3

by Shera Eitel-Casey

  “Relax.” Storm spoke softly to me, “Just do what the person in front of you does and I’ll be right beside you when we get to the casket.” I got a chill feeling his hot breath on my neck “And don’t cry” he added.

  Don’t cry! I’m about to see a dead person and I'm not allowed to cry, how am I going to manage that? Especially, because when I pictured the casket I kept seeing me. I wished I wouldn't waste any more time or tears over “Logan.”

  There were only two people left in front of me. I turned sideways pulling Storm even closer, he nudged me. He said nothing, then tucked his arm up underneath mine again and re-gripped my hand. He had nice hands not too big and not too small, and if hands can be muscular they were and warm, he gave me comfort.

  “You’re fine, don’t look down if you don’t want to and you don’t have to touch her either. Just keep breathing” Storm whispered trying to re-assure me.

  I looked at Nic she mouthed to me “Are you okay?” I said nothing, Nic looked perfectly fine then she said “don’t look down.” I looked down, as soon as they told me not too, that’s what I did, I looked down. There she lay perfectly still, she looked so peaceful, I took a deep breath. She had a nice royal blue shirt on buttoned all the way up and khaki pants. I would never wear my shirt all the way buttoned up. I wonder if her eyes were blue too. She had a couple of scratch marks on her right hand, and one just under her collar. Other than those marks it looked like she hadn’t a thing wrong with her. No reason to die at all.

  Keep moving, keep moving, I told myself side stepping slowly. I looked at her face she was beautiful, young. There was a poster size picture of her at the head of the casket and her full name labeled it “Jewel Ann Richardson Class of 82.” It sent a chill down my spine and I felt my eyes well up and my cheeks got hotter. The girl in front of me did the sign of the cross when she was at Jewel's head and mumbled “She looks so weird in pants, why couldn’t they put her in a dress, something normal.” Her girlfriend, whom was holding her hand, agreed.

  I wonder what normal was, jeans and a tee are normal for me. When I got to the end of the casket by her head, I mimicked the girl in front of me, by using the sign of the cross. I can do this, keep breathing, we are almost done – I felt myself trembling a bit inside but couldn’t help it. Storm gave my hand an extra squeeze. Could this have been me this summer if my brother hadn’t stepped in? No, no, no don’t think like that, shake it off. I was in a house with others around and Kit did intervene.

  I was at her head and looked at her face and down to her wrist where I caught a glimpse of the scratches on her hand again. I got that eerie sense of déjàvu. I thought I was going to see me when I looked down but instead I saw the girl from my dreams and it jolted me. I shook my head, what the heck had Storm gotten me into, I'd rather be in class. I felt my eyes well some more and finally a tear escaped. Breathe I told myself, I turned my head away from the other two and wiped my tear quickly and took a deep breath.

  We finished, thank goodness, as we rounded the corner Storm put his arms around our shoulders and gave us a quick squeeze, I felt relief. Storm thanked us for coming with him, and that he came for his brothers, and I guess in turn Nic and I came for Storm. Although, I think it had to do more with cutting class for Storm. My body still felt shaky, I imagined it felt something like the aftershock of an earthquake, and I couldn't shake the eerie feeling I had, like I knew that girl. I took a deep breath in through my nose and out my mouth, trying to relax.

  Storm asked me if I felt okay and I squeezed his arm around me. “Are you cold you're shivering?” I turned into him to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek. He turned his head at the last minute, classic move I might add, and his lips touched mine then he pressed firmly and our lips parted. After a second, I pushed back lightly and looked at him quizzically. He had a devilish look in his eyes.

  Nic said “Break it up you two,” but I kept on looking at him, his eyes were mesmerizing. We were in a people traffic jam trying to get back into the school. He kept his arm around me as we moved through the crowd and I realized I wasn't trembling any longer. I choked back a swallow and realized that it was fear I was feeling.

  I touched my lips with my hand and thought that kiss; his kiss wasn't familiar like I thought it would have been. I couldn’t help wonder if he may have had practice this summer too, and smiled.

  We got to the front school doors and teachers were handing out new schedules, we still had to go to all our classes but all of them were cut shorter. Half the high school student body made it to the wake or blew off class. I noticed Storm was still holding my hand and not out of necessity anymore. I opened my hand to release and had to jiggle my hand free. I looked at him and headed straight so Nic and I could get to Art class. We walked ahead of him; I gave him one last glance behind us. He was gazing at me with those gorgeous eyes and it was like getting lost in a sea of green. I smiled softly back at him.

  While Nic and I were walking to class I said "I can't believe he kissed me.”

  "I can't either!" She replied snottily.

  "Why would you say it like that?"

  "Because Addie, he has a girlfriend!" She said with another snarky bite. “At least that's what I heard.”

  "You've got to be kidding me!"

  By the end of the week Nic caught a rumor to verify Storm was dating a girl named Shelby. I wasn't speaking to him; of course, I was giving him 'the cold shoulder' in history class all week. He had to know why and if he didn't, I didn't really care. He was making no effort to find out why either; except for consistently poking me with his pen which just irritated me more. Whatever, I thought, let him stay dumbfounded.

  Nic told me she found out all the details on Storm from Declan, who said he’d been dating since this summer. I would've asked Declan myself but he hadn't been on the bus yet.

  Declan was a friend of mine. We’ve been riding the bus together since seventh grade so this will be our third year together. He's a nice guy and we have no interest in each other except for being friends, we can talk about anything. He was my height, had brown curly hair, slim, a good build, muscular, not overly either like a steroid junky or anything... He always knew all the gossip on everyone, the unfortunate thing was I didn't know half the people he was talking about before, but this year would be different since we're in the same school now.

  Friday, on the way to class I decided I loved my Art class because I loved listening to the radio and drawing, it’s a great class to start the day. Another reason to love Art, are the two hot guys sitting in front of our class, seniors Topher and Cale – a very nice view.

  While we were in class today a news report came on the radio, Topher the hot guy who sat up front turned it up so everyone could hear. Our class is the first to hear news updates, another plus.

  The newscaster stated: “Jewel Ann Richardson of Summit County died two weeks ago, August 18th. Which at the time, the Police thought was an accident. They are now stating that they believe foul play is at hand. They believe she was killed in another location and that her body was dumped at Township Park. If anyone saw her on the day in question please contact the Richfield Police Department at 555-1266 ext. 47 or ask for Detective Grey the lead investigator.”

  I flinched and my throat tightened, panic set in. I flashed back to the girl in the white dress I had been seeing in my dreams, then to the girl in the casket. I squeezed my eyes shut and recalled being trapped under his body with all his weight on me, his tongue on my face, ugh, I couldn't breathe. I felt Nic tugging on my shirt saying something. I focused and I heard "Breathe Addie, breathe, are you all right, do you need to go to the nurse?" I held my eyes with hers and handed her my note from the front pocket of my jeans, my hand was trembling as she reached for the folded up piece of paper. She looked down at it flip flopped it in her hand and then looked back up at me. "Did you have the same dream again? Do I have to read it?" I tried hard to swallow and speak but instead I just nodded.

  When Nic was done reading it sh
e asked, “When was the first time you had this dream?”

  I inhaled deeply, trying to relax. “This summer?”

  “How many times have you had this dream?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, “A lot”

  “Should we call the police?”

  I shrugged my shoulders again, “And say what, that I have these dreams and I write them down and you sign and date them so we know they're real? And I know where Jewel was killed, sort of, because I saw it in my dream...” I cleared my throat as my voice wasn't steady.

  “Oh yeah, that does sound kind of weird, huh. What if we tell them we were friends of hers and see if they found her bracelet because she always had it on?”

  “Don't you think they would find out we were never friends with her?”

  “What if we, I mean you, drew a picture of where she was killed and wrote a few notes down and mailed it to them anonymously?”

  “I don't know” I said sounding defeated because I felt it, “I'll think about it.”

  I don't know who made up the saying, but by the end of the day our class had a new motto “85 Stay Alive.” Not that I think a lot of murders were happening but each class had more than a few students die each year and we were going to be the smart class, the one where no one dies before graduation. It’s not like we had that many students in our high school, we were in the country more than less. Richfield only had about 2,000 residents, so when you lose a couple of classmates you could feel the emptiness from their absence.

  We have lots of hills everywhere, no sidewalks or curbs and not many street lights either. So when students were screwing around when driving, especially at night, accidents happened. I heard car accidents were the leading ‘cause of death in teenagers, then comes homicides and these two seem to be very high in our school. Plus, there are the normal run of the mill deaths, suicides, cancer, heart disease and silly accidents. However, I’d like to find out how many we lose by foul play.

  CHAPTER 3

  Nic and I went to see Journey in concert, it was really good but I just couldn't seem to get into it and I think Nic sensed it. Afterward we went to her house, I was spending the weekend. Her mom was very cool about dropping us off and picking us up places. Plus, we could get away with more stuff around her mom, if she knew what we were up too, she didn't let us know.

  When we got back to Nic's house she looked anxious, and as soon as her mom announced she was going to bed Nic smiled and waved me on to follow her, intrigued by the cloak-and-dagger I followed. She turned off all the lights until we came to her back sliding door. For a minute, I couldn't see a thing, then Nic flipped on the outside light, she had a menacing smile on her face. Her dog was just as intrigued and stood right next to us; Rusty was a good dog never barked, well trained and always stayed near the house. She grabbed my hand and yanked me out the door called for her dog but Rusty didn’t come. We were running, the light faded fast as we ran away from it, the darkness enveloped around us quickly, I had a hard time seeing Nic in front of me. We ran through her properties first tree line as far as I could tell. Her feet found every step with familiarity and ease, where I fumbled behind her slowing us down.

  We began to giggle and finally slowed to a brisk walk, through another tree line and there it was, her pond surrounded by nothing but trees and fields. She brought us around by a dock and we stepped onto it.

  She turned and said “I've always wanted to skinny dip so we're going to tonight and you're doing it with me.” She started taking off her shoes and then her jeans.

  “Since when do you have a dock and a beach?” I asked.

  “My dad and I finished it last week!” Nic said excitedly.

  “We put sand in the water too.” She pointed to the area where the beach should be, I think I could see it, I felt it under my feet. I would definitely have to check it out during the day.

  Before Nic pushed her jeans down she started talking slowly and cautiously “Addie, I know there is something very wrong with you… I know because I can feel it and because of the way you've been acting lately. Plus, you were trying to hide the bruises and scratch marks on your arms and legs.” She took a deep breath, I said nothing. “You are my very best friend and I thought we told each other everything.” She paused; I could tell she was choosing her words carefully. “I'm not going to make you tell me but, if something bad is happening at home I can help. You can stay here until we figure it out. Or if it's something else, if you need any help at all tell me, your parents, or if you can't tell us you should go to a counselor or the police.”

  I started crying, of course, me who usually never cries was crying again; I wasn’t sure what to tell her. I just wanted it to go away and never think or talk about it again, but obviously ignoring it doesn't mean it's not so. “You are my best friend” I blabbered out. “I'm just too ashamed to talk about it.”

  Nic threw her arms around me; giving me a huge hug “You don't have to tell me,” she said rubbing my back.

  Well that did it, I felt compelled to continue. I cried like a baby sobbing the whole time but I told her about my attack from Logan. Thank goodness I didn't have to beg her not to tell her mom or anyone else for that matter. She's the most trustworthy person I know, so if she tells me she won’t tell anyone I know she won’t.

  After I settled down a bit Nic said “I am not doing this alone, strip Addie, we’re going in!”

  I'd never been skinny dipping before, didn't really want to either but found myself wiping my face and taking my shoes off and then I heard a splash! Nic was in. Nic's family owned 150 acres so I couldn't imagine running into anyone else here, so I thought why not.

  You could see a little bit, the moon reflecting off of the pond gave us some light, but everywhere else it was an abyss of blackness.

  “The water is warm hurry up!” Nic yelled. I continued and took off my jeans and then everything else. I ran and jumped in the water, it was warm, I had jumped right in like always, no reason to test the water I was going for a swim regardless.

  “This will at least wash away the smoky smell from our hair” I said. It felt like more than a cleanse of my hair, it was also cleansing my soul, I felt better and was glad I shared my story with Nic.

  We swam for a while, it was very relaxing but the fun had to end... Boy did we miss-calculate, it was freezing cold when we got out, plus no towels! We got out and started shivering immediately, as we headed for our clothes at the other end of the dock, my teeth were chattering so loud it was earsplitting. I turned around and ran off the end of the dock, making a big splash, Nic followed. “Crap” she said between chatters. “I didn't think it was going to be that cold when we got out, I thought it felt warm outside.”

  “Yeah” was all I could blurt out.

  “I’ll go back to the house and get towels” Nic suggested.

  “And what, leave me out here alone, in the perfect setting to meet “a spooky killer” where I can’t run fast enough, and I trip and fall and…. I don't think so!”

  “Okay, well then we'll just have to freeze. We'll get out, put our clothes on real speedy run back to the house and take hot showers.”

  “Sounds good” I retorted “You first.”

  We got out, getting your undies on wet was harder than you'd think, I gave up on them and threw them to the ground and pulled on my jeans, not easily though. Nic was mumbling.

  “Forget the bra and undies; just pull your pants and shirt on.” She looked at me I was already dressed holding my undies, socks and bra in hand. I waved them in the air. She smiled and did the same. We ran back to the house hair dripping wet, it felt colder than cold, it was darn right frigid.

  As we approached her house we could see a silhouette standing in the doorway. Nic's mom, waiting for us, she was holding towels. “What are you two insane going out there without towels? Your lips are blue, go take warm showers. Addie where is your bag I'll get it for you.” I pointed to the other room. As she left I nudged Nic “Your mom didn't yell.” She looked as sho
cked as I did.

  “No, but maybe she thinks we wore swim suits? Hurry into the shower, maybe she won't ask or notice.” We made a mad dash to turn the water on and close the door behind us. Nic's mom knocked a couple seconds later and handed me sweats and a t-shirt for Nic and my bag. We each took nice long showers, and wrapped towels around our heads and went straight to Nic's room. She hadn't said much since our swim. Little tid bits here and there, however, when we were lying in our beds saying nothing, I could sense she wanted to talk to me some more. I told her “I can feel it – go ahead.”

  “Are you sure you're okay Addie?”

  “Yes, I'll be fine. I'm just hoping no one else finds out or that Logan doesn't blab it to his friends.”

  “I don't think he ever would, he has to know what he did was wrong and if he told anyone, the truth would come out.” Nic explained.

  I got all choked up, but after I got control of my emotions I said, “Maybe this is from the consequences of my actions, you know what comes around goes around.”

  I could see the outline of Nic as she sat up in bed “Are you kidding me, you didn't deserve this and it wasn't your fault. You were unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time.” I sucked in a deep breath and attempted a little humor. “Well, I am a hussy! After all, I go around kissing other people's boyfriends; just give me a “Red Letter” on my chest.”

  Nic started laughing “It's a scarlet letter.”

  “Whatever, I am damaged.”

  The next night her mom dropped us off at McDonald's. It was right across the street from Montrose Swim Club which had a miniature golf course. We were kids always looking for something to do. We got to McDonald's, ate and hung out for a bit, saw some kids we knew, chatted and then walked across the street to go golfing. The guy in charge wouldn't give us a discount, we were supposed to get a discount when my mom worked there but he never gave it to us before and he certainly didn't give it to us this night either, even though, we were very charming.