"What are you doing here?" I ask Amanda.
"I came here with you..." She answers.
"No, why are you behind her house and who were you talking to?" I race over to her as fast as I can to see who the other half of the conversation is.
"I wasn't talking to anyone, I saw one of my friends and I said hi." Amanda is hiding something.
"Okay then. Um." I hesitate.
"Let's get back to school, I have history next period and I have to study for my test." Amanda feels just as uncomfortable as I do.
"Yeah." I say, failing to seem strong. We walk back to the bus and ride quietly to school.
~~~~~
It's the end of the day and I've made it through without anyone commenting on Richelle's freak out or the fact that I have bandages all over me. I bet the rumors have been spread so I'm ready for anything anyone throws at me.
As I exit the school, ready to call my mom to pick me up, someone taps my shoulder. I turn around to see who this may be.
"What do you think she knows?" It's Amanda.
"What do you mean?" I respond not even knowing what she is implying.
"What does Richelle know? At first I just thought she was a briliant hacker but I don't know anymore." Amanda's voice drifts off as she ends her sentence.
"That's a nice theory." I'm not in the mood to engage into conversation, especially not about this whole missing catastrophe.
"You're not listening." Amanda accuses.
"And you're not wrong." I pull out my
phone, "I am going to go home and you can solve this murder mystery if you want." I say without even thinking about the words that are coming from my mouth.
"Murder? I thought it was just kidnapping." Amanda seems stunned and her eyes are bulging out at me.
"You didn't know?" I realize the only reason I know is because Richelle told me.
"No. How did you know?" My partner asks in a very nervous voice.
"My former comrade told-" My voice trails off.
"Omigosh!" Amanda's jaw drops and I feel my stomache flip.
"It's..." I can't finish my sentence.
We stand there for a moment just staring at each other, mouths ajar.
"Wait, let's be rational." Amanda says, calming down.
"Yeah, before we turn in a seventh grader, we should-" Amanda finishes my sentence for me.
"Get proof she's stabbing other people."
"Yeah." I wince at Amanda's choice of words.
"How do we do that?" I ask, hoping Amanda can come up with better plans than what is going off in my mind right now.
"Well," The rest of the sentence is just her opening her mouth and realizing whatever she's thinking of is a bad idea so she closes it. In the end, no sounds are ever projected through Amanda.
"Hey Emily!" Someone calls my name. It's a fimiliar voice.
"Eldon?" I turn around.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
I turn to Amanda and she just shrugs at me.
"Oh nothing, why?" I don't want him to get involved.
"I wanted to ask you if you want to come retrieve your car. I don't know if it's still out there but you can check." He suggests.
I don't know what to say but Amanda saves it.
"Go ahead. You know that history test I have? I wasn't lying when I said it's big. Call me later." She calls out then walks away, leaving Eldon and I together.
"Shall we?" He jokes.
"We shall." I answer then we walk off into his car.
"When did you start hanging out with sophomores?" Eldon asks once we are in his car.
"Since the juniors don't pay much attention to me." I say.
"They pay attention to you."
"They do now. After my sister has been kidnapped and when I got attacked by a little girl and when-" I can't say my last point.
Eldon hesitates before he responds. He knows I'm refering to the accident.
"You know I'm sorry right?" He apoligizes.
"Yeah, you've said it many times." I don't want him to feel guilty.
"I know but I just can't help but feel terrible."
"It wasn't your fault." I try to comfort him.
He puts the key into the ignition and mutters something that is drowned out by the sound of the engine. We pull out of school property and head where I suppose I was the other night.
After what seems to be twenty minutes of complete and utter silence, I start going insane.
"Say something." I blurt.
"What?" Eldon looks at me quickly then focuses back on the road.
"I can't stand the silence anymore, just say something. I don't care what." My last four words are soft and inaudible but true, I don't care what he says.
"Why are you here with me?" He says, this time, he looks straight at me.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Most people are afraid of me. They don't even make eye contact, scared that if they do, they'll become me."
"I'm not scared of you." I look into his eyes. Behind his clear blue eyes, I see that he is breaking - broken.
"I'm crazy." His voice is merely a whisper.
"Insanity isn't something I'm afraid of." I mimick his voice.
"You should be."
"You're not a monster."
"I'm your monster, and there will be a day when I break you. And I won't be able to feel anything because-" I don't let him finish.
"You can't break me." My vision is getting blurry and my cheeks feel wet.
"I'm crazy." He repeats.
"Not anymore."
"I'm still crazy."
I break my stare from Eldon to wipe the salt water off of my face.
"I'm sorry." I say in a shaky voice, "I didn't mean to..." I can't talk anymore
"It's okay." He doesn't say anything else and I don't pry. The silence returns but the noise in my head fills it up.
Another half hour of driving takes us back to the vaguly fimiliar forest and corn fields. I lay my head on the window, trying to drown the voices in my head with the sound of tires on ashphalt but it doesn't work.
"We're here." A gentil voice makes my eyes flutter open.
"What?" I say in confusion.
"You fell asleep." Eldon informs.
"Oops." I say sheepishly.
"It's alright. Your car is right there." He points to my black shiny car parked a couple of feet in front of us, "I'll wait for you to get it started."
"Wait. I forgot to tell you one thing." I pause, waiting for his response. He doesn't do anything so I continue, "I still don't know where my keys are." I admit.
"Oh, well, um, I guess I'll call a tow truck, get aything valuable from your car and come back." Eldon whips out his phone and dials in a number.
I walk out of the car. My legs feel strange walking again, I guess I've slept for a while. The cold air is making my hands numb; I stick then into the pockets of my sweatpants, not that it'll do anything.
As I approach my car, I see something shiny on the driver's seat. As quickly as I can I run over to the left window. Keys. My keys. They're here. Safe and sound. I swear I checked everywhere that night.
"Eldon!" I call.
He jumps out of his car, holding his hand over the speaker of his phone.
"Yeah!" He calls back.
"Don't get a tow truck. My keys are here." I start closing in the space between Eldon and I.
"Oh, okay." He says to me then puts his ear back onto his phone and starts talking, "Um, Robert, is it?...I don't need a tow anymore...Keys were found...Should still work...No no no, it's not my car...yeah...A friend's'. Alright. Thanks, sorry to bother you." Then he hangs up, "Okay then," He's addressing me again, "follow me." I smile and run to my car.
The door is unlocked; the way I left it and nothing seems to be missing inside. The only odd thing is that my keys are back. I put them into the ingition and switch the gear shift. My phone buzzes beside me. A text is what lights it up:
I'm not completely evil Emily. I brought your keys back. It was such a treat finding out everything about you.
The message scares me. I look at the chain of keys that hangs in the ignition slot. There are my house keys and keys to my mailbox, one that opens my garage and one that is for my locker. This person went everywhere and left nothing.
Another text comes in.
Do you remember how you got hit by that car? Eldon drove it at you. It's time to pay him back. Don't get out of your car, hit him. It's either Eldon or Gabi.
Attached with the text is a picture of a girl. She's dancing and smiling. Beside her is a younger girl. I can see their resemblence; same eyes, same mouth, same innocence. I think they're sisters. Richelle hasn't said anything of this girl being dead yet. I can't kill this person's sister. I can't kill Eldon. But the text doesn't say kill Eldon. All I have to do is hit him.
I roll down my window and call out.
"Eldon!"
"Yeah!" He calls back.
"Can you come here for just a sec."
The back of my car is facing Eldon's so if I am to hit him, I'll have to back into him.
"Sure!" He says then I hear him stop his engine.
Running. I hear him running. What do I do? I switch my gears to reverse. I look back. He's still coming. He doesn't suspect anything. I can't do it. But I have to.
With my heart falling into a pit of darkness, I press my foot down on the gas pedal.