Chapter 8
Cala - What’s real?
I wake up to my alarm and lean over to turn it off, shuffling back when I see a mask on my bedside table. Where did that come from? It wasn’t there last night.
Who has been in my room?
I get out of my bed and check to see if anyone is hiding in it and find nothing. I check the shower twice before getting in it. Was it one of the guys? Did I do something last night? I don’t remember having any dreams, or sleepwalking. Dummy, I wouldn’t remember if I had been sleepwalking.
I shower and throw today's outfit on, braiding my hair and brushing my teeth. I head downstairs and find my parents in the living room, Dad looks upset but they also seem to be having an argument.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, slipping my backpack onto my shoulder.
Mom looks at me, “Just going through some stuff today. Have a good day at school.”
Going through some stuff? Maybe they’re getting a divorce. If they are, hopefully they wait until I graduate so I don’t have to choose where I live. That sounds callous, but I’m not a big fan of either of them lately. If they truly loved me, they would show it more. They even forgot my birthday.
But someone or multiple someones didn’t because a cake showed up on my doorstep the day I turned eighteen. My guess is that it was my three, not so secret admirers.
I decide to walk to school, Briar catching up to me. We walk in silence, not awkward, it’s just how we are. She waves to me as I walk to the library, the school halls feeling quieter after everything that’s been happening.
The guys are sitting at the table, sandwiches this time, and of course my favorite coffee order. I sit down and I feel them staring at me, “What?”
Peck glances at Hunter, “You don’t know?”
I shrug, “I never know anything.”
Daze hands me his phone and pulled up is a headline about some guy named Tom being found dead in the river. Wait, the Tom they’re talking about, is my uncle.
“I…I…when did this happen?” I ask in a whisper, knowing I might have had a hand in this. I don’t remember, but it’s me, right?
Or am I linked to someone doing it and just see what they’re doing?
“Last night,” Hunter says matter of factly.
Peck looks at me with a look of something in his eyes that I can’t quite decipher, “Sorry for your loss.”
“He wasn’t very nice to me,” I admit.
Peck pushes a sandwich toward me as Daze asks, “Want to go to the mall after school?”
I nod, “Why the heck not? I don’t have anything going on at home and now that tests are over, I’m home free.”
My answer doesn’t surprise them as much as it surprises me, but I’m going to live it up. And right now, my home is depressing.