Post by Moonlit on Oct 22, 2009 18:14:25 GMT -5
I know this isn't the one I told you about, but this is one of my long term projects and I've been working on it all month. Hope you like it! (just so you know, if anyone tries to copy this and steal my idea I will personaly hunt you down and slaughter you. I worked really hard on this and eventually I wanna try and publish this)
Chapter 1:
Flashback
It was early morning. 8:00. I glanced around the house for the something to do. I mean other than cleaning. My gaze settled on the bookshelf where my high school yearbook was sitting. Why not?
Half the people I didn’t remember, much less recognize. Don’t know. Don’t know. Oh, Kate Denther. Don’t know… I stopped at one picture. The girl was about 15 with slightly curly brown hair and big green eyes. Sara Beth. For some reason, even though we had barely spoken I remembered her more than some of my closest friends. Huh. Funny how life is. I closed my eyes as a memory flashed in my head.
"Ugh, Its Sara Beth." Zoey glared at the brown haired girl named Sara Beth like she had offended her.
"Aw, she’s not doing anything." Link, a tall, sandy haired boy said, stabbing his lunch. Zoey gave him a dirty look before returning to her pizza.
"So, Lauren, what'd you get on the test? I got an 76." She looked so pleased with herself.
"94." The frown on her face gave me the satisfaction I was looking for.
"Nerd." She muttered, retreating into silence. I'd made her look stupid in front of her crush, Jamie, a seriously cute guy with dark hair, who played on the football team with Link. I wondered if the guy was stupid enough to actually like her. Zoey treated her boyfriends horribly and almost everyone knew it.
Impatiently, I waited for the clock to finally get to the stupid twelve so I could get away from Zoey. It was just bad luck that she had decided to sit at my table, or maybe it was Jamie. Finally, it was late enough for me to leave her annoying chatter behind and get to math class, which, amazingly, was better than her.
Three periods later I drove my car back to my house. My mom wasn't home yet but a message from David waited for me. Lucky guy got home earlier than me because he went to another school. One of my mom's e-mails distracted me. It was about Sara Beth. Okay, I didn't like her at all. She was probably the most beautiful girl at in school but she didn't do a thing with it. The girl just sat there, she ate her lunch silently, just staring at the window, or at one of us. Her gaze seemed to actually hurt, if she happened to be looking at you, you couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. It was like she had seen all of the sadness of the world, and as if she could see part of it in you. Ug, it made you want to run in the other direction.
I'm worried about Sara Beth. Sara Beth's mother had written. Well, if I were her mother I would be worried too. She hasn't made any friends and she just seems so distant ever since her father's death. That was new; I hadn't known her father was dead. And then my mom had started a reply;
Well, I don't really know what to say. I have met a lot of the girls and they are all very nice. Maybe she isn't ready to trust again, after what her first set of friends did to her... There could be a lot of reasons, but I think that you should just give Sara Beth some time for her heart to heal herself, the death of her brother was an awful thing, so was her father's murder and her friends betrayal. Though I feel for her, I don't think I can help you much more.
Talk about confusing. I hadn't known that Sara Beth's brother had died, and her father had been murdered? It occurred to me that Sara Beth had never talked much. Sometimes a hello, but we had never encouraged her to open up, it wasn't a surprise that we didn't know anything about her.
David's message blinked impatiently at me, waiting to be listened to. Putting the e-mail out of my mind, I listened to his message. He wanted me to meet him at the swamp. Okay, it wasn't really a swamp, it was more of a bunch of soggy trees around a puddle, but that was what we called it. Looking sorrowfully at my way to heavy backpack (ugh, homework), I tugged on my boots, which I had bought especially for our swamp expeditions. Of course, I always stopped before I got anywhere near the dirty water and mud, but David’s risks were too good to miss.
"Hey!" The very tall form of David greeted me as he waited outside of the very wet looking swamp.
"Hey." My greeting fell flat as I looked at the waterlogged swamp.
He grinned mischievously. "Aw, your not scared of a little water are you?"
"David, that’s not a little water. That is a very very big pond on steroids." David managed to look stern even though it was clear that he was fighting the urge to laugh at me.
"I didn't know you were such a wimp."
"I'm not!" Dang it.
"Yeah right." He strutted into the swamp, looking incredibly thingyy for a puny ninth grader.
"Fine." I trudged after him, disliking how my boots sunk into the mud.
"Look Lauren!" I groaned when I saw him balancing on a very high branch, grinning down at me like an idiot. Of coarse, every time I came down he loved to flaunt his inhuman ability to do any stunt he could come up with while I still couldn't balance on anything that wasn't the ground, and sometimes not even that.
After a half an hour it started raining again and he finally agreed to go inside. My mom had promised to make his favorite type of cookies (peanut butter) so we headed to my house. The warm smell of baking cookies greeted us as we trudged into the house, dripping water all over the carpet. Thank goodness my mom was so nice about that kind of stuff.
David nearly ran into the kitchen to get at those cookies while I took my time. Again, the ominous backpack demanded my attention and I promised myself that I would do it later. Finally, when I was mostly dry, I walked into the kitchen, which was very warm and inviting; to see my friend gulping down cookies so fast that he probably burned his throat raw in the process. David was a sucker for my mom's cookies.
Twenty billion cookies later David left and I could finally ask my mom about Sara Beth. No, I don't particularly like her (who does?) but I was curious.
"Mom?" She looked up from washing her dishes, waiting for me to continue. "Er, I saw your email to Sara Beth's mom..." I steeled myself for a reprimand but she only sighed mournfully.
"Her story is a very sad one."
I shifted uncomfortably, "I sorta figured that out myself."
"You shouldn't be reading my e-mails."
“You shouldn’t have left it open.” She glanced at me reprovingly. "Er, I didn't get most of it, how did her brother and dad die?"
My mom frowned. "That’s not your business." Sheesh, was she gonna tell me or not?
"Its not..." I agreed carefully, wondering if she was going to tell me or not.
"Her little brother was murdered in front of her own eyes." Her green eyes were sadder, almost like when she lost a patient at the hospital, she beat herself up over it pretty badly every time, but she would always bounce back, trying to help another patient. Thankfully, she healed most of them or our house would be very depressing. I sstared out the window uncomfortable, imagining a dark scene. I didn't like it much. "And her father was a pilot, his plane was destroyed by terrorists." I could see that she really felt sorry for Sara Beth. And in a way, I sort of did to. Not that I actually liked her.
"That’s horrible." I murmured unnecessarily, she already knew that it was horrible without my help.
She nodded, hugging me tightly. "I want you to be very nice to her, she isn't very comfortable around people her age."
"That’s another thing, her friends betrayed her?"
"They were spreading rumors about her. Not nice ones. That is why I want you to be nice to her. She came here to make a new start, to make friends, and neither you nor your friends are making anything easier for her. Can you do that for me?" Sadly, I nodded, imagining my friend’s bewilderment when I started being nice to a girl who, in their eyes, and to some degree in mine, was a freak.
I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling. "Ah." I groaned. The memory was a bitter taste in my throat. I missed my house, my neighborhood, my friends, and David, more than I imagined I would. Of course, I didn't have the money I needed to move, and John, my husband who was currently making breakfast, hated snow and New Hampshire. He was not up or going anywhere near my hometown especially since my mom and dad had moved to California so we didn't have any reason to visit the town.
My thoughts drifted back to Sara Beth. I had completely forgotten about her. And I wanted it to stay that way. I didn't need to think about her so I didn't. Not until I walked into the coffee place a block away. "A tall mint cappuccino, please." Sitting down I began to look at some of my papers, which I still had to read, until...
"Sara Beth?" That girl was sitting right next to me, and she looked at me with as much surprise as I felt.
Chapter Two
Coincidents Suck
"Why are you following me?" I demanded, annoyed just because she was here.
"Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm following you." She snapped, looking seriously mad at me. Immediately I backed up, when had she gotten so grouchy, I hadn’t meant to do anything
"Okay. Er... sorry." Holding up my hands in a sign of peace. "You caught me by surprise."
"No, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." The waiter guy handed me a cup of coffee and I drank some of it gratefully. Ug, I really needed that after the horrible morning. Was I still dreaming? I only wished.
"Er, its okay. And since when have you started talking?" I blurt out the stupid question without thinking. I was an idiot. I deserved to be kept in solitary until I killed any self-respect I still had here and now.
She didn't talk immediately, but she didn't start yelling either. "Since I decided that I wasn't going to let people run over me."
I was so glad she didn’t yell at me and give everyone in the coffee place a reason to stare at me that I almost forgot about the answer. "Um, okay then."
Obviously making an effort to be friendly she started talking again. "Where are you working?"
"AT&T." She nodded. "And you?" She looked embarrassed, and something else. I couldn't quite identify it, but something was wrong.
"I work at a in a restaurant." I didn't press her for details; she obviously didn’t want to tell me.
"So, you’re married now?" How did she know that? She seemed to realize that she had said something wrong. "You are, aren't you?" How did she know? I had only just um, re-met her? Right?
"Er... yeah. John Kent."
"So your Mrs. Kent?"
` "Yeah." We sat in silence for a while. Sara Beth opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but closed it with a hard look in her eyes. Her cell phone started ringing and she glanced at the text message.
"I have to go." I nodded and she walked out of the coffee place, looking harried. Gulping down the rest of my coffee, I walked out of the store, a little lightheaded. The clouds were a depressing blue-grey and everything seemed to take on a faded tint. The ground was wet and I reminded myself to buy an umbrella sometime today. My thoughts returned to Sara Beth, maybe it was just me (and it probably was) but something seemed off about her. I thought I saw her slightly-curly brown hair in the middle of a very crowded looking shop but it wasn't her. Just me being paranoid, again.
I decided to go to the mall, I needed a new red sweater and I had hours until I had to meet John. He had promised to make dinner so I got kicked out while he tried to cook. Someone with short-cut auburn hair stepped out in front of me.
"Lauren! How is John's cooking attempt going?" She laughed at the inside joke.
"He hasn't called me yet so I guess he's doing okay." Joni laughed again and pulled a violent pink and green shirt out of her bag.
"Its nice." I pretended to examine it more closely. Over the years I had gotten good at pretending to admire the crazy things she bought. Lenny appeared at her shoulder. "Hi Lenny." Her boyfriend was amazingly good with putting up with my friend’s shopping trips.
"Hey, were seeing Quarantine, do you want to come?" I shuddered, Joni and Lenny loved scary movies but they freaked me out.
"No, I have to get home, John is cooking dinner and I have to make sure he didn't set our house on fire." He laughed and they left me to go home alone. It was raining and no, I had not bought the umbrella yet. So when I got to my car I was soaked and getting the newly cleaned seats all wet to. I was late so I rushed home and hurried into my house, still wet. "Hey!" I called.
` "What are you doing?! How can you possibly eat dinner while your wet, or are we eating in the pool?" He asked playfully, giving me a quick kiss.
"Let me dry off, and then we'll eat." I murmured through the kiss.
"No umbrella." He observed, looking like he was hiding laughter. "Haven't you been meaning to buy one for the past year?" I didn't answer, not wanting to encourage him.
Amazingly, the dinner, some kind of fish, was really good. "How did you make this?"
"Old recipe."
"No food network?"
He laughed, "Do you really doubt me that much?"
"This is great." I mumbled around a mouthful of the fish, "And I don't doubt you, just your questionable cooking skills." I corrected, pointing my fork at him.
Honestly, why hadn't he made this before? Last time he had attempted to make an odd combination of beef and lettuce and some other vegetables, which I didn't know the name for. The funny looking orange thing had made me sick and he had agreed to stop making it even though for some reason he'd liked it.
John laughed and continued eating, asking about my day, filling me in on his week in Washington (no not the capital, the very cold and rainy state. Nothing against the people who live there of course, New Hampshire is like that too.) I had gone on his trip last time and found it very boring.
"Thanks or cooking, this is delicious." He grunted in reply and started handing me dishes so I could wash the food off them before putting them in the dish washer. "Do you have to go away again this week?" John had to travel almost every week, leaving on Monday and coming back on Friday or Thursday. Each week it was somewhere new and he would bring me back a little souvenir from each place.
"Yeah, Arizona. But next week I get to stay home."
"That’s good." I smiled, focusing on the bright point in the future. The one thing I hated about his very well paying and reliable job was that he had to travel.
"Uh-huh."
When I woke up in the morning John was already gone. His flight left early so that left me here alone. Of course I had work. Forcing myself to get up, I shoveled down some cereal and soon I was heading out. The ground was damp from all of the rain but the sky was a nice blue color. And I guess I should have known but I almost run into Sara Beth. "Ugh, are you stalking me or something?" The annoyed look was back.
"Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm stalking you." I nodded, not wanting to make her mad again.
"Hey, where are you staying?" Oh, ug, why was I still talking to her? If I was smart at all I would just stop talking and walk away.
"Ivy Hills Apartments."
"Wow, they are really expensive."
Her eyes flickered with something I couldn't name, again. "Yeah, well, I’ve been saving up for a while and I wanted to get a really nice place." Either I was paranoid or something sounded false. But why would she lie about where she lived? Maybe I was losing it.
"Um, do you want to come over and go get some food? You can bring John and I can bring my date." She looked at me hopefully.
I really should have just said no but I sorta felt sorry for her. "Um, okay then, but John’s not here, he’s on a business trip.” I stared at the ground. Would she think that my John didn’t care about me enough to stay? To my relief she was still smiling. Acting like I had said nothing weird. Which, I guess I really hadn’t, just me being overly sensitive.
Is seven okay? I have work." She looked slightly happier.
"That’s fine, see you then." Quickly she gave me directions and left me alone on the sidewalk wondering if I would survive tonight. Well, I was an idiot.
Work passed quickly because that stupid clock that always moves so slowly just hates me and decided that today was the day that it was going to move faster. Even though I spent the whole day doing paperwork that always seems to make everything turn grey and boring. At lunch Lisa trotted into my office. The thing about Lisa is that she never calms down. She does everything about twice as fast as any sane person.
“Lauren! I just wanted to ask you something.” All of this she said really fast. “I just wanted to ask you about your Husband, John. He never really comes with you to any of the events and I wanted to know if everything was alright between you.”
Honestly. Had my relationship with John just become the focal point of everyone? I had gone from slightly tired and a tiny bit annoyed to angry in about 2 seconds.
“Yes, Lisa.” I growled through my teeth. “We’re doing just fine.” As happy and clueless as ever (did she just go through life so fast that she couldn’t notice peoples emotions, only their relationship issues? How did that even work??) Lisa nodded and trotted right back out the door.
Feeling like I should vent I groaned. Life just wasn’t fair right now. A few minutes later the door opened. I almost threw him out but it was my boss so of course I didn’t. But it was close.
All to soon, it was six forty and I was driving to Sara Beth's house. I was so fed up with my tiny cramped office (no, I am not claustrophobic, thanks very much) I was almost glad to be leaving. Almost. I took a deep breath and parked in Sara Beth’s driveway. Hugging myself against the cold and very glad I was wearing my new red sweater (see! I do plan ahead, just… not well.) Feeling as if I was jumping off a very high and scary mountain I rang the doorbell.
Chapter 3
Skewered
After a few minuets Sara Beth answered, looking nearly as awkward as I felt. "Um, hi." She opened the door wider, inviting me in.
"Hi." Her house was nice. There was a thick white carpet with crimson walls and a goldish tan couch and chair that faced an expensive TV.
"It looks really nice." Sara Beth nodded, her face tense.
"Do you want to leave now? Er, is your date here?" It sounded like an awkward question, maybe did I make it sound like I though he wasn’t coming?
“He will be here soon.”
Silence ensued. I let my eyes wander around her living room, searching desperately for something to talk about.
“So, what did you do when you got out of high school?”
Sara Beth blinked and looked over at me in surprise. What? Had she forgotten I was there?
She laughed at my worried reaction. “Its okay. I went to college and got married.”
I must have looked pretty surprised because she returned to staring at the floor.
“If you were married then why are you still dating?” I blurt out stupidly. Then I wanted to kick myself for putting my foot in my mouth. Wonderful way to start a conversation.
“He’s dead.” She muttered bluntly.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry!” Sara Beth didn’t answer.
"Are you okay?" I asked quietly, but she nodded so I went back to silence. Suddenly a fat grey cat with a shredded ear rubbed against her leg. "This is Jasper, my...dad rescued him from an animal shelter in Taiwan." Her voice only hesitated for a half a second when her dad came up and I suddenly felt very very sad for her.
"He's adorable." I scartched Jasper behind his intact ear. He purred and rubbed his cheek against my hand.
"Wow, he likes you, that’s unusual." Jasper seemed to get bored with me and strutted out of the room. Sara Beth smiled adoringly at his retreating figure.
The doorbell rang and Sara Beth went to Ian Michael was several inches taller than me with well-muscled arms and brown hair. He smiled good-humouredly at me.
“So your Lauren, hi.”
“Um, hi.” It was awkward for a few minutes.
"Do you want to get lunch then?" Ian asked.
`Sara Beth smiled, "Sure, where do you want to go?" she asked me.
"Anywhere you like is fine with me." Honestly, I wasn't very hungry and there weren't very many restaurants I didn't like.
"Is Olive Garden okay with you?"
"Olive garden is great." I agreed, smiling and hopefully getting Sara Beth to relax. "Do you want me to drive?"
She shook her head and smiled wryly, almost as if I was missing a joke. "That wouldn't be very nice of me, would it, Ill drive if you don't mind." I agreed and she led me to her car. Her expensive car. I had to find out what restaurant she worked in because if she had enough money for that thing then the must have been paying her a lot.
One amazing car ride later we were at Olive Garden. The restaurant was almost empty so we got a table quickly and soon we were ordering. Again, Sara Beth looked like she was enjoying a private joke. "What?" I asked, perplex, was I missing something? Ian smiled and laughed. Apparently he was in on the joke.
"I get almost the same thing here every time, I guess I should get different things this time, huh." She smiled and I laughed too.
"Maybe." I answered just as a waiter asked us what we wanted. "The soup of the day, please." I said politely and the waiter turned to Sara Beth.
"Can I have the tuna salad please?" The waiter nodded and walked away.
"What do you usually get?" I asked, curious.
She smiled again, "Usually I get the mushroom ravioli, but I thought I would try something new."
When the waiter finally arrived with our food I was hungry, the product of waiting in a room filled with the smell of delicious food. Sara Beth eyed her food warily. "Scared?" I asked playfully. Ian widened his eyes in mock horror. “What? My Girlfriend scared? Never.”
She shook her head and took a big bite, smiling. "Nope."
Amazingly, I had had a lot of fun. But now I still had the rest of the day alone. John was gone and Joni was going out to the city with her boyfriend. Sigh, I was all alone.
To put off being lonely I made dinner much more complicated than it usually was. John would eat the left-overs when he got back. Cheery Christmas songs played on the radio as I worked cutting up colorful vegetables and preparing meat and cheese for the lasagna. I had been surprised that Christmas was only a week away. John called a few minuets before dinner was finished cooking. He said that he was fine and had just wanted to talk. Apparently, he and some of his friends from work were going to see a Michigan game that was in Seattle. "Go blue!" I cheered jokingly and he laughed. He knew I wasn't that in to football. "Stay safe." He murmured in farewell.
"I always do." I teased. "Love you." And went back to cooking.
It was a lot of fun to be playing tennis, even thought I hadn't played in years. We had gone to a game and since the court was empty afterwards Sara Beth had magically produced tennis rackets and suggested we play against Ian and one of his friends. I was horrible but Sara Beth had amazing reflexes so we were doing well. "What are you thinking about?" She asked suddenly and I realised that I hadn't said anything for a while.
"John's in Seattle."
"You miss him." She said quietly, her face unreadable. She was focusing on a point on the other side of the ring so I couldn't see most of her face.
"Very much." Sara Beth nodded, and I noticed her hands clench into fists. Then I realized that she wasn;’t married yet. "Do you want to be married?" Stupid. I blurt out the first idiotic thing that came to mind. Her hands clenched tighter and I saw the pain in her green eyes when she looked at me.
"No. Its to early. Im just not ready to go that far. After, you know." Oh. Well, that explained a lot. Dang, I was an idiot.
"Oh, Sara Beth, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." She smiled sadly at me and promptly a ball came bouncing at her and she whacked it onto the other side of the court.
"No, its okay. He died five years ago in a bad car crash. It broke my heart but I think I'm getting over it." From the look on her face she was not getting over it. Five years. Wow, she must have really loves the guy.
"You miss your dad too." Again, when would I learn to just shut the heck up? Sara Beth looked even sadder, almost like a lost puppy.
"Very very much." She didn't ask how I knew, but maybe she had already known.
"I'm sorry."
Sara Beth smiled wryly, "You are doing a lot of apologizing for things that aren't you fault." She joked thought she still looked sad.
"Sorry." I said automatically and Sara Beth laughed.
"Not your fault." We continued playing and soon Sara Beth suggested that we leave, it was hot and I was thirsty so I was glad to follow her and leave. Cheerily, Ian and his friend (Can’t remember his name, Ken I though…) followed cheerfully but they didn’t come with us, apparently Ian had got god tickets to a hockey game.
John called again that night. I told her all about Sara
Beth and he seemed happy that I had someone to be with while he was gone. "I would like to meet her. Love you."
"Love you too." The phone clicked when he hung up.
Months passed. Hanging out with Sara Beth became a regular thing, sometimes John or Joni and her boyfriend joined us, but mostly they had other things to do. As January ended, I noticed Sara Beth get distracted. She looked sad most of the time and when I would say certain things she would flinch away or pain would flash across her face. Little things. It wasn't hard for me to convince myself that it was nothing.
"Hey Sara Beth, your band is having a concert soon." For as long as I had known her she had always remained loyal to one band so we always refer to it as her band.
"Thats great! When?" Her face lit up and I smiled.
"Not to long, a few weeks."
Her face was unreadable. "I don't think Ill be going, I have... plans."
"You don't want to go?" My face showed my disbelief. Sara Beth would kill for concert tickets and she was turning down an easily accessible concert?
"No no, I would love to, but... I can't." She smiled sadly, green eyes unreadable.
I sighed. It was almost like the first day, so many things I didn't understand... But it was nothing; Sara Beth had plans, just like she said. I was an idiot, trying to see some big problem where there wasn't one.
That was yesterday. Today I was sick. I had a terrible headache and stomachache. Sara Beth had called twice but I hadn't felt like getting the phone. Already I had taken pain medicine but that hadn't helped. Weakly, I wished that John was there, but he was in Chicago, most likely watching some game. I hadn't called him yet, of course I would be better soon. I hoped. A glass of water stood beside my head on a nightstand and the TV was playing a Simpson's rerun. My body hurt too much for me to pay attention thought it sounded like a funny one. Ugh. I just wanted the pain to stop. Time dragged on and no sign of the sickness weakening came to me.
When John called the next day I felt well enough to answer the phone. At once he offered to come home, (See!! He does care! Take that Lisa!) but I turned him down. I was already feeling better. And yesterday I had dragged (you don’t know how close it came to literally dragging myself) myself to the doctor’s and gotten some real medicine. Why it worked I didn’t know, it was the same as the stuff I’d ALREADY taken, but after about 5 hours of arguing John agreed to stay and I went back to sleep.
And two days later I finally felt better. I called work and told them that I would be working tomorrow. My co-workers sounded very happy; we always had to much work to handle, even when everyone was there. I called Sara Beth and John to, a few hours in I had caved and called him again for moral support. He had wanted (again) to fly back but I had told him to stay (again), apparently I had sounded as bad as I had felt. John was happy that I was better but Sara Beth hadn't answered. I decided to go to her house; I didn't have anything better to do. Getting in the car was a job. For some reason the engine had quit and I had to go to the neighbors and find someone who was home, and then someone who at least had jumpstart cables. Somehow I spent an hour doing this. Some lady held me hostage at her house for half an hour while she rummaged through old Christmas and Halloween boxes for the cables while she rambled on about cars in her day. The good old ones that were as dependable as rocks and never quit, the same good old ones that went only two miles an hour.
Suddenly I stopped the car. A bright orange color had caught my eye. I pulled over and got out. Walking down the alley, I wondered what I was doing. Then I saw something lying on the road of the alley. When I got closer I saw the scarlet liquid flooding from it. The liquid was blood. And it was Sara Beth.
Chapter 4
Life Ended
My fingers trembled as I reached down to touch the body. It was cold. Frightened, I drew back my fingers. As if it were all a dream I dialed 911. “There’s been a murder.” My voice sounded cold and distant to my numbed brain. Quickly I gave them the address before hanging up.
My brain just couldn’t catch up to the present. She’s dead. She’s dead. How could she be dead? My mind repeated, still shocked. How could this even happen to me?
It reminded me of those car crash videos they showed teens about how bad alcohol was. Every person that got up there and told their story had said that they hadn’t thought it would happen to them, but it did and could happen to you to. Well you were pretty much asking for it on that one, but this was different. This was my life, not some fantasy story where everyone dies left and right. Didn’t some authors like to open up stories with a murder, their method to grab the reader’s attention quick before they get bored and throw the book in the trash?
When I closed my eyes I could still remember the last time I had seen her. Her image burned into the back of my eyelids. So real it was hard to believe she was dead, even if the truth was sprawled on the ground in front of me.
The corpse was mangled, as if she’d been stabbed. I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was her if it weren’t for the hair. I sank to the ground. The concrete was wet and tangled rivers of blood clawed their way from the body. The body. The word screamed on my lips and clawed my insides.
If some random kid had asked me to describe our police department for a survey somewhere around the time of yesterday, I probably would have described them somewhere along the lines of hard-working and efficient. If they were to ask me tomorrow I probably would have said something like agonizingly slow.
My internal clock ticked the seconds by like minutes and each tick, though probably completely off, brought me deeper into pain. Some sarcastic voice inside me asked if I was really going to kneel besides a dead body for the next hour while the police took their time getting here.
I checked my watch for a distraction. 3:43. Time that passed: a whopping 1 and a half minutes. I was really being tortured here.
The police came about 2 minutes later. To be fair, the police station was far away and it was pretty tiny. All of them had probably been half way across town busting some bank robber or something.
They found me kneeling on the ground a few feet away from Sara Beth- Sara Beth’s body. One of them with an Iron Man mustache gave me a small smile and led me to the police car. Did I mention that the police station was short on funds to? There were two cops to a car so I had to sit in the back behind the metal screen. Watching myself behind the screen in the mirror wasn’t very pleasant.
At first the other cop, this one had thick bristly hair that stuck out everywhere and one green and one blue eye, kept asking me questions. Every time he opened his mouth Iron Man Guy (I think his name was Chris, but I don’t want to call him the wrong name) shot him (this one’s name was Anton. The only reason I actually remembered it was because he kept telling me over and over again.) a disapproving look. I silently thanked Iron Man Guy but it took Anton most of the 30 minute car ride to catch on that maybe the poor person who just found the body of her best friend might want some quiet time. I think the reason he realized this was because I started crying when he asked how I’d met Sara Beth. Such charm, such tact. I should totally ask him on a date, never mind the fact that I was married and that I thought he was about as sweet as my cousin. (her name is Becka and I hope you never have to meet her. If you do, never ask her about Carl, Smith, Jack, Devin, or Bethany. Especially Bethany. The boys are ex boyfriends and Bethany is the one Devin went off with when he dumped her a few days after proposing to her. It turned out that he had been cheating on her for the last seven months. Never mind that Becka deserved to be dumped in their second week.) Thinking about Becka cheered me up. A bit. It was nice to think about someone else’s problems for a bit.
When we reached the police station reality had finally shoved its way into my skull. I was at a police station and they were going to interrogate me and try and figure out if I was the murderer. I tilted my head back to keep from puking all over the leather seats. I quietly started swearing under my breath.
Despite all odds the hard-core interrogation wasn’t that bad. I got cookies and the guy asking the questions seemed to already know that is wasn’t me. After all, my DNA and fingerprints were nowhere near the body or the weapons of choice. I thanked my lucky stars I had been to wimpy to actually touch the body. So with about five frosted cookies we trooped back to the car. Making myself comfortable, I geared myself up for another looong car ride. I wonder at who thought it would be a good idea to have only one under-budget police station in a a huge suburb that took about an hour to get through, with traffic and rain and all of that stuff.
Oops. I think Iron Man Guy just asked me which one my house was. “What?” I would feel like a dork if I answered ‘That one.’ to a question about how I was or if I had known Sara Beth for long or something else.
“I wanted to know if you would be okay by yourself.” He looked at me through the mirror and I nodded mutely. He had these pretty hazel eyes. And he was cute, mustache and all. I shook my head. I was married, remember? Wishing for some hot police guy would not solve my problems. I leaned back, staring at the ceiling. I guess I looked either very weird or very stressed because I earned a worried look from the worried police guy and the way to interested and nosy look from Anton. I ignored them.
“That one’s mine, the one with the fat cat lying down like idiot on the driveway.” The police guys nodded and parked in front to the house. Iron Man Guy got out and opened my door. Apparently the back seats didn’t open from the inside. Very smart of the police car designer guy… whoever he was. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” He asked. I nodded again.
“My husband is in there. It’ll be fine.” I lied. I had no clue when he’d be back since he had told me that he would be gone longer than normal, but didn’t know when he’d be back.
“Maybe you should come back down to the police office, just so we can have a doctor looking at you, just to make sure your okay.” I backed away.
“N-no! I’m fine. Don’t worry.” My voice wobbled and sounded a little high pitched, a sure sign of sanity and perfect health.
“Okay then, just call us if you need any help.” He was talking very slowly with a calm voice. The kind of voice you would use when trying to convince and insane person not to jump off of the building.
“Okay then.” I replied, turning around and walking back to my house, nudging the neighbor’s cat, which was still on my driveway so he would get off of it before some concerned friend/neighbor/unwelcome, concerned colleague
(cough cough Lisa) decided to visit and ran over him. He shot me a nasty look and raced away as if I’d pointed a gun at him. Well, that’s the last time I try and help you. I thought.
Getting in took more trouble than I thought it would. My hands, still pale and trembling didn’t seem to be as capable as usual and kept dropping the key. I could consciously feel the stares of Iron Man Guy and Anton burning holes in my back. She is so not okay. I imagined them thinking. Finally the key went into the hole and turned the right way.
My empty home greeted my. The same exact way as it had been this morning. Horror crept up my throat. Knowing what was coming I dashed to the bathroom and puked up everything I had eaten, pink frosted cookies included.
An hour later I was still in the bathroom. Every few minutes gulping down water from this huge water bottle to rinse the taste out of my mouth. I wished I could rinse what I had seen out of my mind. I caught sight of myself in the mirror.
I groaned, I looked like a ghost, or some bad imitation of me from a horror movie. That fit. Since my life was becoming a horror movie I should at least look the part.
The next hour was spent taking the longest shower of any living person’s existence. I switched the water back and forth from burning to freezing washing my face again and again as tears streamed down my eyes. Sobs bubbled up from my throat as I lost it, loud to my ears but probably unnoticeable over the noise of the shower. When I got out my eyes were red bullet holes in a clean face.
Since I was in the mood for setting records today (most awkward conversation with police guys, world’s longest shower, most unconvincing lie when someone asked if I was fine) I took the longest nap without sleeping.
Half way through my stomach started yelling at me for being an irresponsible person and not feeding it properly. I had read lots of books where the main character stops eating for days when something terrible happens and then looks like this skinny ghost so the world can know what a horrible thing (filling the black) did to him/her. I didn’t want to look like a ghost, but I was hopping I could use this to jumpstart the next in a great line of failed diets. No suck luck. Apparently someone had forgot to inform my stomach that I was grieving and that that meant that eating was unacceptable. My stomach denied the logic and demanded food. And when I got up to eat I noticed that I had left the front door open. Yay. Now I had to worry about the few hundred dollars that had blown away in the wind strait to the heating company’s pockets, and the stupid annoying flies that accompanied open doors.
Chapter 1:
Flashback
It was early morning. 8:00. I glanced around the house for the something to do. I mean other than cleaning. My gaze settled on the bookshelf where my high school yearbook was sitting. Why not?
Half the people I didn’t remember, much less recognize. Don’t know. Don’t know. Oh, Kate Denther. Don’t know… I stopped at one picture. The girl was about 15 with slightly curly brown hair and big green eyes. Sara Beth. For some reason, even though we had barely spoken I remembered her more than some of my closest friends. Huh. Funny how life is. I closed my eyes as a memory flashed in my head.
"Ugh, Its Sara Beth." Zoey glared at the brown haired girl named Sara Beth like she had offended her.
"Aw, she’s not doing anything." Link, a tall, sandy haired boy said, stabbing his lunch. Zoey gave him a dirty look before returning to her pizza.
"So, Lauren, what'd you get on the test? I got an 76." She looked so pleased with herself.
"94." The frown on her face gave me the satisfaction I was looking for.
"Nerd." She muttered, retreating into silence. I'd made her look stupid in front of her crush, Jamie, a seriously cute guy with dark hair, who played on the football team with Link. I wondered if the guy was stupid enough to actually like her. Zoey treated her boyfriends horribly and almost everyone knew it.
Impatiently, I waited for the clock to finally get to the stupid twelve so I could get away from Zoey. It was just bad luck that she had decided to sit at my table, or maybe it was Jamie. Finally, it was late enough for me to leave her annoying chatter behind and get to math class, which, amazingly, was better than her.
Three periods later I drove my car back to my house. My mom wasn't home yet but a message from David waited for me. Lucky guy got home earlier than me because he went to another school. One of my mom's e-mails distracted me. It was about Sara Beth. Okay, I didn't like her at all. She was probably the most beautiful girl at in school but she didn't do a thing with it. The girl just sat there, she ate her lunch silently, just staring at the window, or at one of us. Her gaze seemed to actually hurt, if she happened to be looking at you, you couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. It was like she had seen all of the sadness of the world, and as if she could see part of it in you. Ug, it made you want to run in the other direction.
I'm worried about Sara Beth. Sara Beth's mother had written. Well, if I were her mother I would be worried too. She hasn't made any friends and she just seems so distant ever since her father's death. That was new; I hadn't known her father was dead. And then my mom had started a reply;
Well, I don't really know what to say. I have met a lot of the girls and they are all very nice. Maybe she isn't ready to trust again, after what her first set of friends did to her... There could be a lot of reasons, but I think that you should just give Sara Beth some time for her heart to heal herself, the death of her brother was an awful thing, so was her father's murder and her friends betrayal. Though I feel for her, I don't think I can help you much more.
Talk about confusing. I hadn't known that Sara Beth's brother had died, and her father had been murdered? It occurred to me that Sara Beth had never talked much. Sometimes a hello, but we had never encouraged her to open up, it wasn't a surprise that we didn't know anything about her.
David's message blinked impatiently at me, waiting to be listened to. Putting the e-mail out of my mind, I listened to his message. He wanted me to meet him at the swamp. Okay, it wasn't really a swamp, it was more of a bunch of soggy trees around a puddle, but that was what we called it. Looking sorrowfully at my way to heavy backpack (ugh, homework), I tugged on my boots, which I had bought especially for our swamp expeditions. Of course, I always stopped before I got anywhere near the dirty water and mud, but David’s risks were too good to miss.
"Hey!" The very tall form of David greeted me as he waited outside of the very wet looking swamp.
"Hey." My greeting fell flat as I looked at the waterlogged swamp.
He grinned mischievously. "Aw, your not scared of a little water are you?"
"David, that’s not a little water. That is a very very big pond on steroids." David managed to look stern even though it was clear that he was fighting the urge to laugh at me.
"I didn't know you were such a wimp."
"I'm not!" Dang it.
"Yeah right." He strutted into the swamp, looking incredibly thingyy for a puny ninth grader.
"Fine." I trudged after him, disliking how my boots sunk into the mud.
"Look Lauren!" I groaned when I saw him balancing on a very high branch, grinning down at me like an idiot. Of coarse, every time I came down he loved to flaunt his inhuman ability to do any stunt he could come up with while I still couldn't balance on anything that wasn't the ground, and sometimes not even that.
After a half an hour it started raining again and he finally agreed to go inside. My mom had promised to make his favorite type of cookies (peanut butter) so we headed to my house. The warm smell of baking cookies greeted us as we trudged into the house, dripping water all over the carpet. Thank goodness my mom was so nice about that kind of stuff.
David nearly ran into the kitchen to get at those cookies while I took my time. Again, the ominous backpack demanded my attention and I promised myself that I would do it later. Finally, when I was mostly dry, I walked into the kitchen, which was very warm and inviting; to see my friend gulping down cookies so fast that he probably burned his throat raw in the process. David was a sucker for my mom's cookies.
Twenty billion cookies later David left and I could finally ask my mom about Sara Beth. No, I don't particularly like her (who does?) but I was curious.
"Mom?" She looked up from washing her dishes, waiting for me to continue. "Er, I saw your email to Sara Beth's mom..." I steeled myself for a reprimand but she only sighed mournfully.
"Her story is a very sad one."
I shifted uncomfortably, "I sorta figured that out myself."
"You shouldn't be reading my e-mails."
“You shouldn’t have left it open.” She glanced at me reprovingly. "Er, I didn't get most of it, how did her brother and dad die?"
My mom frowned. "That’s not your business." Sheesh, was she gonna tell me or not?
"Its not..." I agreed carefully, wondering if she was going to tell me or not.
"Her little brother was murdered in front of her own eyes." Her green eyes were sadder, almost like when she lost a patient at the hospital, she beat herself up over it pretty badly every time, but she would always bounce back, trying to help another patient. Thankfully, she healed most of them or our house would be very depressing. I sstared out the window uncomfortable, imagining a dark scene. I didn't like it much. "And her father was a pilot, his plane was destroyed by terrorists." I could see that she really felt sorry for Sara Beth. And in a way, I sort of did to. Not that I actually liked her.
"That’s horrible." I murmured unnecessarily, she already knew that it was horrible without my help.
She nodded, hugging me tightly. "I want you to be very nice to her, she isn't very comfortable around people her age."
"That’s another thing, her friends betrayed her?"
"They were spreading rumors about her. Not nice ones. That is why I want you to be nice to her. She came here to make a new start, to make friends, and neither you nor your friends are making anything easier for her. Can you do that for me?" Sadly, I nodded, imagining my friend’s bewilderment when I started being nice to a girl who, in their eyes, and to some degree in mine, was a freak.
I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling. "Ah." I groaned. The memory was a bitter taste in my throat. I missed my house, my neighborhood, my friends, and David, more than I imagined I would. Of course, I didn't have the money I needed to move, and John, my husband who was currently making breakfast, hated snow and New Hampshire. He was not up or going anywhere near my hometown especially since my mom and dad had moved to California so we didn't have any reason to visit the town.
My thoughts drifted back to Sara Beth. I had completely forgotten about her. And I wanted it to stay that way. I didn't need to think about her so I didn't. Not until I walked into the coffee place a block away. "A tall mint cappuccino, please." Sitting down I began to look at some of my papers, which I still had to read, until...
"Sara Beth?" That girl was sitting right next to me, and she looked at me with as much surprise as I felt.
Chapter Two
Coincidents Suck
"Why are you following me?" I demanded, annoyed just because she was here.
"Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm following you." She snapped, looking seriously mad at me. Immediately I backed up, when had she gotten so grouchy, I hadn’t meant to do anything
"Okay. Er... sorry." Holding up my hands in a sign of peace. "You caught me by surprise."
"No, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." The waiter guy handed me a cup of coffee and I drank some of it gratefully. Ug, I really needed that after the horrible morning. Was I still dreaming? I only wished.
"Er, its okay. And since when have you started talking?" I blurt out the stupid question without thinking. I was an idiot. I deserved to be kept in solitary until I killed any self-respect I still had here and now.
She didn't talk immediately, but she didn't start yelling either. "Since I decided that I wasn't going to let people run over me."
I was so glad she didn’t yell at me and give everyone in the coffee place a reason to stare at me that I almost forgot about the answer. "Um, okay then."
Obviously making an effort to be friendly she started talking again. "Where are you working?"
"AT&T." She nodded. "And you?" She looked embarrassed, and something else. I couldn't quite identify it, but something was wrong.
"I work at a in a restaurant." I didn't press her for details; she obviously didn’t want to tell me.
"So, you’re married now?" How did she know that? She seemed to realize that she had said something wrong. "You are, aren't you?" How did she know? I had only just um, re-met her? Right?
"Er... yeah. John Kent."
"So your Mrs. Kent?"
` "Yeah." We sat in silence for a while. Sara Beth opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but closed it with a hard look in her eyes. Her cell phone started ringing and she glanced at the text message.
"I have to go." I nodded and she walked out of the coffee place, looking harried. Gulping down the rest of my coffee, I walked out of the store, a little lightheaded. The clouds were a depressing blue-grey and everything seemed to take on a faded tint. The ground was wet and I reminded myself to buy an umbrella sometime today. My thoughts returned to Sara Beth, maybe it was just me (and it probably was) but something seemed off about her. I thought I saw her slightly-curly brown hair in the middle of a very crowded looking shop but it wasn't her. Just me being paranoid, again.
I decided to go to the mall, I needed a new red sweater and I had hours until I had to meet John. He had promised to make dinner so I got kicked out while he tried to cook. Someone with short-cut auburn hair stepped out in front of me.
"Lauren! How is John's cooking attempt going?" She laughed at the inside joke.
"He hasn't called me yet so I guess he's doing okay." Joni laughed again and pulled a violent pink and green shirt out of her bag.
"Its nice." I pretended to examine it more closely. Over the years I had gotten good at pretending to admire the crazy things she bought. Lenny appeared at her shoulder. "Hi Lenny." Her boyfriend was amazingly good with putting up with my friend’s shopping trips.
"Hey, were seeing Quarantine, do you want to come?" I shuddered, Joni and Lenny loved scary movies but they freaked me out.
"No, I have to get home, John is cooking dinner and I have to make sure he didn't set our house on fire." He laughed and they left me to go home alone. It was raining and no, I had not bought the umbrella yet. So when I got to my car I was soaked and getting the newly cleaned seats all wet to. I was late so I rushed home and hurried into my house, still wet. "Hey!" I called.
` "What are you doing?! How can you possibly eat dinner while your wet, or are we eating in the pool?" He asked playfully, giving me a quick kiss.
"Let me dry off, and then we'll eat." I murmured through the kiss.
"No umbrella." He observed, looking like he was hiding laughter. "Haven't you been meaning to buy one for the past year?" I didn't answer, not wanting to encourage him.
Amazingly, the dinner, some kind of fish, was really good. "How did you make this?"
"Old recipe."
"No food network?"
He laughed, "Do you really doubt me that much?"
"This is great." I mumbled around a mouthful of the fish, "And I don't doubt you, just your questionable cooking skills." I corrected, pointing my fork at him.
Honestly, why hadn't he made this before? Last time he had attempted to make an odd combination of beef and lettuce and some other vegetables, which I didn't know the name for. The funny looking orange thing had made me sick and he had agreed to stop making it even though for some reason he'd liked it.
John laughed and continued eating, asking about my day, filling me in on his week in Washington (no not the capital, the very cold and rainy state. Nothing against the people who live there of course, New Hampshire is like that too.) I had gone on his trip last time and found it very boring.
"Thanks or cooking, this is delicious." He grunted in reply and started handing me dishes so I could wash the food off them before putting them in the dish washer. "Do you have to go away again this week?" John had to travel almost every week, leaving on Monday and coming back on Friday or Thursday. Each week it was somewhere new and he would bring me back a little souvenir from each place.
"Yeah, Arizona. But next week I get to stay home."
"That’s good." I smiled, focusing on the bright point in the future. The one thing I hated about his very well paying and reliable job was that he had to travel.
"Uh-huh."
When I woke up in the morning John was already gone. His flight left early so that left me here alone. Of course I had work. Forcing myself to get up, I shoveled down some cereal and soon I was heading out. The ground was damp from all of the rain but the sky was a nice blue color. And I guess I should have known but I almost run into Sara Beth. "Ugh, are you stalking me or something?" The annoyed look was back.
"Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm stalking you." I nodded, not wanting to make her mad again.
"Hey, where are you staying?" Oh, ug, why was I still talking to her? If I was smart at all I would just stop talking and walk away.
"Ivy Hills Apartments."
"Wow, they are really expensive."
Her eyes flickered with something I couldn't name, again. "Yeah, well, I’ve been saving up for a while and I wanted to get a really nice place." Either I was paranoid or something sounded false. But why would she lie about where she lived? Maybe I was losing it.
"Um, do you want to come over and go get some food? You can bring John and I can bring my date." She looked at me hopefully.
I really should have just said no but I sorta felt sorry for her. "Um, okay then, but John’s not here, he’s on a business trip.” I stared at the ground. Would she think that my John didn’t care about me enough to stay? To my relief she was still smiling. Acting like I had said nothing weird. Which, I guess I really hadn’t, just me being overly sensitive.
Is seven okay? I have work." She looked slightly happier.
"That’s fine, see you then." Quickly she gave me directions and left me alone on the sidewalk wondering if I would survive tonight. Well, I was an idiot.
Work passed quickly because that stupid clock that always moves so slowly just hates me and decided that today was the day that it was going to move faster. Even though I spent the whole day doing paperwork that always seems to make everything turn grey and boring. At lunch Lisa trotted into my office. The thing about Lisa is that she never calms down. She does everything about twice as fast as any sane person.
“Lauren! I just wanted to ask you something.” All of this she said really fast. “I just wanted to ask you about your Husband, John. He never really comes with you to any of the events and I wanted to know if everything was alright between you.”
Honestly. Had my relationship with John just become the focal point of everyone? I had gone from slightly tired and a tiny bit annoyed to angry in about 2 seconds.
“Yes, Lisa.” I growled through my teeth. “We’re doing just fine.” As happy and clueless as ever (did she just go through life so fast that she couldn’t notice peoples emotions, only their relationship issues? How did that even work??) Lisa nodded and trotted right back out the door.
Feeling like I should vent I groaned. Life just wasn’t fair right now. A few minutes later the door opened. I almost threw him out but it was my boss so of course I didn’t. But it was close.
All to soon, it was six forty and I was driving to Sara Beth's house. I was so fed up with my tiny cramped office (no, I am not claustrophobic, thanks very much) I was almost glad to be leaving. Almost. I took a deep breath and parked in Sara Beth’s driveway. Hugging myself against the cold and very glad I was wearing my new red sweater (see! I do plan ahead, just… not well.) Feeling as if I was jumping off a very high and scary mountain I rang the doorbell.
Chapter 3
Skewered
After a few minuets Sara Beth answered, looking nearly as awkward as I felt. "Um, hi." She opened the door wider, inviting me in.
"Hi." Her house was nice. There was a thick white carpet with crimson walls and a goldish tan couch and chair that faced an expensive TV.
"It looks really nice." Sara Beth nodded, her face tense.
"Do you want to leave now? Er, is your date here?" It sounded like an awkward question, maybe did I make it sound like I though he wasn’t coming?
“He will be here soon.”
Silence ensued. I let my eyes wander around her living room, searching desperately for something to talk about.
“So, what did you do when you got out of high school?”
Sara Beth blinked and looked over at me in surprise. What? Had she forgotten I was there?
She laughed at my worried reaction. “Its okay. I went to college and got married.”
I must have looked pretty surprised because she returned to staring at the floor.
“If you were married then why are you still dating?” I blurt out stupidly. Then I wanted to kick myself for putting my foot in my mouth. Wonderful way to start a conversation.
“He’s dead.” She muttered bluntly.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry!” Sara Beth didn’t answer.
"Are you okay?" I asked quietly, but she nodded so I went back to silence. Suddenly a fat grey cat with a shredded ear rubbed against her leg. "This is Jasper, my...dad rescued him from an animal shelter in Taiwan." Her voice only hesitated for a half a second when her dad came up and I suddenly felt very very sad for her.
"He's adorable." I scartched Jasper behind his intact ear. He purred and rubbed his cheek against my hand.
"Wow, he likes you, that’s unusual." Jasper seemed to get bored with me and strutted out of the room. Sara Beth smiled adoringly at his retreating figure.
The doorbell rang and Sara Beth went to Ian Michael was several inches taller than me with well-muscled arms and brown hair. He smiled good-humouredly at me.
“So your Lauren, hi.”
“Um, hi.” It was awkward for a few minutes.
"Do you want to get lunch then?" Ian asked.
`Sara Beth smiled, "Sure, where do you want to go?" she asked me.
"Anywhere you like is fine with me." Honestly, I wasn't very hungry and there weren't very many restaurants I didn't like.
"Is Olive Garden okay with you?"
"Olive garden is great." I agreed, smiling and hopefully getting Sara Beth to relax. "Do you want me to drive?"
She shook her head and smiled wryly, almost as if I was missing a joke. "That wouldn't be very nice of me, would it, Ill drive if you don't mind." I agreed and she led me to her car. Her expensive car. I had to find out what restaurant she worked in because if she had enough money for that thing then the must have been paying her a lot.
One amazing car ride later we were at Olive Garden. The restaurant was almost empty so we got a table quickly and soon we were ordering. Again, Sara Beth looked like she was enjoying a private joke. "What?" I asked, perplex, was I missing something? Ian smiled and laughed. Apparently he was in on the joke.
"I get almost the same thing here every time, I guess I should get different things this time, huh." She smiled and I laughed too.
"Maybe." I answered just as a waiter asked us what we wanted. "The soup of the day, please." I said politely and the waiter turned to Sara Beth.
"Can I have the tuna salad please?" The waiter nodded and walked away.
"What do you usually get?" I asked, curious.
She smiled again, "Usually I get the mushroom ravioli, but I thought I would try something new."
When the waiter finally arrived with our food I was hungry, the product of waiting in a room filled with the smell of delicious food. Sara Beth eyed her food warily. "Scared?" I asked playfully. Ian widened his eyes in mock horror. “What? My Girlfriend scared? Never.”
She shook her head and took a big bite, smiling. "Nope."
Amazingly, I had had a lot of fun. But now I still had the rest of the day alone. John was gone and Joni was going out to the city with her boyfriend. Sigh, I was all alone.
To put off being lonely I made dinner much more complicated than it usually was. John would eat the left-overs when he got back. Cheery Christmas songs played on the radio as I worked cutting up colorful vegetables and preparing meat and cheese for the lasagna. I had been surprised that Christmas was only a week away. John called a few minuets before dinner was finished cooking. He said that he was fine and had just wanted to talk. Apparently, he and some of his friends from work were going to see a Michigan game that was in Seattle. "Go blue!" I cheered jokingly and he laughed. He knew I wasn't that in to football. "Stay safe." He murmured in farewell.
"I always do." I teased. "Love you." And went back to cooking.
It was a lot of fun to be playing tennis, even thought I hadn't played in years. We had gone to a game and since the court was empty afterwards Sara Beth had magically produced tennis rackets and suggested we play against Ian and one of his friends. I was horrible but Sara Beth had amazing reflexes so we were doing well. "What are you thinking about?" She asked suddenly and I realised that I hadn't said anything for a while.
"John's in Seattle."
"You miss him." She said quietly, her face unreadable. She was focusing on a point on the other side of the ring so I couldn't see most of her face.
"Very much." Sara Beth nodded, and I noticed her hands clench into fists. Then I realized that she wasn;’t married yet. "Do you want to be married?" Stupid. I blurt out the first idiotic thing that came to mind. Her hands clenched tighter and I saw the pain in her green eyes when she looked at me.
"No. Its to early. Im just not ready to go that far. After, you know." Oh. Well, that explained a lot. Dang, I was an idiot.
"Oh, Sara Beth, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." She smiled sadly at me and promptly a ball came bouncing at her and she whacked it onto the other side of the court.
"No, its okay. He died five years ago in a bad car crash. It broke my heart but I think I'm getting over it." From the look on her face she was not getting over it. Five years. Wow, she must have really loves the guy.
"You miss your dad too." Again, when would I learn to just shut the heck up? Sara Beth looked even sadder, almost like a lost puppy.
"Very very much." She didn't ask how I knew, but maybe she had already known.
"I'm sorry."
Sara Beth smiled wryly, "You are doing a lot of apologizing for things that aren't you fault." She joked thought she still looked sad.
"Sorry." I said automatically and Sara Beth laughed.
"Not your fault." We continued playing and soon Sara Beth suggested that we leave, it was hot and I was thirsty so I was glad to follow her and leave. Cheerily, Ian and his friend (Can’t remember his name, Ken I though…) followed cheerfully but they didn’t come with us, apparently Ian had got god tickets to a hockey game.
John called again that night. I told her all about Sara
Beth and he seemed happy that I had someone to be with while he was gone. "I would like to meet her. Love you."
"Love you too." The phone clicked when he hung up.
Months passed. Hanging out with Sara Beth became a regular thing, sometimes John or Joni and her boyfriend joined us, but mostly they had other things to do. As January ended, I noticed Sara Beth get distracted. She looked sad most of the time and when I would say certain things she would flinch away or pain would flash across her face. Little things. It wasn't hard for me to convince myself that it was nothing.
"Hey Sara Beth, your band is having a concert soon." For as long as I had known her she had always remained loyal to one band so we always refer to it as her band.
"Thats great! When?" Her face lit up and I smiled.
"Not to long, a few weeks."
Her face was unreadable. "I don't think Ill be going, I have... plans."
"You don't want to go?" My face showed my disbelief. Sara Beth would kill for concert tickets and she was turning down an easily accessible concert?
"No no, I would love to, but... I can't." She smiled sadly, green eyes unreadable.
I sighed. It was almost like the first day, so many things I didn't understand... But it was nothing; Sara Beth had plans, just like she said. I was an idiot, trying to see some big problem where there wasn't one.
That was yesterday. Today I was sick. I had a terrible headache and stomachache. Sara Beth had called twice but I hadn't felt like getting the phone. Already I had taken pain medicine but that hadn't helped. Weakly, I wished that John was there, but he was in Chicago, most likely watching some game. I hadn't called him yet, of course I would be better soon. I hoped. A glass of water stood beside my head on a nightstand and the TV was playing a Simpson's rerun. My body hurt too much for me to pay attention thought it sounded like a funny one. Ugh. I just wanted the pain to stop. Time dragged on and no sign of the sickness weakening came to me.
When John called the next day I felt well enough to answer the phone. At once he offered to come home, (See!! He does care! Take that Lisa!) but I turned him down. I was already feeling better. And yesterday I had dragged (you don’t know how close it came to literally dragging myself) myself to the doctor’s and gotten some real medicine. Why it worked I didn’t know, it was the same as the stuff I’d ALREADY taken, but after about 5 hours of arguing John agreed to stay and I went back to sleep.
And two days later I finally felt better. I called work and told them that I would be working tomorrow. My co-workers sounded very happy; we always had to much work to handle, even when everyone was there. I called Sara Beth and John to, a few hours in I had caved and called him again for moral support. He had wanted (again) to fly back but I had told him to stay (again), apparently I had sounded as bad as I had felt. John was happy that I was better but Sara Beth hadn't answered. I decided to go to her house; I didn't have anything better to do. Getting in the car was a job. For some reason the engine had quit and I had to go to the neighbors and find someone who was home, and then someone who at least had jumpstart cables. Somehow I spent an hour doing this. Some lady held me hostage at her house for half an hour while she rummaged through old Christmas and Halloween boxes for the cables while she rambled on about cars in her day. The good old ones that were as dependable as rocks and never quit, the same good old ones that went only two miles an hour.
Suddenly I stopped the car. A bright orange color had caught my eye. I pulled over and got out. Walking down the alley, I wondered what I was doing. Then I saw something lying on the road of the alley. When I got closer I saw the scarlet liquid flooding from it. The liquid was blood. And it was Sara Beth.
Chapter 4
Life Ended
My fingers trembled as I reached down to touch the body. It was cold. Frightened, I drew back my fingers. As if it were all a dream I dialed 911. “There’s been a murder.” My voice sounded cold and distant to my numbed brain. Quickly I gave them the address before hanging up.
My brain just couldn’t catch up to the present. She’s dead. She’s dead. How could she be dead? My mind repeated, still shocked. How could this even happen to me?
It reminded me of those car crash videos they showed teens about how bad alcohol was. Every person that got up there and told their story had said that they hadn’t thought it would happen to them, but it did and could happen to you to. Well you were pretty much asking for it on that one, but this was different. This was my life, not some fantasy story where everyone dies left and right. Didn’t some authors like to open up stories with a murder, their method to grab the reader’s attention quick before they get bored and throw the book in the trash?
When I closed my eyes I could still remember the last time I had seen her. Her image burned into the back of my eyelids. So real it was hard to believe she was dead, even if the truth was sprawled on the ground in front of me.
The corpse was mangled, as if she’d been stabbed. I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was her if it weren’t for the hair. I sank to the ground. The concrete was wet and tangled rivers of blood clawed their way from the body. The body. The word screamed on my lips and clawed my insides.
If some random kid had asked me to describe our police department for a survey somewhere around the time of yesterday, I probably would have described them somewhere along the lines of hard-working and efficient. If they were to ask me tomorrow I probably would have said something like agonizingly slow.
My internal clock ticked the seconds by like minutes and each tick, though probably completely off, brought me deeper into pain. Some sarcastic voice inside me asked if I was really going to kneel besides a dead body for the next hour while the police took their time getting here.
I checked my watch for a distraction. 3:43. Time that passed: a whopping 1 and a half minutes. I was really being tortured here.
The police came about 2 minutes later. To be fair, the police station was far away and it was pretty tiny. All of them had probably been half way across town busting some bank robber or something.
They found me kneeling on the ground a few feet away from Sara Beth- Sara Beth’s body. One of them with an Iron Man mustache gave me a small smile and led me to the police car. Did I mention that the police station was short on funds to? There were two cops to a car so I had to sit in the back behind the metal screen. Watching myself behind the screen in the mirror wasn’t very pleasant.
At first the other cop, this one had thick bristly hair that stuck out everywhere and one green and one blue eye, kept asking me questions. Every time he opened his mouth Iron Man Guy (I think his name was Chris, but I don’t want to call him the wrong name) shot him (this one’s name was Anton. The only reason I actually remembered it was because he kept telling me over and over again.) a disapproving look. I silently thanked Iron Man Guy but it took Anton most of the 30 minute car ride to catch on that maybe the poor person who just found the body of her best friend might want some quiet time. I think the reason he realized this was because I started crying when he asked how I’d met Sara Beth. Such charm, such tact. I should totally ask him on a date, never mind the fact that I was married and that I thought he was about as sweet as my cousin. (her name is Becka and I hope you never have to meet her. If you do, never ask her about Carl, Smith, Jack, Devin, or Bethany. Especially Bethany. The boys are ex boyfriends and Bethany is the one Devin went off with when he dumped her a few days after proposing to her. It turned out that he had been cheating on her for the last seven months. Never mind that Becka deserved to be dumped in their second week.) Thinking about Becka cheered me up. A bit. It was nice to think about someone else’s problems for a bit.
When we reached the police station reality had finally shoved its way into my skull. I was at a police station and they were going to interrogate me and try and figure out if I was the murderer. I tilted my head back to keep from puking all over the leather seats. I quietly started swearing under my breath.
Despite all odds the hard-core interrogation wasn’t that bad. I got cookies and the guy asking the questions seemed to already know that is wasn’t me. After all, my DNA and fingerprints were nowhere near the body or the weapons of choice. I thanked my lucky stars I had been to wimpy to actually touch the body. So with about five frosted cookies we trooped back to the car. Making myself comfortable, I geared myself up for another looong car ride. I wonder at who thought it would be a good idea to have only one under-budget police station in a a huge suburb that took about an hour to get through, with traffic and rain and all of that stuff.
Oops. I think Iron Man Guy just asked me which one my house was. “What?” I would feel like a dork if I answered ‘That one.’ to a question about how I was or if I had known Sara Beth for long or something else.
“I wanted to know if you would be okay by yourself.” He looked at me through the mirror and I nodded mutely. He had these pretty hazel eyes. And he was cute, mustache and all. I shook my head. I was married, remember? Wishing for some hot police guy would not solve my problems. I leaned back, staring at the ceiling. I guess I looked either very weird or very stressed because I earned a worried look from the worried police guy and the way to interested and nosy look from Anton. I ignored them.
“That one’s mine, the one with the fat cat lying down like idiot on the driveway.” The police guys nodded and parked in front to the house. Iron Man Guy got out and opened my door. Apparently the back seats didn’t open from the inside. Very smart of the police car designer guy… whoever he was. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” He asked. I nodded again.
“My husband is in there. It’ll be fine.” I lied. I had no clue when he’d be back since he had told me that he would be gone longer than normal, but didn’t know when he’d be back.
“Maybe you should come back down to the police office, just so we can have a doctor looking at you, just to make sure your okay.” I backed away.
“N-no! I’m fine. Don’t worry.” My voice wobbled and sounded a little high pitched, a sure sign of sanity and perfect health.
“Okay then, just call us if you need any help.” He was talking very slowly with a calm voice. The kind of voice you would use when trying to convince and insane person not to jump off of the building.
“Okay then.” I replied, turning around and walking back to my house, nudging the neighbor’s cat, which was still on my driveway so he would get off of it before some concerned friend/neighbor/unwelcome, concerned colleague
(cough cough Lisa) decided to visit and ran over him. He shot me a nasty look and raced away as if I’d pointed a gun at him. Well, that’s the last time I try and help you. I thought.
Getting in took more trouble than I thought it would. My hands, still pale and trembling didn’t seem to be as capable as usual and kept dropping the key. I could consciously feel the stares of Iron Man Guy and Anton burning holes in my back. She is so not okay. I imagined them thinking. Finally the key went into the hole and turned the right way.
My empty home greeted my. The same exact way as it had been this morning. Horror crept up my throat. Knowing what was coming I dashed to the bathroom and puked up everything I had eaten, pink frosted cookies included.
An hour later I was still in the bathroom. Every few minutes gulping down water from this huge water bottle to rinse the taste out of my mouth. I wished I could rinse what I had seen out of my mind. I caught sight of myself in the mirror.
I groaned, I looked like a ghost, or some bad imitation of me from a horror movie. That fit. Since my life was becoming a horror movie I should at least look the part.
The next hour was spent taking the longest shower of any living person’s existence. I switched the water back and forth from burning to freezing washing my face again and again as tears streamed down my eyes. Sobs bubbled up from my throat as I lost it, loud to my ears but probably unnoticeable over the noise of the shower. When I got out my eyes were red bullet holes in a clean face.
Since I was in the mood for setting records today (most awkward conversation with police guys, world’s longest shower, most unconvincing lie when someone asked if I was fine) I took the longest nap without sleeping.
Half way through my stomach started yelling at me for being an irresponsible person and not feeding it properly. I had read lots of books where the main character stops eating for days when something terrible happens and then looks like this skinny ghost so the world can know what a horrible thing (filling the black) did to him/her. I didn’t want to look like a ghost, but I was hopping I could use this to jumpstart the next in a great line of failed diets. No suck luck. Apparently someone had forgot to inform my stomach that I was grieving and that that meant that eating was unacceptable. My stomach denied the logic and demanded food. And when I got up to eat I noticed that I had left the front door open. Yay. Now I had to worry about the few hundred dollars that had blown away in the wind strait to the heating company’s pockets, and the stupid annoying flies that accompanied open doors.
