The Dead of Night

Chapter Twenty Eight

"You don't know?" Angela's eyes widened. "They've been practically throwing themselves at him every chance they get. A month before he left, Lauren followed him into the men's locker room and took off her shirt. He laughed and told her that he would never be interested in her, because he didn't date whores."

"Wow," I muttered, not surprised by what Eric had said. I knew that he loathed Jessica and Lauren—he'd told me so on many occasions—but I was a little astounded that he'd used such harsh words. Still, I was satisfied nonetheless that he had shot down the hateful girl.

"I know." Angela laughed and continued. "Then Jessica tried something similar, only it was much later, and Eric told her that if he was going to cheat on you"—my head shot up—"then, he'd want it to be with someone who wasn't an imbecile."

"How did Jess and Lauren take it?"

"Oh, they've been upset for weeks now, Bella," Angela responded and shook her head. "That's probably why Lauren said what she did just now. She's jealous of you, plain and simple."

"It would be a lot easier if she just ignored me." I sighed, resting my head on the palm of my hand.

Thank goodness, after that little incident, all communication with Lauren stopped completely. Part of me wondered if she had nothing else to say to me, while another part wondered if one of my other friends had talked to her. It really didn't matter one way or the other, so I let it slip from my mind without a thought.

The rest of December passed with holiday parties hosted by several of my friends, and before I knew it, I was thrust into January. My New Year's Eve was spent at Forks High School with all my friends. The school had decided that there was enough money in the budget to hold another dance. In my opinion, Prom and the Spring Dance were more than enough, but I couldn't argue with the excitement that it created amongst the students.

Once again, I was asked to attend the dance, but thankfully this time, my group decided to go together instead of having dates. I still had the dress that Ary had lent me for Eric's party, so I wore it and enjoyed myself as best as I could. It was a slightly stressful night, especially with everyone musing about whom they would kiss at midnight. When that time finally came around, I hid in the bathroom.

Not long into January, however, I had begun to notice some very strange things. The investigation of the destroyed warehouse had been stopped rather abruptly. On Monday, they were claiming that they had a breakthrough and were close to finding out what really happened, and on Tuesday, the case was closed.

 

Warehouse fire declared inconclusive. Case closed until further notice.

My friends had also started acting very bizarre. It started when Lauren and Jessica were both out sick for about a week, and when they returned, there was something off about them. If you addressed them directly, then they would answer you, but other than that, they said nothing. One day at lunch, I happened to catch Jessica's eye for a few moments and was shocked to see how stressed she looked. Jessica and Lauren both looked like they hadn't slept in a week, and the strange behavior didn't stop with them.

The next week, not only did my entire group of friends follow suit, there were quite a few people in town who were acting the same way—listless, zombie-like. Even Charlie got…whatever it was. Lauren and Jessica started acting a little bit more like normal after a week, however, whatever ailed them before seemed to be spreading through the town like a wildfire, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was next.