Delilah's bracelet was the only piece of the Kim's property left behind in this house. Everything must've been removed after the story made headlines. Not that I didn't expect it. The house was being renovated so it was required to be cleared out. But damn. This didn't make any sense.
"God damnit, Skylar." I blew a curl out of my face and huffed.
Two days was enough for me to call a quits on my search. I was hoping someone had slipped up. Maybe the cleaning company had accidentally left another piece of the Kim family's belongings laying around. The attic had been one of my first guesses.
But the attic was mostly filled with dust particles that were floating around. There were about six boxes sitting towards the back. All of them were covered in months old filth. Skylar must've cleaned it out and stored some of her stuff in here when she moved.
"Son of a bitch." I groaned.
A notification lit the screen of my phone as it went off in my hands; it was Skylar.
Drive down here and eat with me, loser. I go on lunch in twenty minutes.
I couldn't help the chuckle that passed through my lips. Attached to her message, was a Mean Girls gif. I guess it wouldn't have hurt if I'd met with her. I wasn't doing much else with my life, except sticking my nose where it didn't belong. It was getting stuffy in this house anyways.
My phone buzzed again.
Are you ignoring me? The message is read. >: (
I snorted and quickly shot her a message back with a laughing emoji.
Relax. I'll be there. Don't get your panties in a twist.
Then, I climbed down the attic stairs.
As soon as the hot air clashed against my skin when I opened the front door to the house, dread washed over me. It happened so fast; I would have thought it was all in my head. I was willing to bet the air didn't cause that though. The hairs on the back of my neck stood with ease. And the neighborhood's silence fit the dread I was feeling.
I couldn't figure out why my body was reacting like this. When I had turned, there was nothing suspicious along the sidewalk or the streets. There were just cars, less than usual, might I add. Three of them were parked a few feet apart directly in front of Skylar and I's house. All behind my car. And one of the three was on. But I could hardly see who was inside.
I fixed my glasses on my nose and squinted. There didn't seem to be anyone inside now that I'd gotten a closer look. Maybe the windows were too dark for me to make out any figures and I had been mistaken. It could've been possible one of the neighbor's turned on their car and left it unattended. A few of them often did that when they were about to leave home.
The car looked very familiar the more I looked at it though. Whatever it was, my feet rushed me to my car. By the time I was buckled in my seat, it felt as though a pair of eyes were stalking my every move with a hawk's persistence.
I checked my mirrors, then my surroundings outside the windows. There was nothing else out of the ordinary that struck me as odd. Just the same old neighborhood I saw every day. This time, a few neighbors were standing outside their houses too.
"Shake it off, Chastity. You're just imagining things," I whispered and shook my arms, clutching onto the steering wheel.
The last time I had been this pumped-on adrenaline was when I had too much caffeine before work the other day. I'd been so bouncy. Oliver wouldn't stop asking me if I was okay, and Jace wouldn't stop poking fun at me. This was a more frightening version of that memory.
I couldn't relax. Even after the car's engine cranked to life and I'd drove out of the space I thought was causing my unsettlement. The cryptic feeling had followed me all the way down the empty roads.
When I pulled up to the traffic light in the busy parts of town, there had been a total of seven cars that had driven onto the road behind me. I could only see the one on my tail clearly. Severe scratches and dents were embedded into the silver Toyota Camry. It hadn't felt like that was what could have been causing my unease though.
Only did my worries settle when Skylar's face greeted me down the street.
"We've got an hour. Are you in the mood for Thai? I'm in the mood for Thai." When I parked along the sidewalk, her face-eating grin met me at the window. I looked around once more.
It was a just in case kind of thing. And I was glad I did it because I almost thought I saw a glimpse of the white sedan, whose engine was on, sitting in front of our house, fused in line the other cars that were trailing behind me. But I shook it off. I shook it off so fast I could have caught whiplash.
Chill Chastity, I told myself as my heart picked up speed. Yeah, that didn't seem likely. . . Surely, there were many white sedans around town. I didn't need to stress over similar cars. You'll be fine, I attempted to motivate myself. It was the thought that counted.
I ignored the feeling in my gut, smiling softly. "Sure, Thai sounds good."
* * *
"I'm going to miss you!" Skylar cried dramatically.
"Get off of me! You're heavy. And you get off in three more hours. I'll see you soon." I sighed heavily, rolling my eyes. All of her weight was going to kill me if she leaned any further down onto my shoulder. My attempts to shrug her off hadn't gone unnoticed either.
"Rude!" She scoffed.
"Go back to work already!" I shooed her away with both my hands. No more than five minutes had gone by when she finally retreated back inside the antique shop. I threaded my fingers through my curls, blowing out another heavy sigh.
Part of me felt bad. I couldn't control my anxiety. When Skylar laughed, I forced one. When she told me about her day, I forced myself to tell her about mine, leaving out the car. I was sure she had noticed my leg bouncing at an unreasonable speed in the restaurant. If I had told her, I thought someone was stalking me, she'd have been ready to fight.
But I had no enemies in this town. At least, none that I knew of. Sure, Julia didn't like me. Silvia seemed to have had a problem with me at first glance. Well, I guess I couldn't call it a problem, but obvious distaste. Those were the only people I could think of.
Fucking hell. I just wanted a break. Somehow though, I had left one issue behind in New York to find myself in several more here. It was either bad timing on my part, or I was destined to live in misery for the rest of my life.
I yanked open my car door the slightest bit, ready to insert myself inside, however the red-head walking in my direction caught me off guard. Her ponytail was a mess, her baby hairs falling out of place. It looked worse when she had sweat sticking down to every inch of her forehead.
"Julia?" I muttered.
What was it with me and running into her? This was exactly why I couldn't tell if I had extremely bad timing or extremely bad luck. Maybe she was like the devil. When I had called her name, she appeared. Because she certainly wasn't my guardian angel answering any of my prayers. She wasn't with Thomas nor Makayla's brother, Jamie either. Just alone.
She seemed pissed too.
I watched her tear-stained cheeks swell with red as crimson as her blood-colored leather jacket. Her hands were almost trembling. As she strutted down the street with attitude in her steps, she paused. Her eyebrows shot up seeming equally surprised that she saw me. That's when I realized we'd been staring at each other for too long.
"Oh! Hey, Julia." I couldn't have been any less enthusiastic to see her face. But I couldn't bring myself to disregard her tears. "Um, I've got napkins . . . if you need some to clean your face." I gestured to her puffy eyes.
She scowled and wiped her face with her hands. "No, thank you. I'm fine."
I cocked an eyebrow at her, and folded my arms, my lips curving down. "Are you sure? Your eyeliner is coming down your face. . ."
She touched her face again hearing this. It took her a few moments to walk forward, but when she did, I had already held out a few napkins towards her. We stood in each other's presence for a few more seconds until she snapped.
"Could you please stop looking at me like that?" Her tone was venomous.
I was taken aback but bit back my reply. I could be the bigger person. I could be the bigger person. I could be the—fuck, trying to be the bigger person was hard.
"You know what? Next time, just keep walking. Maybe someone else will care about your tears." I gritted my teeth, annoyed.
"Tch," was her only remark.
"The feelings mutual," I spat through my teeth. Still, there was a very tiny stream of consciousness in my head, begging me to be kind. Even though, she had been nothing but vile towards me since I'd shown up in Baskerville.
I sighed under my breath and closed my eyes, preparing myself. "Did something happen between you and Thomas?"
The aggravated scream she let out had me doing double takes. "Fuck him! Him and his friends! I don't care about that bastard anymore. And anyone else who enables him to act like a depressed piece of shit! They can all go to hell." She launched spit at the ground.
My eyes widened as I jumped back, my body tensing. Her spit had just missed my converse.
The spiteful words continued to spiral out of her mouth, "Asshole. Stupid fucking asshole! He can go rot in a grave with her for all I care! They should've sent him with her since he wants to act like that!" she screamed.
Her episode caught the attention of several by passers across the street. I tucked my bottom lip in between my teeth, and laid a hand on my stomach. Her words didn't sit right in my gut. I felt my stomach twisting with as much curiosity, as there was unsettlement.
"Um hey, Julia, I get that you're mad. But people are looking over here." I scratched the back of my neck, looking around.
She ignored me. "Fucking douche. I knew he'd do this. I should've known. He's still hung up on that bit—!" She paused mid-sentence when she noticed how I was looking at her. Fresh tears of anger welled in her eyes again. Her chest heaved with every breath.
I could hardly take in what I was looking at. It was clear that her boyfriend wasn't done grieving over Delilah. It was clear that she didn't like that. She was going to call her out of her name if I hadn't been staring at her, waiting for her to slip.
Though, she didn't know I knew exactly who she was talking about. She hadn't known it was my fault his head was filled with thoughts of Delilah again either. I wasn't going to tell her that I had anything to do with that though. That would have ended ugly.
This was . . . something I hadn't seen before. I knew this girl had a temper. Maybe even some serious issues going on in her head. But her wishing death on her own boyfriend and insulting his friends confirmed it.
Had she believed he was pretending to be depressed? She spoke like she thought so. But that was far from what I witnessed the last time I saw him. How could she have been still fuming with jealousy over a dead girl? It sounded like she had been beating him up for it all this time, instead of helping him get past it.
This was jealousy at its finest. No, it was more than jealousy. This was fucking scary behavior that reached into controlling territory. Had she often thrown these tantrums when they fought? If she was talking about him like this behind his back, I wondered how she was talking about him to his face. Perhaps that's how he ended up with those claw marks.
Anyone with eyes and a brain could see this was far from her usual snarky comments and bitchy behavior. It made me take a few steps back. No one could begin to understand how uncomfortable I was. Like I was a child on the receiving end of my aunt's verbal abuse again.
I wouldn't have been surprised if Julia was the one sending Delilah those harassment messages. I recalled Thomas telling me he had no idea she was being bullied to such an extent. Then, Jace mentioned Julia was vile to Delilah behind his back. If he had known she was being bullied by his own girlfriend, surely that would have caused havoc.
The words you need to calm down, were so close to slipping off my tongue. But I stopped them just in time. Those weren't the best words to use when it came to angry people. I'd had enough therapy to understand that. It wasn't worth it. I was too scared to ask if she was done with him for good. Because I'd already known the answer.
"Julia"—I cleared my throat—"I'm not really sure what happened between you two but—"
She cut me off, speaking, "And you want to know something?" I didn't answer.
She went on anyways, "he probably won't even call me to apologize. That shows how much he cares. He'll just continue to sit in that lighthouse, sulking, and feeling sorry for himself. He always does this! I'm the one hurting. I should be pissed off! Not him," she spat.
A thick sob threatened to hurl out of her. This was probably the part where I should have felt sorry for her. I should have probably comforted her and told her to move on, no matter how unreasonable she had been acting.
But I couldn't do that. Not when they were so many things wrong with what she had just said. It was understandable to an extent until her reasoning's became self-absorbed in a dangerous way.
"Could I please use your phone? My battery died. I need to call someone to come get me," she asked. Her tone was casual, as if she hadn't just gone through several emotions.
I was tempted to say no. But that tiny stream of consciousness was begging me to do the right thing again. I couldn't leave this girl alone like this on the side of the street. I wasn't sure what she would have done. To herself. Or someone else.
No more than ten minutes later, a black sports car parked in one of the open spaces, a few cars in front of mine. That must've been her ride because she was already running to the car, as if she'd recognized it.
"Shit." I groaned at the sight of Makyla's brother stepping out of the car. "You have got to be kidding me."
Jamie's blonde hair was glistening like one of those knights in shining armor that rescued the princess in fairy tales. The police badge hanging from his jeans didn't help me to refrain from using that analogy.
No wonder Makayla had gotten so defensive with Jace. Jace told it like it was, and he didn't hold back from the truth. Jamie was the one Julia ran to when she felt she wasn't being treated right and chances were Thomas had no idea it was him.
When Jamie's eyes almost met mine, I turned my back to them. That was my cue to go. I wanted no fucking parts of this mess. And if she wasn't going to give a shit about Andrew's best friend's well-being, then I was.