Dark Illusion: A Psychological Thriller Novel (21 page)

W
hen three
different types of painkillers are coursing through your veins, after nearly
bleeding to death, you feel as though you are floating on air, far away from
your hospital bed.

But then you open your eyes and
have to face the harsh reality.

Sharon observed Gloria as she
finally regained consciousness. For someone who’d had a near death experience
herself, she knew exactly how Gloria was feeling; therefore, even though dozens
of questions were running through her mind, she waited to give her a chance to
recover.

Gloria, who was still drowsy from
the medication, smiled when she noticed Andy sitting beside her. To his credit,
Sharon noted, he hadn’t left her side for even a minute, and not because he had
to solve a serial murder case that had been agonizing him for years.

Little by little, as Gloria
started to remember what had happened to her, the smile disappeared from her
face and her eyes landed on the bandages covering her chest.

Sharon was at the end of her
rope. Gloria hadn’t even noticed her presence. She decided it would be better
to wait a little longer and let the exhausted model get some more rest before
presenting her with some tough questions. She got up quietly and turned to the
door.

“Detective Davis?“

Sharon turned back to Gloria.

“I wanted to say thank you. You
saved my life. I will never forget that.“

Sharon shook her head humbly. “No
need to thank me. I was just doing my job.“

“Still, if there’s any way I can
ever return the favor . . .“

“Actually, you can.“ Sharon
returned to the same spot she’d hardly moved from for the last twenty-four
hours.

“Whatever you need.“

“Do you remember what you told me
right after . . .“ her words trailed away.

“I got shot?“

Sharon looked at her and nodded.

“Not really. The last thing I
remember was that lunatic’s gun pointing at me.“

Sharon paused for a moment before
she continued. “You told me that it wasn’t Kelly Danes who shot you.“

Gloria gazed into the distance,
as if she were trying to remember.

“Can’t you do this later?“ Andy
asked in a concerned voice, tenderly holding his loved one’s hand.

“No, it’s fine,“ Gloria turned to
him. “I want to help.“

“I’ll go look for the doctor, so
he can come and see you now that you’re awake,“ he offered meekly.

After Andy had left the room,
Sharon continued. “So if that wasn’t Kelly, then who the hell was she?“

“Vicky Hermont.“

Vicky Hermont?

“She was one of Kelly’s friends.“

Of course!
Vicky had been
the only person, outside of Kelly’s parents, who had come to visit Kelly after
she’d been hospitalized. Miranda Whitesporte had told Sharon about her.

“But why was she posing as
Kelly?“ Sharon wondered aloud.

“I have no idea,“ Gloria
admitted. “It’s not like we stayed in touch. We’d never gotten along with each
other.“

“What can you tell me about April
twenty-fourth, 1990?“

Gloria looked at Sharon with a
surprised expression. Her face turned pale.

“It’s okay,“ Sharon calmed her.
“I already know that you’d sent your friends to get back at Kelly and that it
got out of hand, but it wasn’t your fault; you were just kids back then.“

“
Excuse me
?“ Gloria asked
furiously. “Do you really think I would be capable of something like that?“

Sharon looked at her, completely
confused. “That’s what Miranda Whitesporte told me. That was the reason why
Kelly,
er
, I mean, Vicky, hated you so much.“

“Well, Detective Davis,
everything you were told is bullshit.“

April 24, 1990. Winslow, Arizona. The Spring Carnival

V
icky could not
believe that her pathetic friend had dared to betray her like that. She had
always known she couldn’t be trusted.

After they had decided to split
in order to avoid Jerry and his friends, Vicky had changed her mind and had
decided to follow Kelly instead to make sure nothing bad happened to her. She
loved Kelly too much to just leave her there, all alone. Vicky could not
forgive herself if Jerry ever got his hands on Kelly.

She noticed Kelly entering the
house of mirrors and felt relieved. There was no way that those idiots would go
in there. Vicky was watching the booth, making sure that no one from Jerry’s
gang was around. She was just about to leave and wait for Kelly at their
meeting point when suddenly she saw
. . .

Gloria McIntyre stepping inside.

Vicky rushed over and sneaked in
quietly on the tip of her toes. She wanted to make sure that the little bitch
wouldn’t make fun of Kelly, or even worse, might have been followed by one of
her awful friends.

Vicky stood there, in between the
shadows, hidden by mirrors of all shapes and sizes, which all reflected the
same image: Gloria and Kelly talking to each other.

Vicky became furious. Kelly was
an innocent girl who could easily be fooled by Gloria’s devious charm. Vicky
had never been able to stand Gloria; she seemed too perfect and, therefore,
almost certainly had some kind of hidden flaw. She just hadn’t found it yet.
And it was pretty obvious that Gloria didn’t really like her either.

She kept watching the two girls,
who were still talking to each other.

She was
jealous
.

“Say, do you think that in a
different world we could have been . . .“

“Friends? I think so.“

Those words seared through
Vicky’s heart like the mark of Cain that would never fade. She wanted to burst
in and cease the heinous betrayal going on in there, but her calculating side,
which had always been more dominant, forced her to stay put for now and spy on
the two in silence.

“But in this world you’re Vicky’s
friend, and my best friends hang out with Jerry and his gang, whether I like it
or not. I’m afraid we’re on opposite sides of the fence.“

“Like Romeo and Juliet . . .“

The mention of the purest love
story of all time, as an allegory for the relationship between Kelly and
Gloria, broke Vicky’s heart.

You were supposed to feel this
way about me.

“. . . It’s weird that Vicky
hasn’t shown up yet.“

“Yeah, never mind, I’ll see her
some other time.“

How could you abandon a
true friend for this fake doll?

Vicky thrust her nails into her
skin, aching in the shadows, listening painstakingly to the rest of the
conversation.

“Well, goodbye, Gloria McIntyre.“
Kelly leaned toward Gloria and kissed her on the cheek.

Vicky watched the horrific scene,
completely fossilized. She noticed Kelly’s lips trying to approach Gloria’s.
She watched Gloria’s frozen figure, not resisting, as if she were welcoming
Kelly’s innocent intimacy. Every bit of wrath in Vicky’s body gathered into a
burst of hatred. She thrust her nails even deeper into her skin, until she was
bleeding. Vicky noticed Gloria whispering quiet words to her lover, but could
not hear them.

That’s it.
She had to stop
it.

“You traitor! How could you do
this to me?“ Vicky appeared from behind the mirrors. She marched, enraged,
toward them. Kelly’s shameful expression was a feast for her eyes.

“Vicky? I don’t understand . . .“

“I don’t understand either how
you could throw me to the wolves for . . .“ She turned her head and hurled a
hateful look at Gloria. “For
her
!“

“Vicky, you need to calm down.
Nobody has done anything against you.“

“You stay out of it, you arrogant
little princess!“ Vicky snapped. Even Kelly’s attempts to make amends hadn’t
gotten through to her.

“. . . I will
never
forgive you!“ she swore aloud and ran toward the exit door.

But she didn’t leave. Vicky
slammed the door shut so Kelly and Gloria would think that she’d left, when
actually she had stayed hidden in the dark room, eavesdropping. Her heart
pinched when she realized that Kelly wasn’t coming after her; she didn’t even
care what could happen to her out there, all by herself.
Some friend she is
.
It seemed like Kelly had forgotten all about her. Instead of running after her
and apologizing, Kelly had tried to convince that insufferable Gloria to stay.

Kelly had made an awful mistake
choosing Gloria over her, and for mistakes one had to pay.

                                
 * * *

 
“So you’re saying
that you and Kelly were . . . friends?“

“Not exactly, but we were getting
there. Maybe if all of this hadn’t happened . . .“

Sharon gave Gloria a sympathetic
look, but then a crease of confusion formed between her eyes. “Wait a minute.
So if you didn’t send Jerry and his friends after Kelly, then who did?“

“Well, Detective, what other
option do you have?“

T
he beautiful
girl stood outside the wooden booth, wondering to what extent the disfigured
images reflected in the mirrors inside had been different from the reality she
lived in.

Gloria looked around her.
Although there were so many people surrounding her, she still felt lonely. To
her surprise, she kind of missed the girl who had stayed inside the house of
mirrors.

Maybe it’s the beginning of a
wonderful friendship after all . . .

Gloria started walking slowly by
the flashy carnival stands toward the exit, when she noticed the group of cocky
guys headed her way.

Not now . . .

Gloria quickly stepped aside in
the hope that she wouldn’t be spotted. She waited a few moments but no one
followed her. It seemed as if she had managed to avoid their searching eyes.
She began to retrace her steps when suddenly she heard familiar voices. She
stopped and listened.

“There’s no way she did that.“

“Believe me, she did. I was
there. She was lucky to get away from her.“

“I don’t believe you.“

“What reason do I possibly have
for lying? Kelly is my friend. I’m just feeling sorry for your poor friend.“

Gloria froze. Were they talking
about
her
?

“Think carefully about what
you’re saying, because if it’s true . . .“

“I couldn’t believe it myself. I
walked in there by accident. I saw it with my own eyes.“

“Your friend is nuts!“ Jerry
snapped.

“I was flabbergasted. I tried to
stop her. I really hope Gloria is okay.“

What, for heaven’s sake, is
Vicky telling them? Why is she trying to get Kelly in trouble?

“I’m going to kill that bitch. I
can’t believe she tried to mess with Gloria. Doesn’t she know that whoever lays
a hand on Gloria has to answer to
me
?“

“I don’t think she really cared,“
Vicky tried to spur Jerry’s anger.

“Come on, let’s go. We need to
catch her before she gets out of there.“

Gloria heard footsteps quickly
moving away. She tried to process what had just happened, but couldn’t
comprehend it. She sneaked a peek. Vicky was still standing there, an evil grin
smeared across her face. Gloria stepped out of her hiding spot and faced Vicky.
Vicky looked at Gloria, completely surprised.

“What the hell did you just tell
them?“ Gloria demanded.

“What are you talking about?“
Vicky answered with fake innocence.

“Do you realize how much trouble
you’re getting Kelly into?“ she asked in a concerned voice.

“I didn’t get her into anything.
If
your
friends are mad at her for some reason, it’s not my fault.“

“Are you playing dumb on purpose,
or what?“ Gloria exclaimed. “I heard you! You told them something that made
them want to hurt her. Something about me. What have you done?“

“You shouldn’t have messed with
me,“ Vicky hissed.

“What are you talking about?“ she
asked, confused.

“You’re the reason she doesn’t care
about me anymore; you’ve basically forced me to do this.“ Vicky narrowed her
eyes at Gloria.

Gloria didn’t understand what
Vicky was talking about. All she had done was talk to Kelly. But she didn’t
have time to dwell on this right now. She was the only one who could stop Jerry
and his friends. She needed to find them before it was too late.

“You’re crazy,“ Gloria asserted
brusquely and turned her back to Vicky. She started running back toward the
hall of mirrors.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re
going?“ Vicky ran after her, eventually catching up with her. She thrust her
nails into Gloria’s back and stopped her.

“Don’t touch me, you maniac!“
Gloria tried to shake off Vicky’s grip.

“You are not going over there,“
Vicky insisted, her hands clutching Gloria’s arm.

“Don’t you understand that
something really bad could happen to Kelly? You know how those boys are.“

If Gloria had been trying to
raise some kind of empathy or mercy or even plain rationality out of Vicky – it
hadn’t work.

“Don’t worry, I’ll save her . . .
eventually. But before that, she must pay.“

Gloria shook herself away from
Vicky in blunt aversion. “You’re completely insane. Stay away from me!“ As she
turned to run again, Vicky shoved her from behind with unexpected force, and
she fell to the ground. Gloria could barely get up; a deep cut had formed on
her thigh, and the blood slowly trickled down her leg.

Not the best time to be
wearing a mini dress . . .

“I swear that if you take one
more step, your slim leg won’t be the only body part bleeding.“ Vicky
enunciated each threatening word in a peaceful voice, surprisingly calm, which
scared Gloria even more.

“Okay, you won.“ Gloria brushed
off the dirt from her dress and started limping away in the opposite direction.
After a few steps she looked behind her. Vicky was standing in the exact same
spot, staring at her, making sure she wasn’t coming back.

Gloria knew she had no one to
turn to. If Jerry were to find out she’d ratted him out, God only knew what he
would do to her. Her only option was to get home as soon as possible and call
in an anonymous tip to the police hotline. She tried to walk faster, but her
wounded leg slowed her down.

She just hoped it wouldn’t be too
late.