Chapter 9
Nine
GIA
Gia was restless and itching for a fight. After spending the better part of the morning weeding the garden, she went inside to wash off the dirt and sweat. She’d finally unpacked her belongings late last night and placed them in the small closet, along with her suitcase.
She’d need to do laundry soon.
After catching up with Kim and still evading all of Jerry’s calls, she lay on the uncomfortable mattress and stared at the popcorn ceiling.
It wasn’t simply boredom scratching at her, but a sense of deep-seated guilt she couldn’t ignore anymore. She knew what she needed to do, but she feared what it meant. Instead of watching TV in the living room, she’d opted to hide away in her bedroom.
Gia was a coward.
There was no denying it, but she couldn’t take this feeling anymore.
Minh and her parents were at the restaurant, but she’d opted to stay behind and catch up on sleep.
She hadn’t slept well the night before, and everyone knew she was not a morning person.
And while she still felt like she was walking on eggshells, it felt nice to know not much had changed in the Lien household.
Besides the addition of two members of the family, things were pretty much as she remembered.
The ceiling fan spun around and around. It did nothing to quell the rising heat in her body as panic gripped her.
Despite her familiar surroundings, it was all too easy for her thoughts to spiral.
She’d been trying to do her breathing exercises and meditation for the past fifteen minutes with no benefit.
She couldn’t help but feel as though there was a ghost haunting her in this house. When she had been yanking the weeds out back, she could have sworn she heard children laughing. Except nobody was home, and the neighborhood was quiet. It was a school day, so none of the kids were outside playing.
And last night, she could have sworn she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder in the middle of the night. It woke her up from a dead slumber, and she hadn’t been able to fall back to sleep.
Right now, though she knew she was alone, she didn’t feel alone. It was the unerring sense that someone or something was in the room with her. Silently watching her. Judging her. And the ghostly presence found her disappointing—like all those around her were actually in the land of the living.
Rolling over, Gia shoved her face into a pillow and let loose a muffled scream.
“That’s it. I can’t take this anymore.”
Untangling herself from the blankets, Gia stomped over to the closet and pulled out a pair of socks.
Yanking them on, she stomped out of the room and down the stairs.
She’d spotted her old hiking boots in the mudroom when she first got home.
They looked untouched, other than the layer of dust and spiderwebs covering them.
Grabbing her boots, she brought them outside. With jerky movements, she slammed them against the railing, scrunching her nose at the plume of dust. Cautiously, she peered into the boots and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t spot any critters hiding inside.
Now that they were clean enough, she carried them back through the house to the front door, grabbing the car keys to the minivan her parents had left behind for her. They’d opted to walk to the restaurant instead. She yanked on her boots and closed the door behind her.
She knew where she needed to go.
It was time to visit Thao.
The drive to Moonshadow Falls was as familiar as the back of her hand.
With the sun still high in the sky, she rolled down the windows of the minivan as she drove slowly out of the center of town and toward the outskirts.
A large lake stretched along one side of the road, and she followed it to the cliffs that dominated her childhood memories.
The mountainside offered a spectacular view and, not for the first time, she wondered how Willowbrook remained such a well-kept secret.
It would be the perfect vacation site or movie set.
Maybe it could even serve as the backdrop to a small-town Hallmark romance.
The short drive was peaceful. Quiet, despite the wind blowing through her hair.
The fresh air was a stark contrast to LA smog.
For a moment, the weight sitting on her chest eased, lifting enough to where she’d felt carefree and young again.
As if all of her problems had been blown away with the breeze. If only it were so easy.
As soon as she parked the van in the visitors’ parking lot, she felt reality weighing her down again. Hopefully, a nice hike in the woods would distract her.
Grabbing her phone and leaving the keys in the cupholder, Gia climbed out of the minivan, making sure all the windows were rolled up in case it rained. Weather around Willowbrook could be temperamental and unpredictable. The last thing she wanted was to ruin her parents’ car… again.
Hands braced on her hips, she glanced up at the trails leading her through several miles of incline before reaching the peak. Her hiking boots were a little snug, but they would get the job done.
She’d forgotten to grab a hat before she left, but since the trails were mostly shaded, she should be fine. Plus, the afternoon sun wasn’t as harsh now as it tracked over the lake.
Taking steps toward the trail, Gia wished she’d thought to bring her headphones.
Being alone with her thoughts in the wilderness seemed like a scary prospect.
Funny how she was more scared of the voices in her head than of being attacked by wild animals.
At least she was unlikely to encounter a wild animal—unlike her thoughts, which never seemed to shut up.
The sound of leaves crunching beneath her boots as she followed the trail was satisfying.
The birds chirped happily in the trees, and the sounds of scurrying squirrels kept her company.
In the distance, if she focused hard enough, she could hear rushing water.
The cliffs dropped off into Crystal Hollow Lake, which eventually connected to the Atlantic Ocean, several states away, through rivers and streams.
While the lake itself was relatively calm where she was headed, she knew things could get dangerous if she wasn’t careful and got caught in the undertow. It was a sobering thought as she continued her trek.
About ten minutes into her solo hike, the sound of her own voice inside her head was driving her nuts. Since she spotted no one else in the woods and there were no other cars in the parking lot, it was probably safe to assume she was alone out here.
It should have scared her to know she was alone, but it filled her with comfort instead.
She practiced the lines she’d memorized for the role she’d failed to secure. She’d worked so hard to land a job and lost it all too easily.
It’s not fair.
Gia knew more than anything life was hardly fair, but she could still feel the loss of something she’d worked so hard for. No doubt they already found her replacement. It shouldn’t have been hard to do, since it was a coveted role with many talented actresses vying for it.
She knew it had all been too good to be true.
Maybe if I hadn’t fought back…
No, she was not going down that path.
With horror, Gia thought about her replacement.
Would they have to endure what I did in order to land the role? Is there some sort of secret initiation to be a part of the A-list club?
It all seemed so dark and twisted.
If it was the price she had to pay, she was glad she’d escaped. There was no way she would have been able to look at herself in the mirror if she’d allowed things to progress.
Coming back to Willowbrook, to her hometown, seemed like a better idea with each passing moment. There weren’t many people who knew where she came from. She’d kept her past a secret—something she hadn’t been willing to share with the vultures.
If the paparazzi knew where she was hiding out, they would swarm Willowbrook. The small town couldn’t handle it—Willowbrook didn’t even have a hotel or room shares to accommodate outside guests.
The tourism would likely generate revenue to help fix up the small town, though.
Would it be a good thing? Or would it ruin the small-town charm of Willowbrook?
Growing up in Willowbrook had been suffocating.
Everyone knew each other and their business, mostly.
Those closer to the center of town acted like a dysfunctional family, while the more affluent residents lived out on the outskirts.
Their sprawling mansions overlooked Crystal Hollow Lake.
Those folks were rarely seen venturing into downtown, preferring to do all of their business in the city instead.
I wonder where Jake lives now.
Frowning at the direction of her thoughts, Gia forced Jake out of her mind, choosing to focus on her surroundings and “be present” like the yoga teacher was always telling her to do.
It wasn’t her fault her mind liked to wander.
She’d always been this way. For as long as she could remember, she’d had a wild imagination.
Being in Willowbrook always made her feel restless.
Agitated. Like there was an entire world out there for her to explore.
Except she did explore the world, and she had nothing to show for it. The grass hadn’t been greener on the other side. Despite the glitz and glamour she experienced in Hollywood—an experience soured by her addiction—it hadn’t lived up to her expectations.
Maybe the problem was with her.
She was chasing an impossible dream.
A dream of taking care of this empty void, which only hollowed her out, leaving her vulnerable and desperate to cling to anything to fill it.
First, it was chasing the dream. Then it was chasing the high. Now, she was chasing a ghost.
Or is the ghost chasing me?
It was hard to tell lately which way was up or down.
At roughly the halfway mark to her destination, Gia stopped to peer over a giant rock. Beneath her were more trees, dirt, and rocks. And probably some critters in their hidey-holes.
Already she was feeling a little better. Even as her heart raced and her breaths were shallow, her mind felt calmer and more at peace. Maybe it was the fresh country air, or the forest’s ever-expanding sea of greens, oranges, reds, and browns that calmed her restless nature.
Or maybe it had to do with where she was headed. And who she was about to see.
Her mouth was parched. She should have at least brought a bottle of water with her. It was probably not wise for a woman to be alone in the woods with nothing but the clothes on her back and her cell phone. No doubt, it was a horror story waiting to happen.
Reaching into the pocket of her leggings, she pulled the device out. Sure enough, there was no service.
Out of habit, or perhaps vanity, Gia posed for a few selfies to post later on her social media.
Gia made a note to edit the photo so the fading bruises were filtered out completely.
She’d wait until she was no longer in Willowbrook to share it.
One time, a well-known celebrity had been robbed at gunpoint because the assailants knew where she was going to be—all thanks to her habit of always updating her location in real time.
Thankfully, nobody had been hurt, but Gia didn’t want to be the first. Since then, she’d been cognizant of waiting until she was far away from the destination she posted about.
Inhaling a deep breath, Gia backed away from the cliff’s edge and continued up the trail. If memory served, she had about ten more minutes before she reached her destination. As each step drew her closer to the peak, the familiar itchiness returned.
It made her feel jittery and out of control.
The slowly creeping edges of anxiety threatened to overtake her, but this time she braced herself against it.
Shaking out her arms, she continued her trek up the mountainside.
Instead of focusing on her feelings, she kept her thoughts on the act of putting one foot in front of the other—partially so she wouldn’t trip and fall down the cliffside, but also so she had a mental exercise to complete.
It seemed to work a lot better than she expected, which was a relief.
The last thing she needed was to have another panic attack in the middle of the woods.
Then she’d definitely be making the local news as a missing person.
Sometimes her attacks were brief, but they had the potential to last longer.
If it happened when a bear or mountain lion came across her, she’d be completely defenseless. She was not confident in her abilities to fend off wild animals when she wasn’t having a panic attack, but at least her odds would be a little better.
“Okay, Gia. Get it together, girlfriend.” Buoyed by her pep talk, she marched determinedly toward her destination.
Am I ready for this? No, not at all.
But it was absolutely necessary.
It was time to confront her past and say hi to someone she loved more than anything left in this world. Someone she loved more than even herself, based on her history of self-destructive behaviors.
As she approached the peak, the trees parted to reveal a large, open area. Giant rocks jutted from the mountainside, providing the perfect area for picnics or sunbathing.
This was the perfect time of year to peer over the edge at the magnificent colors of fall. Though it was still early in the season, the kaleidoscope of autumn was awe-inspiring. She loved this time of the year. Fall was her favorite season, while summer had been Thao’s.
Over to the right was where he used to love jumping over the cliffside, down into the watery depths below. She avoided the corner of space for as long as she could before bracing herself for impact.
It’s now or never.
Heaving in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Gia turned her body toward the corner where she’d spent most of her teenage years with Thao and Jake.
Trepidation skittered up her spine, making her skin erupt in goosebumps. The distant sound of laughter carried on the wind as her eyes landed on the shaded section of the cliffside.
Instead of an open area, she saw a bench which hadn’t been there the last time she climbed up this mountainside. And upon the bench sat a familiar head of dark blond hair she recognized immediately.
Jake. Her body tensed as anger and irritation flared in her gut. What the hell is he doing here? And why is he everywhere?
Stomping over to the bench, her footsteps loudly announced her presence, though Jake didn’t bother to turn around.
She circled the bench and stared down at a peaceful Jake, who looked like he was relaxing under the fading sun.
“What the hell are you doing here?”