This is a work of fiction. All the resemblances are completely accidental. Don't read it if you are not supposed to. You know the drill. My e-mail is ConcertoInD@Gmail.com if you want to tell me something (insults, praises, and whatnot). Thanks!
- XII -
Amber didn't come to school on Monday and the entire day I felt like I was sitting on extremely hot coals. When the day was finally over, I threw my backpack on my shoulder and walked up to Christy who was holding Alex's hand. She let go of his hand the second she saw me and I almost growled at her.
"I am going to Amber's", I said tightly and she nodded.
"I'll walk you to your car", she said quickly and looked at Alex. "I'll be right back, okay?"
"Okay", he smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips.
We were walking towards my car and I muttered:
"Bailey, do two things for me, will you?"
"Sure", she said uncomfortably.
We were almost by my car so I stopped and looked at her.
"Okay, thing number one. Stop acting so damn guilty every time I am around you and Landon, will you?"
She blinked.
"Don't drop his hand just because I come closer, okay?"
"Okay", she muttered. "What's thing number two?"
"Thing number two..." I sighed. "Please don't tell him about the way I feel..."
She looked at me like I just asked her to iron my shoe laces.
"I would never tell him that", she said with reproach.
I grinned.
"Thanks. Well, I am going to go and if I don't call you tonight, that'll mean that Amber killed me."
Christy winced.
"Want me to come with you?"
"No", I sighed. "That'll be even worse, considering the whole thing..."
"Yeah", Christy said softly. "Well, good luck then!"
"Uh huh", I unlocked my car and threw my backpack inside. "Talk to you later, Chris..."
"Bye..."
I parked the car and slowly climbed out. I walked towards Amber's door and tried to figure out what I will say when I see her. I didn't have a slightest clue and finally I just rang the door bell. Nobody answered and I rang it again. Amber's car was sitting on the driveway. That meant she was home. I frowned when I got no answer again. I rang it for the third time and finally I tried the door knob. It turned easily and the door creaked open. Suddenly I felt uneasy.
"Amber!" I shouted and gritted my teeth when nobody replied.
Great... She is probably performing a voodoo ritual in the bathroom. I walked inside the house and shut the door.
"Amber!"
No answer. I could almost see her sitting on the bathroom floor, sticking needles into a little doll that had my picture on its face. I shuddered, almost expecting a shooting pain somewhere in my body. Of course nothing happened and I just muttered "Idiot" under my breath.
"Amber! Please, I need to talk to you!..."
I slowly opened the bathroom door and winced when there was nobody there. I was positive that she was in the bathroom.
"Amber!!" I yelled louder.
I looked in the kitchen and it was empty. Finally I walked upstairs and knocked on the door of her bedroom.
"Amber, come on! Please, I just need to talk to you!..."
I sighed when nobody answered.
"Okay, I am coming in then..."
I opened the door and frowned when I saw that her bedroom was empty.
"What the hell..." I muttered and went inside. "Amber?... You here?"
I even looked under her bed but all I found was a couple of dust bunnies. I sat on the bed and started to think. Her car is here, the front door was unlocked... This was worse than a Bermuda Triangle. Then I saw light under the door of her closet and I groaned. Are you kidding me? She was sitting in the freaking closet all this time just to be spiteful? Man... I sighed and got up.
"Amber, come on", I said loudly and walked towards her closet. "I know you are in there... Just come out, okay? I know I am an ass but can I just talk to you? Please?"
I stood by the closet door and my only answer was silence.
"Okay", I said patiently. "I am coming in now... Please don't hit me on the head with anything too heavy, okay?..."
Silence. I knew that something will hit me hard the minute I walk into that closet. I never realized just how hard it will hit me until I opened the door and saw her. At first I couldn't understand what the hell I was seeing.
"Amber..." I muttered and my body started to shake.
She was hanging off the thick black belt that was attached to something that looked like an old iron hook. For some strange reason that belt almost mesmerized me. I can still see the cracked leather, dully shining metal buckle, and all those button holes. Two of them were so worn out that they looked huge. Amber's body was really still as if she was frozen in mid-air. The tips of her black shoes touched the carpet ever so slightly. I couldn't see her face because her hair covered it completely. I felt like I was having a nightmare. "Wake up", I thought numbly. "Jesus, Jake... Just wake up!" I took a step towards her and it felt like I was moving through very thick syrup. I touched her arm and it was so cold that it almost burned me.
I backed out of the closet slowly and went downstairs. I found the phone and thought that I should really get myself a cell phone. I punched in three digits and put the phone against my ear.
"911 operator", I've heard almost immediately. "What's your emergency?"
"Yes, it's an emergency", I said slowly and I couldn't feel my lips move.
"What is the emergency, sir?" she repeated patiently.
"It's an emergency", I said again, all of a sudden forgetting the rest of the words.
"What's the address?" she asked me tiredly and for a second I couldn't remember but then it popped up in my mind and I slowly said it to her.
"All right", she said in a minute. "I am sending a unit now, please stay calm..."
The line clicked dead and I stared at the crack in the floor. It seemed like it was growing bigger every second. I blinked and looked at the phone that I was still clutching in my hand. I slowly punched in Christy's number and waited for her to answer.
"Chris", I said when she did.
"What is it?" she asked. "Are you alive?" and she laughed.
"Chris", I said again, feeling like the crack in the floor was about to swallow me whole.
"What is it, Jake?" her voice sounded alarmed. "You okay?... Jake! Talk to me! What..."
"Chris", I said again and then I've heard the sirens. "I gotta go", I muttered. "The unit is here..."
I pushed the End button and very carefully replaced the receiver in the cradle. I was still staring at the crack in the floor when the policemen and paramedics walked through the front door.
"Sir?" one of the cops called and I looked at him. "What's your emergency?"
I blinked.
"It's an emergency..." I muttered and then I was shaking again.
"What is it?" the cop frowned and threw a quick look across the living room.
"Upstairs..." I whispered. "She is in the closet and she is really cold..."
Two paramedics and one cop immediately went upstairs and in less than a minute I've heard one of them cursing loudly and very bitterly. I couldn't take my eyes off that damn crack in the floor. I felt that if I just keep staring at that, this whole thing will simply disappear and I will wake up in my bed, probably covered by cold sweat. Maybe I did get drunk after Amber left and now I was simply laying on the kitchen floor in the puddle of my own vomit. Laying there, passed out, having this insanely vivid nightmare. That's what it was, I realized and was so relieved that I almost cried. I just wished I could wake up finally. I pinched my arm and it almost didn't hurt. Probably because I did it in my sleep... "Or maybe it's because you are so numb that running a needle through your eye ball won't hurt much either", a voice in my head whispered. No, no, no... This is a nightmare I am having. I just need to wake up before...
"Jake!! Oh my God, what happened?!"
I slowly turned my head. It was Christy.
"Jake!" she almost screamed. "What the hell happened here? Where is Amber?"
"Chris", I said in a very calm voice.
"What?" she breathed, her eyes huge by now.
"Pinch me please..."
"Pinch you?" she frowned. "Why?"
"Because I need to wake up, Chris. Pinch me, Chris."
"Wake up?... Jake you are not sleeping! Jake..."
"Just pinch me, okay?"
"Oh Jesus Christ! Fine, fine... Here..." she pinched my arm really hard and I cried out in pain.
I looked around and nothing changed. Every single damn thing stayed the same.
"Pinch me harder, Chris..."
"Jake, you scaring me! What happened here?"
She was saying something else when the paramedics brought a black body bag downstairs. Christy immediately stopped talking and stared at it.
"We need to ask you a couple of questions", one of the cops said to me quietly and I blinked.
"Yeah", I muttered. "Sure..."