The Dead Girls Club - Damien Angelica Walters Page 0,108

and put it in the backpack, too. People would think she ran away from home. I picked up the knife, staring at the blood crusted on the blade.

Becca’s fingers twitched. With mine splayed on the carpet, I crouched beside her, weight on the balls of my feet.

“You came back,” I said. “It worked. It really worked.”

But she didn’t move again. My stomach tightened. “Becca?”

The room grew heavy with the smell of a hundred wet pennies, and I was suddenly sure someone else was there. She was there.

Don’t look in her eyes!

I squeezed mine shut. My chest was a tornado, my heart a tiny building in its spiral. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

Don’t look in her eyes, don’t look, don’t look!

I staggered toward the stairs, arms waving in protective arcs. My foot banged against a riser; my elbow struck the railing. I caught a sliver of light and clamped my lids even tighter. I crawled up, palms and soles slapping against the wood, my shins striking every edge. When I was halfway up, I heard something like a laugh or a cry, but it wasn’t Becca.

I didn’t stop. And I didn’t look back.

I paused in the field, trying to catch my breath, still gripping the knife. I threw it down with a cry and turned back toward the house. But I couldn’t go back. And I couldn’t leave the knife. Kneeling, I dug a hole just deep enough, tossed it in, and covered it back up.

Then I ran the rest of the way home. Stood at the kitchen sink, my flesh speckled with dirt and dried blood. I used the pot scrubber and dish soap, and red swirled into the water. Even after it ran clean, I kept washing, expecting my parents to wake and come see what I was doing. Inside I was cold. Empty.

Skin burning, I crept to my room, climbed into bed, and pulled the covers over my head. The Red Lady had lied, and I didn’t understand why. I’d done what Becca said she wanted. And she had been there. I’d felt her. I hadn’t pushed the knife in by myself. I couldn’t have done that to Becca. I couldn’t.

She was my best friend.

* * *

I didn’t remember hardly anything for the next few days because I had a fever so bad my mom kept putting cold cloths on my forehead, chest, and neck. I had lots of bad dreams, the kind that disappear as soon as you wake up. I guess my mom talked to my dad about taking me to the hospital, but then my temperature dropped. When she told me Becca was missing and a police officer wanted to ask me questions, I was in bed, holding a book but not reading.

“What do you mean, she’s missing?” I said, my voice as dry and cracked as the corners of my lips.

“I’m sure everything’s fine,” Mom said, but her face didn’t match her words.

Blanket clutched round my shoulders, we went downstairs. Mom held my arm the entire way. Did the police already know what had happened? Were they going to arrest me right now, even though I was sick?

By the time we reached the bottom step, my mouth was so parched I didn’t think I’d be able to speak at all. But the police officer smiled when I sat next to her on the sofa. She was sort of young and pretty and was wearing regular clothes, not a uniform. She had on a jacket, too, probably to hide her gun and handcuffs so they wouldn’t scare me. Or so I wouldn’t think that’s why she was here.

“Heather, I’m Detective Harris. Thank you for coming downstairs. I know you’re not feeling well. We’re trying very hard to find your friend, and I want to ask you a few questions, okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

“Can you tell me the last time you saw Rebecca?”

I peeled my tongue from the roof of my mouth. “She doesn’t like her whole name. She goes by Becca,” I said.

“Okay, thank you,” Detective Harris said. “When was the last time you saw Becca?”

“I don’t know,” I said, staring at my lap. “It was a while ago.”

“July,” Mom said. “It was in July.”

The police officer gave her a side-eye, and Mom cleared her throat, cheeks pink.

“My mom’s right. We kind of stopped hanging out.” It wasn’t completely a lie. I pulled the blanket up to my neck, turtled down into the fabric, and told Detective Harris how Becca had started hanging out with just