Almost Her

The Disappearing Type

Eloise slowed down as she passed the Meredith house, which was annoying because she'd promised herself she wasn't doing this anymore. She'd made the same promise last Wednesday too. Her leg had started bouncing again, the nervous kind that always showed up before her common sense did. She ignored it and looked at the house anyway. The curtains were still shut. The porch was still empty. The dead flowerpot was still sitting beside the steps.

Five seconds, then she'd leave... Easy.

The lock clicked, and Meredith's mom stepped onto the porch wearing an "Under Blacktop" T-shirt that hung almost to her knees. Eloise recognized it immediately. Meredith used to complain that her mom kept stealing it because it was "more comfortable than anything she owned." Now it looked like she'd never stopped wearing it.

Before Meredith's mom noticed her, Eloise headed for her car parked halfway down the street. At some point this had stopped being a bad habit and turned into a routine. She climbed into the driver's seat, picked up the journal from the passenger seat, flipped to the next empty line, and wrote:

Meredith didn't come out today.

The sentence already covered page after page. Wednesday after Wednesday. The date was the only thing that ever changed.

She stared at the words until they blurred, then shoved the journal aside and adjusted the rearview mirror. Her mascara had smudged under one eye, she wiped it with the back of her fingers, which only made it worse.

She thought she'd gotten away with it. Then she looked in the rearview mirror and met Jacklyn's eyes. Eloise turned her head too fast. Getting caught in the mirror felt worse somehow, sneakier.

Jacklyn stepped closer and knocked on the driver's side window. Eloise reached for the crank handle and started rolling it down.

"How can I help you?" Eloise asked.

Jacklyn looked surprised for a second. Maybe she hadn't expected the girl to roll the window down at all.

"I've seen you before," she said slowly. "You park on this street every Wednesday."

Eloise gave her a polite smile.

"I like walking around here."

Jacklyn glanced toward her house before looking back at Eloise.

"No," she said quietly. "You stop here."

The silence between them stretched for a moment.

"You knew Meredith, didn't you?"

Eloise nodded.

"I did."

Jacklyn's shoulders relaxed just a little.

"I thought so." She studied Eloise's face. "Which one are you? Claudia?" She tilted her head. "No... Claudia was blonde." She frowned. "Amy?"

The disappointment hit Eloise harder than it should have.

Seriously? Meredith never even mentioned me?

"Eloise, ma'am," she said. "I was actually her best friend."

Jacklyn repeated the name under her breath.

"Eloise..."

She searched her memory, but nothing came.

"I'm sorry," she admitted. "Meredith never told me about an Eloise."

"I know it sounds strange."

"It does."

Jacklyn wasn't being rude. She genuinely looked confused.

"I don't remember hearing your name, and Meredith talked about people. Maybe not everything, but enough."