by Bryan Cohen
"Two points." Daly changed his expression to a grin. "Erica never mentioned her bony, squeaky hag of a friend, so it seems like it was a one-way relationship. Second, your friend is still al–"
Jennifer moved closer to Daly, and Dhiraj followed suit. The man flinched when Jennifer made a motion with the gun. Dhiraj could feel his heart beating through his chest.
"You and I both know the person in Erica's body isn't her." Jennifer cranked her neck to the side and focused back on Daly. "You killed the friend I knew and there's no reason I shouldn't go eye for eye on your a–"
"Jen!" Dhiraj didn't even realize he spoke until Daly looked over at him. "You can't do this. If we get the cops in here, Daly is going to go to jail. It won't be for murder, but–"
Jennifer roared. The primal sound shocked both Daly and Dhiraj.
"That's not good enough, Dhiraj." Jennifer shifted the gun and fired a bullet through the glass porch window.
Dhiraj covered his ears as shattered glass crashed to the ground. Daly kicked off his heels, nearly causing the chair to topple over backwards before it balanced itself back into place.
Jennifer moved the gun back to its original position: trained right on Daly's body. "He killed her and he should be dead, too."
Dhiraj couldn't let this go on any further. He did the stupidest thing he could think of: he wedged himself in the space between Jennifer's gun and the man who had murdered Erica LaPlante.
"If you kill him–"
"Move, Dhiraj!"
"Your life'll be ruined."
"It already is!"
Dhiraj felt something he didn't expect. Amidst all the fear and uncertainty, he stood up straight and looked right into Jennifer's eyes. "If that's what you really believe, then I don't know how to help you." Dhiraj stepped out of the line of fire but kept his eyes fixed on Jennifer's. "If your entire existence revolves around the lives of other people, then you never had a life to begin with."
Daly started to laugh. "Look at Indian Tony Robbins here." Daly stood up from his chair and took a step toward Jennifer. "The truth is, Sheriff's daughter, it was fun. Stabbing a girl who wanted me oh-so-badly and watching the blood drain out of her."
Dhiraj refused to let Daly get to him. "Screw other people, Jen. Who needs Ted or me or Nat or Erica? Don't throw everything away because of any of us."
Daly took another step toward Jennifer, and she took one back.
"I did it all under your father's nose, too. When I put the last pile of dirt on your friend's cold body, I knew I was going to get away with it. I have gotten away with it."
"Don't you dare come any closer!"
Dhiraj pulled out his phone. "If you think your life isn't worth it, Jen, you can kill him right now. But if there's some chance that you want to become something other than a friend and a killer, I will get the police here right now."
Daly took another step toward her and when Jennifer inched away her back reached the front door. Dhiraj knew he had to buy more time. He ran toward Daly. The man took a wild swing and Dhiraj felt a painful slap against his cheek as he tumbled to the ground. Dhiraj ignored the stinging sensation and turned toward the standoff.
"It's just you and me, Jen." Daly closed the distance between them once again. "You want to go out just like your BFF did?"
Dhiraj dialed 9-1-1 as he watched Jennifer's trigger finger twitch. He was surprised to see a smile spread across her face.
"Nope." She aimed the gun exactly where she wanted the shot to go. "I'm gonna go my own way."
The gun went off, sending a bullet in Daly's direction. Dhiraj closed his eyes and prayed.
33
Ted ran the gamut of emotions as he floated Erica into the back of Natalie's car. She'd passed out after throwing up two more times in the toilet. Ted wondered if the girl he'd grown up with was actually back for good. If that was the case, he couldn't help but be happy that a dead childhood friend had come back to life. Then again, the new Erica was his protector, a girl who had led many lives and a person he was beginning to fall in love with.
"We should go through her pockets." Natalie stared straight ahead as they drove across town. Despite her ordeal from the last day and a half, she seemed focused on dealing with the issue at hand. "Maybe we can find a clue."
Ted shook his head and grinned. "That's brilliant. Teammate."
Natalie snorted. "It was in a movie. Now, which one's her place again?"
They parked about a block away from Erica's house and Ted waited until the coast was clear before floating his unconscious friend around the back of the house. Ted used his powers to fly all three of them into Erica's room.
"So, this is where the magic happens?" Natalie looked like she'd rather be next to an active volcano than in the peach-colored room.
"Hardy har." Ted began rifling through Erica's pockets. "You wanna check her purse?"
Ted hoped to find Erica's phone, but they came up empty. They spread out everything they found on the bedspread. Aside from a few coins and her car keys, the only thing of value was a receipt to the coffee shop on Main Street.
"Seems like as good a place to start as any." Natalie squinted and walked over to the air conditioning vent. "Hey, there's something in here."
Ted used his powers in lieu of a screwdriver to reveal the hidden item. It was a short bottle filled with clear liquid. He uncapped it. The burning aroma confirmed its contents.
Ted sighed. "We should see if there's any other booze hidden in here."
They found three other secret liquor hiding locations throughout the room: underneath a miniature dollhouse table, in the back of an end table bottom cabinet and in a storage container beneath her bed. They poured all the alcohol they could find down the drain.
As Ted poured the final bottle down the bathroom sink, Natalie stood in the doorway with her arms folded.
"I think you should be prepared."
Ted rinsed the bottle out with cold water. "Prepared for what?"
"We don't know what happened, but for all we know, the old Erica could be back to stay."
Ted feared that Natalie could be right, but he refused to believe it. He squeezed past her and back into the bedroom. He looked at Erica, as if he was trying to pull additional information out of her mind.
"She remembered going on dates with me. When she sobers up I’m sure she'll…."
For a moment, he thought he saw the image of a man sitting across from Erica. He almost had a clear picture before the memory zipped away from him. When he tried to do the same thing again, the image was gone. Ted leaned back against the wall. He felt tired for some reason.
"Are you OK?" Natalie asked.
Ted wondered if the location of the image he'd seemingly pulled from Erica's head had been a meeting at the coffee shop.
"When I looked at her, I almost... I think I saw a memory."
Natalie gave him a sideways glance. "What do you mean you 'saw a memory'?"
Ted shook his head. "I'm not sure, but we have to go there. See if there are any clues." He looked back at Erica and felt his stomach start to work overtime. "Leaving her here like this... it doesn't feel right."
Ted pulled the covers over Erica, who instinctively wrapped them around herself. He sat down beside her.
Natalie cleared her throat. "If we don't find out who did this to her, it could be a lot more than one brainwashed girlfriend we're dealing with."
Ted nodded. He pushed some hair away from Erica's face and kissed her on the cheek. She murmured a whispered response and went silent again.
"You're right. Let's get a smoothie."
When they arrived at the shop, a crowd of patrons surrounded Ted. He thought it was funny that people who would've passed him by just three months earlier were now hounding him for a selfie or an autograph. He figured it was a good thing he didn't like coffee, or getting his morning fix would be a major pain.
Natalie squirmed as the patrons gathered around them. She spoke loudly enough to be heard over the masses. "I should tell them how
pale you look with your shirt off. Maybe they'd be less impressed."
Ted pinched Natalie in the side. "I would float you off a cliff." He gestured to a barista who stood by an open table. "Potential witness #1."
Ted recognized the girl as a Treasure High alum from the previous year. Despite the fact that she was at least two years older, the barista was in a losing battle with her attempt to suppress several girlish squeals. "Oh my gosh." She almost knocked over one of the chairs as she tried to pull it out. "Ted, here's a table for... can I get you something... I just can't."
The girl started to turn away in embarrassment when Natalie took her arm. "Would you be interested in sitting at a table with the one and only Ted Finley?"
The sound that came out of the barista's mouth scared Ted. He could best describe it as the midpoint between a tire screeching and a dog's squeaky toy.
"I... I would love that."
It took a minute for the girl to stop hyperventilating, allowing the crowd to settle as the espresso smell wafted over. When the barista calmed down, Ted cut to the chase.
"This girl." Ted presented a picture of Erica on his phone. "She was here yesterday. Can you remember if she was with anyone?"
The barista's eyes showed that she recognized Erica, but she wasn't very interested in answering the question. "You know, it's great to date someone your own age, but you can learn a lot more from an older girl."
Ted felt the barista's leg touch his underneath the table, rubbing up against him and causing his cheeks to go from peach to bright red. It took a fair bit of willpower for him to push it away.
"Erica's an old soul." Ted put the phone back in his pocket.
"Really old." Natalie leaned back in her chair, aware of the physical flirting going on. "Like, nursing home old."
Ted kicked his shoe into Natalie's. "Can you please answer the question?"
The barista told them that Erica was in there with an older guy the previous day. "I was in the back when a whole bunch of weird stuff started to happen."
"What kind of weird–"
"People were saying stuff at the same time. They didn't have control of their own bodies. It was...."
"Weird." Natalie looked at Ted. "Sounds like what happened to Beth." She put her attention back on the girl. "Do you guys have a security tape or something?"
The barista contorted her face and looked like she was about to cry. "We – we looked for it yesterday. We were going to try to post the weirdness online. But then we erased it. It wasn't by accident – it was like we didn't remember doing it."
After the barista made a last-ditch pitch for him to go on an "extra-long date" with her, Ted and Natalie exited the coffee shop, smoothies in hand. They walked a block or so until they found a secluded-enough bench for them to talk in private.
"She was nice." Natalie took an extended sip of her drink and smiled.
"Can we focus here?" Ted put his hand on the bench, accidentally grazing Natalie's. He pulled it away and felt himself starting to blush again. "I... so... Erica was here with some guy."
"Erica and older guys don't mix." Natalie didn't blink.
Ted attempted to ignore her. "We need to figure out what Beth and Erica have in common."
Natalie took another sip. "They're both sluts. Or at least they were."
Ted let out an exasperated groan and stood up, kicking the concrete base of the side of a building.
"Come on, Natalie!" He turned to face her. "My girlfriend – and my partner in all of this inter-dimensional insanity – is gone, maybe for good. There's something going on that I can't explain. Plus, I just saved you from a creepy cult's headquarters. Can't you stop cracking jokes for one second?"
Natalie's smile turned back to neutral. She stood up to meet Ted's gaze. "I'm sorry."
Ted didn't know what he expected from his ex, but he knew from experience that sincere apologies like this one were rare.
"I'm lost with this stuff. What do we do now?"
Natalie paced in the opposite direction. "We should call the sheriff. Maybe he knows something we don't."
Ted agreed, though he dreaded the call. Dhiraj had sworn Ted to secrecy about Jennifer's whereabouts. Before the GHA meeting, Ted had ignored Sheriff Norris' call in an attempt to avoid lying. He took a deep breath and dialed the number.
"Ted." The sheriff seemed frantic over the phone. "Jennifer is missing, I need to–"
"She's safe." Ted hoped Dhiraj wouldn't disown him as a friend for sharing part of the secret. "I know she's with Dhiraj and he's trying to help her, but I don't know all the details."
The sheriff was silent on the other line. All Ted could hear was his shallow breaths.
"That's all I know about that, Sheriff, but we're in a crisis here too. Did Erica tell you about any kind of–"
"She met with your teacher." The sheriff's tone of worry had completely gone. It was replaced by pure rage. "Redican. Good luck." Sheriff Norris hung up.
"What'd he say?" Natalie asked.
"Two things. I think Dhiraj is a dead man. And the bad guy might be Mr. Redican."
"The sub?"
Ted looked around the alley. "Beth and Erica are both in his class. So am I."
He didn't understand. Redican seemed to be one of the only teachers who cared that they learned anything.
Ted felt a deep pit in his stomach. "We need to get somewhere safe before he does the same thing to us."
They tossed their empty smoothie cups in the garbage and ran back to the parking lot. Natalie hit the unlock button on her key ring. Instead of hearing the clicking sound of the locks, something different happened completely. Natalie's car vanished, leaving an empty parking space.
Natalie looked around in every direction. "What the hell?"
"Language," a voice said from across the lot.
Ted and Natalie looked back to see Mr. Redican walking toward them.
"Hello, children."
34
When Jennifer let the shot ring out, nearly every part of her cried out to end Daly's life. Only, she didn't kill him. The bullet blazed through the air beside Daly's face and clipped his ear.
The murderer dropped to the ground and clutched the side of his head. He cursed her out with every dirty word she'd ever heard and some that she hadn't.
Jennifer felt numb as she watched the man squirm on the ground. Dhiraj came up to her side and touched her arm. She hadn't realized that she was still pointing the gun where Daly had been standing.
Dhiraj's voice wavered as he spoke. "Are you OK?"
Jennifer nodded, though she wasn't as sure as her head indicated. "Call the cops. Call my dad."
The local police arrived within the next few minutes. When they got there, Jennifer showed them the multiple warrants out for Daly's arrest. They said they'd need to question her about her tactics, but she was free to go for now. Jennifer sat in a daze on the trunk of her car. Everything that had consumed her the last few months was gone in an instant.
She didn't get nearly as much relief as she'd hoped for.
Jennifer had forgotten about her second request to Dhiraj, until he came up to her about as pale as she'd ever seen him.
"It's your dad." Dhiraj shook as he handed her the phone. "He's not quiet."
Jennifer prepared herself for the worst. She watched Dhiraj walk away to the far side of the lot before she spoke. "Hey, Dad. I got him."
Sheriff Norris paused for a moment on the other line. Then she heard the sound of tears flowing and a hearty sniffle.
"You had me so worried, honey." The sheriff blew his nose into a tissue. "I thought about Erica and search parties. And autopsies. You shouldn't have done that to me."
Jennifer hopped off the car and sat down on a curb as she watched Dhiraj pace from afar. "I know. He's a murderer, Dad. He killed her."
"And he could've killed you. How do you think that would've made us feel? You have people who love you, Jen."
Jennifer caught Dhiraj staring at her. He quickly turned aw
ay when their eyes met. "I know, Dad. I'm sorry." She took in a deep breath. "It's over now."
Her dad sighed. "I wish that were true. You two should get back to town."
As Jennifer finished the call, she thought back on all her previous relationships with boys. She wondered if any of them would've gone to the lengths that Dhiraj had to keep her alive and safe. Her partner in crime was checking his phone when she walked up to him.
"Why didn't you call the cops when you got loose from the car?"
Dhiraj put his phone into his pocket. "You needed this." He stood up and walked to within a foot of her. "It was stupid and you could've gotten yourself killed, but it was obviously something you felt you had to do. Who am I to deprive you of that?"
Jennifer closed the distance between them. "That's a good question, Dhiraj. Who are you?"
Dhiraj squinted. "I'm... I'm your friend. Friends help friends heal."
Jennifer put her arms around Dhiraj's neck. She could feel him twitch from the contact, but she had no desire to pull away. "I've never really dated a friend."
Dhiraj gently put one hand on Jennifer's midsection. "I've heard good things. There was this whole piece in GQ about–"
Jennifer stopped his sentence with her lips. She'd spent the last few months kissing whomever was interested in helping her cope with the pain, as long as they could get something in return. This was different. Dhiraj didn't want anything other than her happiness. She could feel the difference when he began to kiss her back. She let herself enjoy the moment and felt a peace wash over her. When she pulled away to catch her breath, she didn't see a hallucination of the man she'd been hunting. All she saw was the pure bliss on Dhiraj's face. His joy made her feel light and bouncy.
She pulled him in tight for a hug. "I've got an important question for you."
Dhiraj gave Jennifer a short kiss on her neck. "If you're going to ask if I'd like to do that again, the answer is yes."
She giggled. "Actually, I wanted to see if you'd go with me to prom tomorrow."
Dhiraj moved back to look into her eyes. She swore she saw a firework go off in his brain. "Prom? I'd need to get my tux refitted." Dhiraj started speaking faster and faster with every passing word. "And get a matching tie. I think I know someone who can get us a limo at a good deal. Can we reserve corsages 24 hours ahead of time?"
