The Darkness Within (9 page)

Suspicion

Despite everything that happened the night before, I still had to go to school in the morning. I went through the tasks of getting ready for my day like a mindless zombie, not even thinking about what I was doing as I did it. After we got home last night the police and my mom gave me a stern talking to for my behavior. I was now the girl who cried wolf, and the police even went so far as to insist that my mom contacted someone for me to talk to about my bad dreams before my bad behavior escalated. As soon as the officers left, my mom was on her phone preparing an email to send to Adrianna’s mom, Mrs. Rodriguez, about setting up a therapy appointment whenever she had an available time slot.

Afterwards, Mom went back to sleep trying to get as much rest as she could before she had to get ready for work, while I laid awake staring up at the ceiling. I couldn’t stop thinking about what I saw or at least what I
thought
I saw. Maybe everyone was right and I was just hallucinating from my lack of sleep. Maybe I had fallen asleep while reading my book and had dreamt that I saw David in his backyard. No matter how much I thought about it, it just didn’t add up.

When Mom’s alarm trilled, merely an hour after we had lain down, she groaned and then got up to get ready for work. I followed suit even though I usually slept for another half hour. Instead I showered, sitting under a jet of hot water. The water soaked through my hair, only serving to make the inside of my head foggier. I almost fell asleep in the shower, but Mom banged on the door telling me to hurry if I wanted a ride to school. Standing on shaky legs, I switched the water off and stepped out of the shower. Once I had dried off and gotten dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a crew neck sweatshirt, I tackled my hair. I brushed it up into a neat ponytail, letting the curls hang loose in the back since I didn’t have time to do anything else.

Then I grabbed my backpack, slipped on some shoes, and grabbed a cereal bar before heading out to join Mom. The ride to school was silent, and I had a feeling there was something Mom wanted to say, but she didn’t. As we pulled to a stop in the Kiss and Ride line, she reached over to pat my hand.

“Have a good day at school, sweetie,” was all she said before I climbed out, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and heading into school for the day.

The hallways were loud which I was grateful for, because the noise kept me from falling asleep as I walked from class to class. It also made it harder to think. I was so focused on what was happening around me that I didn’t have time to worry about anything else. The hard part of the day was trying to stay awake in each class. It was like my teachers had all gotten together and decided that all of their lesson plans for the day had to be extremely boring. In math I was so bored out of my mind that I actually thought watching lettuce grow would be more interesting.

When lunchtime finally rolled around, my brain felt like one big puddle of mush. I grabbed a water bottle and a pink Styrofoam tray before getting in line. After filling my tray with a slice of pizza, a bag of chips, and a small container of sliced apples, I paid for my lunch and went to my usual table. Adrianna was sitting at the end of the table eating a bag of
Skittles
. Placing my tray on the table, I slid in across from her.

“Hey,” she said with a smile, her mouth full of candy. She reached up and pulled at the dyed section of her hair, which was now a vibrant purple. “What do you think?” she asked, scrunching up her nose and furrowing her eyebrows as she asked.

“It’s nice,” I answered, twisting the cap off of my water bottle and taking a long gulp.

Adrianna’s face dropped, and her shoulders hunched forward. “I hate it too,” she groaned. She hastily tucked the strand behind her ear, pouting profusely. “I should’ve stuck with pink, but my mom was all, “Don’t you want to try something different?” like a pink stripe in my hair wasn’t already unique enough.” She poured a handful of
Skittles
into her hand and then angrily shoved them into her mouth. She pouted as she chewed.

A deep yawn escaped as I recapped my water bottle. “No, I actually think it looks nice, Ade,” I said truthfully. “You’re so pretty you could pull off any color.”

Adrianna raised a shapely eyebrow. “Even vomit green?” she questioned, looking disgusted at the mere thought of having green hair.

I nodded, and she laughed.

“You’re a good best friend,” she praised, pulling the strand from behind her ear again and examining it. “Are you sure it looks all right?”

“More than all right. I promise.” My eyes flickered to a table in the corner of the cafeteria. “Someone else seems to think it looks more than all right too.”

Adrianna followed my gaze to Ben, who was already looking in her direction. When he notices her looking, a slow smirk slipped onto his face and he waved. Adrianna shuddered and hurriedly turned back to face me. I watched as Ben’s expression darkened, his lips curving downwards into a frown. I was starting to understand why Adrianna was adamant on avoiding him.

In front of me, Adrianna sighed, sitting up a little straighter. “Well, it makes me feel better knowing that
you
like it,” she said, jumping back into our conversation. “I was already making plans to bleach it and re-dye it.”

I shook my head, raising an eyebrow at her words. “That is
so
bad for your hair.”

Shrugging, she said, “We can’t all have perfect hair like you do. Some of us have to alter our natural looks to make ourselves look better.”

“That sounds like something a plastic surgeon would say to one of their patients,” I pointed out, before biting into an apple slice. My eyelids were heavy, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to take a nap on the table before lunch ended.

“It does, doesn’t it?” She smiled at me before popping another
Skittle
into her mouth.

“Is that your lunch?” I questioned, staring at the bag in her hands.

Ade nodded. “I forgot to pack my lunch. Luckily I found this bag at the bottom of my backpack.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “I’ll just eat something when I get home.”

I frowned at her as I slid my pizza across the table to her. “Have some
actual
food please.”

Adriana looked down at the pizza then back up at me. “You call this mess,
actual
food?” I nodded, and she rolled her eyes. Despite her statement and her sassy eye roll, she took a bite. “Thanks,” she said through a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

“You’re welcome,” I replied, bringing the pizza up to my mouth and taking a bite of my own.

Across the table, Adrianna scrutinized me as I chewed and swallowed. One of her eyebrows was raised as she watched me take another bite, followed by a gulp of my water. Finally, I returned her odd stare and said, “What? Do I have something on my face?” I dragged the back of my hand over my mouth.

Adrianna shook her head, reaching for the pizza to take another bite. When she finished chewing she said, “You look kind of dead.”

“Aren’t you a charmer?” I questioned jokingly.

Adrianna rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Did you wake up late or something? You usually wear mascara
at least
.” Suddenly, she leaned across the table, poking my dry bottom lip with her pointer finger. “And where is your
Chapstick
?” She looked around the room slowly before meeting my gaze again. “Are you even the real Claire?” she asked in a mock whisper.

I reached into my pocket, pulling out my
Chapstick
and rolling it onto my lips before putting it back in my pocket. “Come on, it’s not
that
serious. So I didn’t wear any eye makeup today; I’ll live.” I grabbed another apple slice and munched on it slowly.

“I never thought I would see the day that you weren’t wearing your usual makeup in school.” She shook her head slowly.

I rolled my eyes. “Honestly, I didn’t even think about it at all today.”

“Why not?” She reached across the table and swiped my bag of chips from my tray. I usually ended up giving them to her anyway. The oil from the chips made me break out, so eventually I just stopped eating them. I always grabbed a bag though, knowing I’d either end up giving them to Ade or would trade her for something else on the days when she actually brought her lunch.

I shrugged, like I didn’t know why.
As if.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“So that’s why you look dead,” she replied, munching on a chip. Then she looked up and gave me a sheepish grin. “I mean that in the nicest way possible. You know you’re gorgeous.”

“Mhm,” I murmured.

“Why didn’t you sleep well?” she asked, returning to the topic at hand.

I sighed, looking down at my tray. “Don’t laugh.”

“Why would I laugh?”

I shrugged. “Just don’t.”

“I won’t.” She raised a hand like she was giving a pledge and added, “Scout’s honor.”

I took another bite of my pizza, chewing slowly before explaining. “I had a nightmare.”

Adrianna nodded, waiting for me to continue, so I did.

“Then, when I woke up, I thought I saw David burying a body in his backyard.”

Adrianna’s mouth dropped open and she leaned over the table with wide eyes. “
What!?
”

“Right? That was basically my reaction, except more frightened, and it included speed dialing 911.” I shoved the last apple slice into my mouth as Adrianna processed what I’d just said.

Her questions came out all at once in a long string of words. She barely even took a breath between each one as she spewed question after question about last night and what happened.

I raised my hand to stop her. “Whoa. My brain is too tired to register all of that. One question at a time.”

She huffed, but repeated one question nonetheless. “Did David get arrested?”

I shook my head no. Then I proceeded to tell her everything that happened, including me running into David’s house and going down to his basement. She was just surprised as I was that the police hadn’t found anything and that his basement was empty.

I drained the rest of my water. “What if I didn’t actually see what I thought I saw? What if my mom and the officers were right and I was hallucinating or I dreamed it all?” I hung my head low at the thought.
What if I’m going crazy?
Maybe I do need to have an appointment with Mrs. Rodriguez after all.

Adrianna pursed her lips in thought. Her brown eyes squinted for a moment before she shook her head at me, saying, “No.”

“No, what?”

“No, I don’t think you were hallucinating.”

I frowned at her. “What makes you think that?”

Adrianna shrugged her shoulders. “I just know you. I also know what David is capable of. If he’s really as derranged as we think he is, then wouldn’t he have to be pretty smart?”

I nodded slowly, not seeing what she was getting at.

“Well, I read online that serial killers usually have extremely high IQ’s. That’s how they get away with stuff for so long.” She pointed down at the last bite of pizza. “You want that?”

I shook my head no, waving it off. She smiled and finished the pizza. I leaned closer to Adrianna, lowering my voice. “So, if David
is
a serial killer, and he’s supposed to have such a high IQ, then why is he being so careless?”

Adrianna shrugged. “Maybe something’s different. Maybe he isn’t able to follow his normal routine or something, so now he’s on edge. I don’t know. I can ask my mom tonight and see what she thinks.”

My eyebrows rose to the top of my forehead. “Don’t ask your mom.”

“Calm down, Claire. I’ll ask discreetly.”

I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth, biting it gently.

Adrianna polished off the bag of chips. “I think you should check his yard. Make sure the police didn’t miss anything.”

I shook my head at the idea. No way in hell I was going over there alone again, especially not after the last time.

She noticed my hesitation and read my mind.  “I can come with you. I’ll walk home with you after school and stay until dinner, then we can watch his house. If he leaves, we’ll sneak over and check it out. If we find something, we go to the police with it, and if we don’t then we leave David alone and hope he stays away from you and your mom. Besides, he would be stupid to continue anything with your mom now that he knows you’re onto him.”

She had a point. “Okay, let’s do it. Bring your phone so we can take a picture of anything we find.”

“Of course. Where’s your phone? I texted you and you never replied.”

I looked down at my hands. “I left it in David’s house the last time I snuck in.” When I glanced up, her expression was shocked.

“I’m not even going to ask,” she said after a moment, shaking her head.