuine affection. I opened up the bag and took out a cookie and then offered one to her.
“No, hun, those are all for you,” she promised.
I loved her endearment. I felt important. So important.
“I doubt Bradley would want to go,” I said finally after coming down from cloud nine.
Maren continued to eat her lunch while closely watching my friend. “Why wouldn’t Bradley want to go?”
“Because he doesn’t like silent movies,” I continued. We were talking about Bradley as though he weren’t there. As if he were a simpleton incapable of answering for himself.
But I wanted to make the decision for him. He wouldn’t be coming to the movies with us. It wasn’t an option.
Bradley looked at me, his green eyes boring into mine. “If you don’t want me to go, I won’t go, Nora,” he said quietly and I wanted to hit him.
“Why wouldn’t Nora want you to go? That’s ridiculous! Isn’t that right, Nora?” Maren exclaimed and I bit down on my lip to keep myself from screaming.
I didn’t answer her.
Bradley knew what he was doing.
He was manipulating the situation for reasons I didn’t entirely understand.
“Then it’s settled! We’re all going to the movies. Maybe we could get something to eat first. It’ll be fun.”
I lowered my eyes. I couldn’t look at Bradley a minute longer. He made me sick. Angry and bitter.
He was ruining this beautiful thing that was blossoming. He had ingratiated himself, claiming he was doing it for me.
Because he didn’t trust her. He was worried about me. He wanted to make sure I was safe.
Lies!
All lies!
He was doing it for himself.
Because for the first time in the course of our friendship, I saw him giving away his smiles.
And it wasn’t to me.
The Present
Day 8
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
“
I should have known it was you!” I gasped. I wanted to lunge at my former foster sister. I wanted to grab her neck between my hands and squeeze the life out of her.
I made an attempt to move, but I was too weak to do anything. I wasn’t a threat to Rosie Allen.
I never had been and I certainly wasn’t now.
I stood in the hallway of the rundown barn wearing only my dirty underwear and bra. I was covered in dirt and dried blood. The torn piece of fabric still wrapped around my wrist was filthy and frayed.
“You look like you’re going to fall over, Nora,” Rosie singsonged.
I frowned.
Rosie was here so it meant she was the one responsible for keeping me prisoner. For taking Maren and locking her away.
Yet.
My head throbbed again and my vision became even fuzzier.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“What’s that noise?” I asked, forced to lean against the wall for support.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Tell me!” I screamed, though it wasn’t loud. My throat was so dry and raw it wouldn’t allow me to do much more than whisper.
Rosie only smiled. It was obvious she did not intend to answer my question.
“Why am I here? How did you do it?” I demanded, wanting to stay on my feet but finding it impossible.
I slid down the wall and sat down, my back pressed against the wood. The concrete hot beneath me.
Smoke. Flames.
Get out!
“Don’t you want to know who’s behind door number three?” Rosie taunted, twirling the ring around her finger.
I rubbed at my temple, completely overwhelmed.
The ring on her finger . . .
Her voice . . .
“Just tell me why did you do it?” I cried, but no tears fell down my dirty cheeks. I was incapable. They were all dried up. But my frazzled nerves couldn’t deal with this latest revelation.
She twisted the ring over and over.
I twisted my ring on my thumb.
“Come on, Nora, play along! Ask me who’s behind the other door.” Rosie tapped her hand against the handle.
“It’ll be fun, I promise!”
I shook my head, too tired to do anything else. Rosie was crazy. She had lost her mind.
And I was pretty sure that she was going to make sure I would never be free. Ever again.
“It’s because you think this life I have should be yours, isn’t it? You’ve decided that by getting rid of me, you could have Mother all to yourself,” I surmised. I continued to twirl the silver ring on my thumb. “But don’t you get it? I’m not a threat to you! Mother always loved you best!”
Rosie laughed as though I were telling the funniest joke she had ever heard.
“You’re nuts!” I screeched, my throat protesting the effort.
Rosie walked to the door of the room where Maren was being held and tapped her fingers along the wood. “Knock, knock, Maren. You awake in there?” She giggled obscenely.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
Rosie shrugged. “Behind door number one we have Maren Digby. So pretty. So special. Unique in every single way.” She winked at me. “You really love her, don’t ya, sis?” Rosie goaded.
“I’m not your sister!” I yelled.
I couldn’t see much of Rosie’s expression with my diminished eyesight, but I could see enough to know that she smiled.
Oh, how she smiled.
She was enjoying this.
“No, you’re not. You never were. Thank god. Leslie should have bashed your head in when you were born,” Rosie mused, tapping her chin with her finger.
“Shut up!” I moaned, covering my ears. Anything to drown out the sound of her awful voice.
Her voice . . .
I sat up straighter, my breath coming in short, shallow bursts. My heart beat wildly in my chest.
Something wasn’t right. And I had just realized what it was.
Rosie’s voice wasn’t the same one that I had been hearing singing the song.
This confused me even more.
Whose voice had I been hearing?
Was someone helping Rosie?
I couldn’t imagine her dragging both Maren and me to this place out in the middle of nowhere.
Which meant, she had to have help!
But who?
Where’s Bradley?
Maren’s accusations whispered silently in my mind.
Was Mother looking for me at all?
I almost laughed at the ridiculousness.
Too many options.
Too many people ready to see me gone.
So what was going on?
“Nora, you really aren’t much fun. You’re supposed to guess who’s behind this door!” Rosie shouted, pounding her fist on the wall. Charred, splintered wood falling in pieces to the floor.
“I don’t care who’s in there! Just let me go!” I cried and cried. “I’ll do anything, please! Just let Maren and me out of here! I won’t tell anyone. I promise! I’ll leave and you’ll never have to see me again. You can have Mother and whatever else you want!” I begged. I was frantic. I could hear the desperation in my voice.
Rosie pounded her fist on the closed door again. She ignored my pleas. “You have to guess, Nora. This is the best part!”
She clapped her hands together like a child.
Like a little nine-year-old girl . . .
My temples throbbed with the violent beating of my heart. So hard it hurt. I closed my eyes, willing the ache to go away. I was having a difficult time focusing.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Why wouldn’t the noise stop?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Just tell me, Rosie. Tell me who you have in there,” I whispered. “Just tell me.”
I startled at the feel of her hands on my arms. I opened my eyes and found her kneeling down in front of me. Her face only inches from mine. I stared into her blue eyes and couldn’t look away.
Blue eyes.
“You’re eyes look blue today. Did you know that?”
“Just tell me, Rosie. Tell me who you put in there,” I said quietly, never looking away. I didn’t dare.
My former foster sister reached out and ran her finger along the top of my lip. The long, thin scar where my face used to be split open.
“You’re so ugly, Nora. You can’t fix that sort of thing, no matter how hard Leslie tried.”
She wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. It didn’t even hurt to hear it. I was numb to her insults.
“She wanted to fix you sooner. Did you know that?”
I sat up a little straighter. What was she talking about?
Rosie continued to touch my scar. Her fingers burrowing deep.
“Oh, so I can tell you a story you didn’t already know?” She grinned, looking manic.
“Stop touching me,” I implored.
She ignored me.
“She wanted to fix your face, but your dad refused. He hated you as much as she did. He was the one who wanted to punish you.”
My lips trembled, but I refused to cry.
“You’re lying!” I breathed.
“Maybe I am. Or maybe I’m not. Who knows? But it’s easier to believe the lies than to live the truth, isn’t it, Nora?” Rosie giggled again. It was the most horrible sound I had ever heard.
Her mirth was like a stain on my soul.
“Stop talking in circles, Rosie. Just tell me why you’re doing this. Why I’m here. Otherwise, shut up!” I screamed. I grabbed at my throat, the pain intense.
Rosie’s eyes widened in shock.
“Wow. The meek little lamb has teeth. I had no idea.” Rosie scratched her nail down the length of my scar, but I refused to wince. I didn’t want her to see how much it hurt.
But she knew.
Rosie always knew.
“Guess, Nora,” she murmured, her eyes wild.
Rosie pursed her lips and seemed disappointed. She lifted her other hand and gen
tly ran her fingers down my cheek. I was shocked by the unexpected tenderness.
Her nails dug into my skin and I flinched this time. I couldn’t help it.
“You know, Nora! Think!”
Why was she doing this to me? She was more sadistic than I ever realized.
I let out a choked sobbed, wishing I could actually cry but knowing it would only give her the power she was looking for.
“Think!” Rosie screamed into my face.
“Please, just let us go,” I pleaded.
Rosie dug her nails deeper, but I didn’t feel any blood.
Not this time.
“You have to guess who’s behind door number three, Nora. It’s the only way.”
No blood.
Only smoke.
And flames.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“You’re an evil, evil person, Rosie!” I shouted at her, finding some strength I didn’t know I still had.
I thought of Maren behind that locked door, depending on me to get us out of here.
I will, Maren. Even if I have to kill Rosie with my bare hands. I will get us free. I promise!
Rosie chuckled. “Uh-uh, Nora. That won’t work.”
Had she read my mind?
Or had I spoken out loud?
I didn’t even know anymore.
“I’m not going to play your game, Rosie!”
Rosie stood up and walked back to the closed door she teased me with. “I won’t just tell you. You have to figure it out on your own. Otherwise you can’t ever leave. That’s just how it is.”
She sounded like a school teacher explaining a lesson.
I ran my hands over my face, my entire body shivering in spite of the heat.
The incessant, insufferable heat.
“I don’t know—”
“Yes, you do!” Rosie argued, a note of excitement in her voice.
I banged my head against the wall behind me. “Stop it!”
“No! You have to guess!”
Rosie was relentless and I knew she wouldn’t stop. She wouldn’t give up. She’d keep us here until I played her stupid, stupid game.
“Mother,” I said finally, giving in.
Rosie stamped her foot. “No! Don’t be an idiot!” She was angry. Really angry.
“Then I don’t know! Who else would you drag into this horrible place? That’s the only thing that makes—”
I stopped.
I saw it all.
The Missing- Volume II- Lies Page 9
