The Dead Girls Club - Damien Angelica Walters Page 0,63
get in trouble, do we?”
“Uh-uh,” she says, wariness settling on her features.
“I hope you feel better soon,” I say.
She shuts the door without saying anything else. I try Lauren’s doorknob one last time, just in case, then head back to my car, my stomach a hive of angry bees.
I promise I won’t tell.
I rest my forehead on the steering wheel. How could I say such a thing? It goes against everything I am. I saw the way she acted when mentioning a fight, the way she said her dad didn’t live there. She’s witnessed domestic violence, but she trusts women. She would’ve closed the door right away if she didn’t. I can’t pretend my words didn’t hurt her. I saw the flash of alarm. The betrayal.
But I knew exactly what I was doing.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THEN
“We have to go back and clean it up,” Becca said.
With the phone tucked between my ear and shoulder, I stirred through the milk in my bowl, trying to scoop Lucky Charms marshmallows without the cereal. I was in my pajamas, had cramps, and didn’t want to go anywhere, especially not the house, but if I said so she’d know I’d lied about my period.
“But if someone’s there?” I said.
“We can check first. But we have to clean it up or she’ll know. She has someone coming to look at the house this afternoon.”
“She won’t know it was us,” I said.
“But she’ll be extra careful with the keys. We might not be able to get in ever again. And since it was blood, she’ll call the police. And if they find our fingerprints, we’ll all get in trouble, not just me.”
They wouldn’t really check for fingerprints, would they? It hadn’t been that much blood. And maybe it would be good if we could never go there again. Maybe without the house …
But if I didn’t go, she’d probably never talk to me again, no matter how many times I apologized. Rachel and Gia wouldn’t either, not if Becca told them not to. And they were my best friends. Without them, I’d be alone.
I dropped the spoon in the bowl, sloshing milk on the table. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“Meet us on the field. Bring some paper towels, too,” she said, hanging up without a goodbye.
I dumped my bowl in the sink and went to change, grabbing a roll of paper towels on my way out. At least my mom was at work so I didn’t have to come up with an explanation.
The three of them really were waiting for me. When I was still too far away to hear, Rachel leaned over and spoke in Becca’s ear. Becca responded with a sharp look and a quick shake of her head. Not quite a no, more like a shut up. A cramp tightened my belly.
Rachel and Gia both had bottles of cleanser; Becca, a trash bag. We walked the rest of the way in silence.
As she unlocked the front door, Becca said, “Let’s check the rest of the house first.”
We followed her upstairs and checked every room and every closet. All empty. Empty on the first floor, too. Walking into the kitchen, Becca stopped so fast I banged into her and Rachel and Gia banged into me. Becca grabbed the wall to keep from falling.
“What is it?” I said.
She moved aside. The blood was gone.
“What happened to it?” Rachel said. “It was there. We all saw it.”
Nods all around, even from me.
“It disappeared,” Becca said.
“Just like in the stories,” Rachel said, all pug eyes.
“Maybe it’s still there and we just can’t see it,” Gia said.
Becca sprayed cleanser and I gave her the paper towels. Her lower lip caught between her teeth, she wiped the linoleum. Nothing on the paper towels. Not even a speck. “See?” she said.
“We should go,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, I need to get the key back,” Becca said. The rustling of the plastic bag as she knotted it was loud in the hush.
On the way back, after Rachel and Gia split off, Becca pulled my arm. “Now do you believe in her?”
I tongued the corner of my lips. “You came back and cleaned it all up.”
“I swear I didn’t.”
Her eyes held truth, but I didn’t want to believe her. Someone had to have cleaned it up. Blood didn’t just vanish on its own. And it probably hadn’t even been real, just the fake stuff they sold at Halloween.
“Why won’t you believe she’s real?” she said, half sad, half angry.