Damned

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Spring break was officially over. It was Monday and back to school. As I woke up, I felt my bones crack in protest of waking up. Still, I managed to take a shower, dressed, and put my make up on in record time. I was wearing a black dress that had a frilly skirt. I added a couple of chains and Mary Jane shoes. It was a clear day out, so I didn't grab a jacket. I went downstairs, seeing how far along Dara was. 

When I passed her room she was still in the shower. I descended down the stairs, deciding to wait for her there. Gran was already gone, running errands early. My mom was surprisingly not up. I tiptoed down the stairs, trying not to wake her. She had a long weekend with Gellar. I think they stayed in Boston for the weekend. Lucky for my mind, she got to sleep in. Poor Gellar had to wake up extra early and teach a bunch of teenagers.

I popped some bread in the toaster and went into the living room to wait for it to finish. Honestly, I was bored and looking for something to occupy my time until it was time to go. I played a song on my phone and danced around the living room. It was an Alternative Pop hit by Aly & Aj, called "Promises." There was something about the beat that made you feel like you could breathe underwater.

As the chorus hit, I sang along and twirled my skirt. My clumsiness got the best of me, and I knocked some papers down. Cussing, I bent down to pick them up. They were the case files from the murders of Salem. These were Dolores papers. Usually, she kept them tucked away, always cleaning up after herself. I had tried to peak at them while she read them, but she did a great job of keeping them close to her chest as she read.

How did she forget to pick them up? That wasn't like Dolores. If anything, she was more of a neat freak than Gran. She was the type that cleaned as she went, something I hadn't ever been good at. So, why was there a giant stack of important documents left in the living room? Where anyone could read them. 

My intention was to pick them up and set them back where they were. Except, as the song ended I was left with the voluptuous silence of the house. Gran was gone and my mom was in a deep sleep. Where was Dolores? She wasn't out here. There wasn't any sign that she was even home. Slowly, I rose and checked the window, looking into the driveway for her car: nothing. 

So, she wasn't home and she left her papers? That meant I could take a peek at what was in these files and no one would know. My curiosity, once again, got the better of me and I fingered through the pages. Most of it, I already knew, but one thing caught my eye like no other. It was a single sheet of lined notebook paper. On it, there was a note scrawled in Dolores tiny barely legible handwriting.

"Call 3/27 8:27 am Phone: 351-785-7634 listed unknown / traced as Public Library on 4th Street: a dead end." 

So, she had been able to trace the call! I searched the page for anything else, but that was all that was written. The rest of the files were everything I already knew. The Police really didn't know what was going on, which was good and bad. It was good because I was in the clear, but it was horrible because Sarah Good would never be tried for those murders.

I had a slight flashback as I thought that. 

Once again, I was trying to persecute Sarah Good. At least this time she actually had murdered people and my heart was in the right place. In the past, I had wanted Sarah Good out of the picture because she was nosy and knew about Matthew and me. It was mystifying that Abigail and Matthew were Daniel and me, but they felt like completely different people.

I set the files back down and grabbed my phone. Quickly, I took a snapshot of the note Dolores had written. When I got to school, I was going to look up where the 4th street was and see who lived around there. It was a long shot, but whoever lived the closest out of the Cult members had to be the person that made the phone call. Meaning, whoever made that phone call was being possessed by Sarah Good.