Chapter 14 #2
At the landing, I’m able to make out the outline of the attic door in the ceiling. Completely sealed shut. My brows furrow in confusion when hushed whispers suddenly catch my attention.
I switch off my flashlight before I reach the top step, just in case, moving as quietly as I possibly can. My breath hitches when I notice a strip of light coming from an open door. I press myself into the shadows and crane my neck toward the voices.
“It wasn’t funny,” Kiki says just loud enough for me to make out.
My entire body stiffens as I realize my mistake.
Of course it wasn’t an intruder—how would they have gotten into the cabin without us noticing?
Biting my lip, I push myself farther into the dark and away from the door as I map out an escape plan.
I could try to make a break for the stairs, but that runs the risk of them noticing me.
And there’s no way to explain why I came up just to turn back around.
Going past them isn’t an option either, with their door wide open. Based on the light spilling out of the room they must have their flashlight sitting on some piece of furniture. Sure, I still need my phone, but that can at least wait until I don’t look like I’m eavesdropping on their conversation.
“It was a joke, Ki,” Carla protests, sounding exasperated and farther away. “And you’re the one who took it too far.”
I’m not sure why I do it. Why I linger when I know I should leave.
Maybe it’s because I’m not any better than the kids at our school—that I’m as desperate for gossip as everyone who followed my father’s trial like it was the latest hit TV show.
Or, maybe, it’s because of the knot that formed in my stomach as soon as I heard Kiki’s voice.
The sinking feeling that they might be talking about me.
Kiki scoffs, her footsteps urgent and steady and her shadow passing in and out of the flashlight’s beam with a startling consistency. She must be pacing. “Right, because you have no idea that Timothy’s been cheating on you since day one.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Kiki’s shadow stills. Slowly, her crossed arms fall to her sides. “Then what did you mean?”
“I think you know…” Carla’s voice is so low I almost can’t make out her response. There’s a strangely playful edge to her tone—I can almost picture the smirk tugging at the corner of her lips as she says it.
By now it’s clear they’re not talking about me. I should leave before I hear something I shouldn’t, but I don’t move. And neither does Kiki, her shadow finally standing still.
Kiki doesn’t respond for so long my spine starts to ache from the way I’ve arched against the wall to hear more clearly.
I’m not sure if they’re ignoring each other or having another one of their stare offs, but footsteps break the tension between them.
In the flashlight’s glow I watch Kiki’s and Carla’s shadows meet each other halfway.
They stall in front of each other, holding for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment before they collide.
Fingers tangling in each other’s hair and clutching each other’s waists as their mouths crash together.
Even from the hallway I can feel the hunger as they move against each other—the wet sounds of hurried kisses and quiet moans as they break from each other’s mouths to explore jaws and necks and the shells of their ears.
Their movements so frantic and their bodies pressed so tightly together that I can’t tell whose shadow is whose anymore.
Grabbing my flashlight off the ground, I scramble up as quickly and quietly as I can—the spell of wanting to know more finally broken.
The carpet pads my footsteps, and Kiki and Carla are thankfully too wrapped up in one another to see the shadow of my hair whip by as I run past the door.
I head for my bedroom at the end of the hall as fast as I dare.
I’ve already intruded more than I should have, and the faster I leave them alone, the better.
Just as I’m about to reach for the knob, a crash stops me in my tracks. Just like before, I let out a choked sound of surprise, my body acting on pure adrenaline and fear. Immediately, I clamp my hand around my mouth again, as I turn around to check for the source of the noise.
“C’mon, those things cost like a hundred bucks,” Kiki complains, and I watch her shadow pick something up off the floor. A doll whose face has been shattered, based on the outline of their shadows.
But Carla doesn’t respond, instead, her shadow grows bigger as she inches toward the door. “Did you hear that?” she whispers, sending my heart straight into the pit of my stomach.
My hand stiffens where it’s clamped around the doorknob, tightening its grip until my fingers start to ache.
Opening the door means making more noise—drawing more attention.
So I stay as still as I possibly can, hoping they won’t notice me frozen in the shadowed hallway. An animal hiding from its predator.
Still as I manage to be, I know I’m caught the second Carla steps out into the hallway. Before I can turn the knob and throw the door open, she’s sprinted over, yanking me back by the arm. Her grip tight enough to make me yelp.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she shouts so close to my ear I wince.
“I thought—”
“Did you see anything?” Kiki interrupts before I can finish explaining myself.
I don’t answer immediately, unsure whether telling the truth is the right move or not. What they do behind Carla’s boyfriend’s back isn’t any of my business. I’m already regretting coming up here in the first place—for lingering when I know I shouldn’t have.
But Kiki doesn’t give me time to decide whether it’s worth being honest with her. She stomps toward me with enough power to make the ground beneath us shake. We’re nearly pressed chest to chest and nose to nose when she finally stops, radiating enough heat to light a dozen furnaces.
“Whatever you saw, forget it.” Her tone makes it clear it’s more than just a command—it’s a warning.
Somehow, she leans even closer, until I can smell the tequila on her breath.
See the smudge of Carla’s cherry-red lip-gloss on her bottom lip.
“You never should’ve been here in the first place,” she says through gritted teeth.
“Kai may have brought you in, but I will happily take you out.”
I’m too panicked to reply, so I nod until she seems satisfied. Hold my breath until she finally backs away from me.
Her eyes are narrowed to slits, watching me over her shoulder as she grabs Carla by the arm and drags her back to their bedroom.
Before I can even let out the breath I was holding, Kiki slams the door behind her, the force of it so intense it knocks me back.
As soon as they’re behind a closed door, I don’t hesitate like I did before. This time, I run.