The Girl In White

by Shannon Reber

  That was when I saw him. Dylan stood next to the stream, Ian’s phone in his hand. I could see his mouth moving, though couldn’t make anything out. He must be speaking quietly. Was he using Ian’s phone or was he . . . and my heart stopped.

  Ian lay on the ground at Dylan’s feet, blood all around him. His face was covered by it, his shirt splattered. Ian. Please, not Ian.

  Without a clear thought in my head, I ran forward and fell to my knees next to Ian. I didn’t care about anything other than seeing if he was alive. If Dylan had killed him, Dylan would not walk out of there alive.

  With shaky fingers, I reached toward his neck to feel for a pulse. Before my fingers could make contact, I was yanked up and turned around to face Dylan. And my temper flew free.

  I hadn’t allowed myself to release my temper in years. At the sight of the boy who had murdered Emma and hurt Ian, my restraint vanished. I drew my fist back and punched him so hard in the stomach, his breath whooshed out in a groan of pain.

  His grip on me also loosened, so I pulled my arm free. Because he had bent down slightly with my strike, I brought my hands up to hook around the back of his neck, pulled his head down and kneed him in the nose.

  The bone and gristle of his nose crunched as blood began to pour from his face. He howled in pain and tried to shove me away although I clung on, smashing my knee into his pulverized nose yet again.

  I felt someone move behind me. I didn’t look. My body and mind were fully fixed on the murderer in front of me. I didn’t even know if Ian was alive. There was no way Dylan was walking out of there under his own steam.

  That was when something was wrapped around my throat. I didn’t know what was going on. My eyes flicked over to find Ian still laying on the ground as the pressure around my throat grew only worse.

  My eyes met Dylan’s and everything began to make sense. There was a mix of shame and excitement on his face. It was like the pain I had inflicted on him was nothing in comparison to the thrill he felt as whoever it was tightened whatever was around my neck even further.

  Adrian. She wasn’t the innocent victim she had made herself out to be. She and Dylan had worked together. That was why there had been the time delay.

  Adrian had told us that she had followed Dylan as he’d run after Emma. The problem was, Emma would never have been wearing the sweatshirt I’d given her at the party. She had seen the two in bed and gone home, probably changed her clothes and gone for a walk while waiting for me to arrive.

  Dylan and Adrian had come together to find her. I didn’t know if they had planned to kill her or if it had just happened in the heat of the moment.

  “You broke my nose,” Dylan whined as Adrian forced the air from my lungs.

  I kicked out at him, my foot slamming into his knee. He screamed again and fell to the ground in a whimpering heap. It was so much less than he deserved.

  I tried to hit Adrian, my hands clawing, gouging, punching. It was like she felt nothing. And that girl was far stronger than she looked.

  I lurched backward and we both fell. Adrian was under me, though her grip didn't loosen in the least. It grew tighter.

  Black spots floated in front of my eyes. Drool dripped from my mouth as my eyes bugged. I clawed at her hands.

  Adrian’s knees clutched my hips and she rolled so my face was pressed to the ground and she tightened the garrote yet further.

  My vision flickered. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get Adrian off me. I was about to die.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  They say that the moment before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. It didn’t work that way for me. No thought formed in my mind at all. Only pain. And that pain was unbelievable.

  It was like there was a vice around my neck. The tightness, the lack of blood flow, the convulsions of my body, it was all I knew. Death would indeed be a mercy when it finally came.

  Something white flashed in front of me and all of a sudden, air flooded my lungs. I coughed and wheezed in as much as possible. It hurt. A lot. The white in my vision didn’t fade.

  Painfully I flopped onto my back, still fighting to bring in as much air as possible. If I could have screamed, I would have. The sight before me was like one from a horror movie.

  The figure in white was Emma. It also wasn’t her. It was a distorted memory of the girl who had been my friend. The almost solid figure who stood there with the sweatshirt string she had been strangled with . . . Erkens had been right. It was finally clear to me.

  Emma had wanted us to know how she died. She hadn’t been able to communicate with us. What she did, was show us through Manuel and CJ. She killed them so we would see the truth.

  Tears slid their way down my cheeks as I looked at the girl in white above me. A vengeful spirit. Still, she had saved me. Was it possible there was some part of Emma left in that creature?

  Adrian looked like she was about ready to pee her pants. She lurched toward Dylan like she thought he would protect her.

  Dylan continued to whimper in pain, his voice turning to screeches of horror as he saw Emma. “No! It can’t be! You’re dead. You’re dead. We killed you,” he blubbered out as he tried to scooch away from her.

  Emma stepped closer, that string held up again. She didn’t speak. Maybe she couldn’t. I didn’t know. All she did was advance on those two, rage written clearly all over her face.

  “Emma, I didn’t want to do it. I’m sorry, baby. You know I loved you. You know I did. Adrian made me. She told me I had to.”

  “I did not!” Adrian shouted, her teeth bared in fury. “Oh, Adrian. You have to help me. You have to, Adrian. Emma is such a psycho control-freak. I want to break up with her but she—”

  A groan sounded out and Ian shifted around on the ground. A gasp came next and all of a sudden, he was next to me. “Maddie? Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes fogged by pain as he took my hand.

  My eyes remained fixed on the scene behind him. I had to see. I had to know the truth.

  Adrian sneered. “Told you to hit him harder,” she snapped at Dylan.

  I gripped Ian’s hand and did my best to pull myself up. My body was so weak and shaky, I didn’t have the strength to do it on my own.

  Ian put his arm behind me and gently eased me up, then back to lean against him. He kept his arms around me, his eyes only half taking in the scene around us. It was like I was more important to him than that. Wow. Just wow.

  Adrian sneered again, apparently deciding to pretend like Emma wasn’t there. “Aw, look. Ian gets his girl. You been trying to get with her since you were ten. Long road, huh Ian,” she mocked, her hands still wrapped around the rope she’d been strangling me with.

  His eyes moved from Adrian to Dylan and a slight smile came to his lips. “Guessing you pissed Maddie off,” he said to Dylan, pride in his voice.

  Dylan didn’t look away from Emma, terror so clear on his face it didn’t seem like he even remembered his pulverized nose. “Adrian made me do it,” he said in a pleading tone.

  Emma’s figure flickered, the cold growing all the more profound as she took a step closer to them. It was like she was as single-minded as Dylan was. And her mind was on death.

  I tried to swallow the saliva that had gathered in my mouth. It felt like trying to swallow knives. I shifted again, relieved when Ian got to his feet and helped me up. I had to get Emma’s attention. I had to.

  I took a shaky step closer to her, determined to stop her from killing more people. It didn’t matter that Dylan didn’t deserve to be saved. I was saving Emma, not him.

  I stumbled forward, my eyes fixed on the girl in white. “Emma,” I whispered, no louder sound able to come from my damaged throat.

  She looked at me, her eyes filled with rage and sorrow together. “Come home, Maddie,” her ghostly voice said.

  I lifted my little finger. “I’m here, Emma. I’m home. I’m not going anywhere,” I croaked out.

  Her lips curved up in a smile that fell away as she looked at Dylan.
>
  “Emma,” I whispered out, taking another step closer. “Let the cops deal with them. They’ll go to prison and—”

  Adrian shrieked and dove at me, knocking me to the ground. Since I had been so close to Ian, he was knocked back as well. His already concussed head collided with the ground and the wound in the side of his head began to bleed again.

  I wasn’t about to let that girl win. Not a chance. She had masterminded the plan to kill Emma. She would pay.

  She moved to wrap that rope around my neck again, her eyes cold. It was like a business transaction in her mind. She felt nothing in regards to taking my life.

  I punched her in the throat with as much force as I could muster. She coughed and fell back, her hands clutched around that spot.

  I got to my feet as fast as possible, my eyes fixed on Emma. She advanced on Dylan who continued to scurry away. I had hurt him enough with my kick to his knee that he did not move quickly. And Ian was on the ground, a dazed look on his face.

  Emma flickered again before she simply appeared behind Dylan, the sparkly string of her sweatshirt wrapped around his neck. She forced him to his knees like he had done to her.

  “I wasn’t dead when you strung me up, Dylan. I was alive.” Her voice echoed as she spoke, though her body solidified until she appeared to be the girl I knew.

  He made choking noises as he tried to free himself, his body convulsing in pain. I wanted to see it as nothing more than justice. My mind wouldn’t allow it. It was wrong for Emma’s ghost to do it as much as it was wrong for me not to stop her.

  I stepped forward, my hand extended toward her. “Emma, stop. You have to stop,” I croaked out, my voice no less strong than it had been a few minutes before.

  Her eyes met mine and the rage in them showed me clearly she was not my friend. I had wanted for Erkens to be wrong. He hadn’t been, though. There was nothing of Emma left in the malevolent spirit in front of me.

  That was when the splash of feet in the stream came to my ears. I didn’t look away from Emma, my hand still held out. Maybe, just maybe she could be reasoned with.

  “I bet I can skip a rock more times than you,” I said, praying there was something of Emma left.

  Her eyes were fixed on mine, a tiny smile on her lips when a bold, yellowish green light flashed through the air. I had no idea what that light was. When it shone out, Emma disappeared.

  Dylan’s body fell to the ground, his face purple, his head turned at an odd angle. His neck was broken. Dylan was dead. I hadn’t saved him at all.

  “Thanks for that, bro. I think you saved my life,” Adrian’s cold voice said from behind me.

  Spencer stepped forward, his eyes flicking from me, to his sister, to Ian, to the rope in Adrian’s hand. It was like all the puzzle pieces fitted into place in his mind. He took hold of my elbow to guide me away from Adrian.

  She sneered at him. “Always the hero. Trying to save the innocent. You’re such a loser, Spence. If I had power like yours, I wouldn’t hide it. I’d show the world. No one would ever mess with me.”

  “What have you done, Adrian?” he asked in a weak voice.

  “You want to know what I’ve done?” she bawled at him, throwing her hands in the air in a way that made the rope swing like a gruesome pendulum. “All I did was make sure Dylan was mad when he went to talk to Emma. His temper was something I could count on. I knew if she threatened to leave him, he’d be afraid Ian would beat him up and he’d lose his place as the most popular guy’s wingman. It was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. He didn’t have to listen to me. He chose to. He’s the one who strangled her. All I did was watch,” she said with a negligent shrug.

  “Is somebody else to blame for what you did to Madison?” Spencer asked with a motion toward me.

  Adrian curled her lip. “No, that was for fun. I mean, she thinks Preston is going to be so proud of his momma.”

  Spencer tipped his head back in confusion. “What are you talking about? We don’t even know who Preston’s mom is. Dad never told us.”

  And all of a sudden, the light dawned. The baby wasn’t Adrian’s. She had played me, told me what I had expected to hear.

  I had no idea what the story was with the baby. It didn’t matter. Dylan lay dead on the ground. Ian was hurt. Emma . . . what had happened to Emma?

  I took a step closer to where Ian tried to get up, my knees wobbling. It was like being at sea. I hated being at sea.

  Adrian stepped in front of me, a wide smile on her deranged lips. “Do you finally get it?” she asked in a mock baby voice. “You’re such a smart girl but you’re so stupid.” She clicked her tongue at me. “Emma was mean, yes. You should have stopped her, yes. She totally deserved to die. I even knew she was still alive when Dylan hung her in the garage. Watching her die was the best moment of my life. I came to see Dylan a few months ago and got him mad enough to threaten me so I could record it. Had to have something on him in case he let his guilty conscience take control. Such an idiot. He throws a temper tantrum and kills his girlfriend, then gets all depressed about it. I did a little dance on her grave, personally. I wanted her to suffer. I got my wish. Emma even returned from the grave so my dear brother could exile her.”

  I glanced at Spencer, startled by that particular word usage. “Exile?” I asked, desperate to sit down.

  Spencer swallowed hard. He didn’t answer. His eyes turned to look as the sound of footsteps began coming through the trees.

  I looked as well, relieved to see Bukowski and quite a few uniformed officers with him. It surprised me how relieved I was to see the guy. I may not like him very much but he could be trusted to do the right thing, I was certain.

  My eyes fell on Erkens as he stood in the trees on the other side of the stream. I didn’t know how long he’d been there or how much he’d heard but he too could be trusted. I knew it.

  Adrian stood calmly as the cops arrested her but her eyes stayed fixed on me. It was like a threat. She was not done with me.

  I stumbled over and half sat, half fell onto the ground next to Ian. Neither of us was in good shape. We were alive, though. We had made it through the ordeal.

  TWENTY-SIX

  I squirmed and fidgeted. I felt trapped. I also felt annoyed. Nothing was wrong with me although the doctors refused to let me get out of there. They insisted on calling my dad to come and pick me up.

  All I wanted was to see Ian. I had to make sure he truly was okay. Ugh. That was a ridiculous thought. Of course he wasn’t okay.

  Admittedly, neither was I. Dylan. He was dead. He had murdered Emma, then been murdered by her ghost. Yeah, I was going to need some serious therapy.

  Adrian had been arrested so that was one good thing to come out of the day’s events. It had been such a long and emotional day. I felt drained, though also wired.

  The cubicle I had been parked in smelled like a mix of blood, sweat, and cleaning products. It was unpleasant and I’d had enough unpleasant to last me a lifetime. All I wanted was to smell a mix of soap and coffee. Why didn’t they understand that?

  Out of sheer frustration, I swung my legs over the side of the gurney and began to swing them back and forth like a little kid. I didn’t care how childish it was. I needed to move. I hated feeling trapped and that was exactly how they made me feel.

  That was when I saw him. Dark blond hair. Caribbean blue eyes. A cup of coffee in each hand. Ian. He was really there. He was okay.

  He looked like he’d been clobbered by an angry gorilla. The side of his head was a mess, with dried blood and what I’d guess was glue holding together the wound. Bruises fanned out from that point he’d been struck and he still wore his bloodstained clothes.

  Despite that, he looked amazing. Ian Gregory was alive. I didn’t need anything else.

  He walked over and sat down on the bed next to me, handing me one of the cups of coffee. “So if I spend about twenty years apologizing ten times a day for being such a jerk and almost getting you killed because of it, do you think
you might be able to forgive me?” he asked, his eyes fixed on the coffee cup in his hand.

  I brought my cup up and sniffed at it, recalling the peaceful time we’d had just that morning. It was a gift. Swallowing was something I was not at all interested in doing. The smell of the coffee was enough.

  “I don’t even need one apology, Ian. It was a bad day for both of us. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it through,” I croaked out.

  “Yes, you would. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met, Madison Meyer.”

  I shot him a crooked grin. “Does this mean you forgive me for hacking your high school records to change your name to Scooby-Doo?”

  He snorted out a small half laugh sound and leaned over to touch his lips to my brow. “I thought that was hilarious after I stopped yelling at you. I laughed for about a week straight.”

  I leaned into him, pleased when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “I need you to understand that, Ian. I get why you were upset. I was upset too. I’m not mad at you. If I had listened to you about Adrian being a liar, none of this would have happened.”

  “She is a liar, yes. So was Dylan.” His voice broke on that name, pain radiating off him in waves.

  I leaned closer to him, wanting to help him in any way to make it through that ordeal. “I’m sorry, Ian. About everything.”

  He huffed out a loud breath and took a drink of his coffee. “If you’d listened to me, we’d still be in the dark.” He slid his hand up and down my arm. “I plan to listen to you on pretty much everything for the rest of my life. Work for you?”

  I sighed and patted his stomach. “Sounds boring. I like arguing with you. It’s the highlight of my days.”

  He smiled and pulled me a little closer. It was all I needed. He was alive. He wasn’t angry with me. I could handle anything for those reasons.

  After a few minutes, a figure slunk into my cubicle with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. He looked like he was either running from someone or hiding from someone. I wasn’t sure which.