The Last Thing She Saw...

by Laurel Veil

  The Last

  thing

  she saw…

  Laurel Veil

  THE LAST THING SHE SAW… Copyright © 2020 by Laurel Veil. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.

  ***

  This book is a work of fiction.

  https://laurelveil.com/

  https://www.facebook.com/NumberOneBooks/

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing: 2020

  ISBN

  Lindsay Tiry

  Freelance Cover Artist

  http://lt-arts.weebly.com

  http://www.facebook.com/LTArts

  For anyone that has never had a best friend, but always tried to be one.

  ” We look up at the same stars and see such different things.”

  — George R.R. Martin

  1.

  January 2008

  The streetlights cast a dim, sepia hue through the canopy of knarled limbs. It was eerie, and it gave me the shivers. I felt nervous as I made my way along the weathered sidewalk that traveled through my neighborhood. My fingers were stiff from the cold, but I still managed to hold on tightly to my invitation. It was heavy and felt expensive. I pressed it firmly against my chest. I didn’t want a sudden gust of wind to pull it from my hands. I glanced down. My name, Noelle, was written in loopy cursive on the cream-colored envelope. In the same black ink, on the invitation tucked inside, I’d been instructed to bring it and go to the cemetery at midnight, the night of the full moon. I checked my watch. The hands glowed a pale green. I had thirteen minutes to make it.

  My heart raced as I got closer, and my sister’s voice grew louder in my head. “I don’t know about this,” she’d said when I’d shown her the invitation a week ago, right after I’d first discovered it in my backpack. “It’s creepy.”

  “Uh—it’s mysterious, and that’s what makes it exciting, Autumn,” I’d told her. I’d snatched the invitation back, tucked it away, and attempted to change the subject. She didn’t let it go.

  “What if it’s from some psycho who's been stalking you?” I’d rolled my eyes. “I mean, this isn’t just unsafe, Noelle, like the time you left your window up so Peter Pan could fly through it and whisk you off to Neverland. This is dangerous.”

  I’d cringed. “Do you have to bring that up again? I was like six or something, Autumn.” I remembered mentally kicking myself for telling her about the invitation.

  “You’re always looking for adventure. You’re never satisfied.”

  “What’s wrong with that? Life is boring and most of the time it just sucks.”

  “Doing this could be deadly.”

  “It’s not,” I’d snapped. “You know just as well as me that it’s probably from Ava.” Ava was new to our school that year and so were the two girls she’d already made friends with. “She’s probably going to let me in her group. I knew I shouldn’t have told you.” I had to fight back tears. I’d never had a best friend. Making friends, in general, had always been hard for me. I didn’t understand why Autumn could never be happy for me. “You’re just jealous.”

  As I’d stormed out, I heard her say, “Jealous of what? You’re almost sixteen and hoping that the popular girls will let you in their club. You’re pathetic.”

  An owl’s lonesome hoot snapped me out of my thoughts. I gingerly slid the envelope inside my jacket and pushed my hands deep in my pockets. I could smell a fire. I inhaled and pictured myself warming next to it.

  When I made the last turn, I was surprised to discover that the fire I’d smelled was inside the cemetery. It was small and towards the back, mostly hidden by trees and large tombstones. My stomach twisted into a tight knot when I counted three people dressed in black, hooded robes. I opened the gate quietly and cautiously stepped closer. I crouched behind a mausoleum and swallowed the lump that was rising in my throat as I realized that maybe the invitation I’d received didn’t have a thing to do with Ava and her group of friends after all.

  I watched as one of them scooped leaves from off the ground and tossed them onto the fire. Smoke billowed, and the other two started coughing. “Are you trying to kill us, Dani?” It was Ava. I would know her voice anywhere and, as usual, she was scolding Dani. Her name was Danielle, but no one ever called her that.

  Ava and Riley fanned smoke from their faces. “Someone’s going to see us and call the cops, you idiot,” said Riley.

  “Sorry,” said Dani as she raised her hands in surrender. “I was just trying to keep us warm.”

  I waited a minute for things to settle between them and then slowly approached. When they noticed me, they stood shoulder to shoulder, with Ava in the middle. In complete silence, they peered out from under their hoods. “Halt,” said Ava. “Who goes there?”

  I felt a little silly but went with it. It was too much fun not to. “I’m Noelle,” I said.

  They stared at me for the longest, before Ava finally nudged Riley with her elbow. Riley cleared her throat. “What right do you have to be here?” she asked.

  I was confused for a second, but then I remembered the invitation and pulled it from my jacket. “I found this,” I held up the envelope, “in my backpack last week.”

  Ava grinned slightly and then cut her eyes at Dani. Dani stepped forward, took the invitation, returned, and placed it in Ava’s outstretched hand. Ava opened it and quickly scanned it. “This invitation is authentic, ladies,” she said as she looked to her left at Riley and then to her right at Dani. “It’s official. We have a new member.”

  I felt like I was speeding down a large hill on a roller coaster. It was official. I was one of them.

  “We must drink a celebratory toast in honor of this momentous occasion,” said Ava.

  Riley retrieved a serving tray that was perched on an enormous granite headstone. Dani reached for the dark bottle that was in the center and tried to twist the cork. Ava and Riley rolled their eyes at each other as they watched Dani bite her lip and struggle. The cork finally gave, and a few green suds rose up and ran down the sides. She proceeded to pour about an ounce into four unusual glasses with long twisty stems. We all took one before Riley returned the tray. Ava positioned us around the fire. She looked at me, then tossed the invitation that I had cherished for an entire week into the flames. My breath caught as I watched its edges turn black and begin to curl.

  “It’s midnight,” said Ava. She flung her head back dramatically and looked at the sky. “It’s a new day, which is symbolic of our new alliance.” She paused for effect. “From this day forward, whatever we do, we do for the group.” She took a moment to look each one of us square in our eyes and made us individually repeat after her, “That which is mine now belongs to the group.” At her direction, we then simultaneously spat into the fire. As the fire hissed, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t really promising to look out for one another—we were swearing our allegiance to Ava. Ava then pulled something from off the back of Dani’s robe, and Dani let out a loud, “Oww!” “Bug,” said Ava nonchalantly and she threw it into the fire and mumbled something under her breath. “You didn’t want it to bite you, did ya?”

  “No,” said Dani as she rubbed her head. “But you took some of my hair with it.”

  Just then we could smell a hint of singed hair rising from the fire.

  “To new beginnings!” said Ava as she lifted her drink.

  “To new beginnings,” we repeated and then clinked our glasses together.

  We all took a sip. It was so bitter, our mouths puckered in disgust. Dani moaned. “What is this anyway, Ava?”

&
nbsp; She shrugged. “It’s all I could find in the fridge.”

  Dani turned the bottle so she could see the label. It was a silhouette of a goat’s head. “I think it’s goat piss,” said Dani and we all busted out laughing. “Oh, don’t forget to give her a robe, Ava.”

  Ava nodded toward a tree. “Go get it.”

  Dani went to fetch it like a well-trained dog. She pulled the robe from a low-hanging limb and brought it to me. “Here ya go. Congratulations.” She smiled.

  “Thanks.” I slipped it over my head and spun around. “Wow! I’m one of you guys now.”

  We took a seat around the fire. Their chatter faded, as I thought about how I’d wound up in this unusual situation. Ava was the one I’d made friends with first. We had gym together. There were other girls in our class that I knew, one of the few perks of living in the same place your entire life, that I could’ve hung out with, but Ava, being new, didn’t know anyone, so she latched onto me like she was stranded in the middle of the ocean, and I was a life preserver. I never felt like she liked me all that much, it’s just that she liked being alone less. I was able to make her laugh, so there was that. I liked that I could make her laugh too, but sometimes I felt like a jester trying to entertain a bored king. After months of the same routine, I was surprised when one day out of the blue, she invited me to eat lunch with her, and her two friends—that’s how I met Riley and Dani. I was excited and accepted her invitation because I wasn’t particularly fond of the girls I’d been sitting with. They probably still hadn’t noticed that I was even gone.

  So, for the last two weeks, I’d eaten lunch with Ava and the girls, and we’d hung out a little after school at our neighborhood park. Now that I was an official member of the group, I wondered if we would start doing more things together.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  We made sure the fire was completely out and began our long trek home. As usual, we walked Ava to her house first, and then Riley. “We always take this route. It works out great for them,” I said to Dani as we continued down the dimly lit sidewalk.

  “Why do you say that?” asked Dani.

  “They get out of the cold the fastest, and Ava and Riley never have to walk alone.”

  “I enjoy our walks. I like talking to you.”

  Dani was sweet. I didn’t understand why Ava and Riley gave her such a hard time. “It’s just a lot spookier out here when there’s only two of us. That’s all.”

  “It’s not too bad.”

  “So, what was up with the robes and the cemetery and all of that?”

  Dani laughed. “That’s just Ava being Ava.”

  “Is she always that dramatic?”

  “Pretty much, at least since I’ve known her. I told her she should join theater arts and audition for a school play, but she thinks it’s beneath her. She says she’s moving to Hollywood after we graduate.”

  “It must be nice to have your life figured out already.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t have a clue what I want to do,” I said. “I’ve never really even thought about it.”

  “I really love animals,” said Dani. “And my grades are pretty good. Who knows, maybe I can be a vet. I want to be a mom too and have lots of kids.”

  A few minutes later we were approaching Dani’s house. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” I said.

  “I’ll walk you home. The dark doesn’t bother me,” she said as she continued walking.

  “You don’t need to.” I felt bad for complaining because I’d obviously made her feel like she needed to babysit me now.

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind. I promise.”

  “Well, OK.”

  We continued walking and mostly talked about school. Before I knew it, we were almost to my house.

  “This is about the halfway point between your house and mine,” I said. “So, why don’t you head back now? That way, neither of us has to walk alone for too long.”

  “Are you sure? Like I said, I don’t mind.”

  I think she really didn’t. She was braver than me, but she was also just . . . nice. “I’m positive. See ya.” I gave a small wave and took off at a quick jog so she wouldn’t have a choice. I was afraid of the dark. I would’ve liked having her walk me to my door. But I couldn’t let her walk home alone, all the way from my house. It was dangerous, and it wasn’t fair, even if Ava and Riley didn’t seem to think so.

  I peeked in the garage. My mom’s car was gone. I sighed with relief. I wouldn’t have to be quiet or worry that I might wake her or her precious Rick. I went inside and got ready for bed. I needed to get a few hours of sleep before school. I was grateful it was Friday.

  My eyes had just started to close when I heard my mom’s car pull in. I tried to stay awake long enough to count the number of doors that shut. For the longest, there was only one, and I got my hopes up that she was by herself. When the other one slammed, I deflated. That meant Rick was with her. Well, at least it meant she wasn’t alone. I tiptoed across my room to make sure my bedroom door was locked and tucked a chair up under the knob for backup.

  I heard my mom giggling as she came into the house. That was a good sign. I strained to listen. I finally heard Rick’s voice. I felt relieved. At least Rick didn’t hit my mom. At least not yet. He was still kind of new though.

  I stood by my door and waited to make sure my mom was OK, and in case she came to my room to check on me, I could let her in. I waited a few more minutes. She probably just didn’t want to wake me. I slipped back into bed, shut my eyes, and let a few tears escape.

  2.

  My stomach grumbled as I stared into the empty fridge. I zipped my jacket, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and locked the door behind me. A few minutes later, I was walking up to the cutest little house in the neighborhood. Smoke was coming from its chimney, and the windows glowed an inviting shade of yellow. A short, plump, elderly woman opened the screen door. “There she is!” her voice smiled.

  “Hey, Grandma,” I said as I made my way up the worn, wooden steps to her porch. She hugged me before I even made it inside. Her home was as warm and inviting as she was. “Mm. It smells good in here.”

  “Wash up and help yourself. I had a feeling you might stop by this morning.”

  “A feeling, huh?”

  Grandma’s belly jiggled when she chuckled. We both knew about her feelings. Grandma had a way of knowing stuff before it happened sometimes.

  “Well, I was sure hoping you would stop by. I fried some bacon and made scrambled eggs. The toast is already buttered.”

  Grandma made herself a plate too and sat down across from me. She took my hand, and as she thanked God for our food, I glanced at the picture that was sitting next to a lamp in the den. It was of a man with his arm lovingly around a beautiful young woman. A little girl was nestled between them, smiling. I was about four. That was one of the few pictures I had of me with my mom and dad. He left us a few months after it was taken.

  Grandma sipped her coffee then set the cup down in its saucer. “So what’s new? Anything on your mind?” she asked.

  “Well, I got invited to join a . . . club.”

  “Wow! That sounds exciting. What kind of club is it?”

  I thought a minute as I chewed. “It’s just a group of girls. And they are pretty and popular, and they asked me to be a part of it.”

  “Are they nice girls?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah. I guess.”

  “You guess? You don’t sound too sure.”

  “Well, Danielle—we call her Dani—she’s really nice.”

  We ate in silence for a few minutes, and then my grandma finally got around to asking me what I knew she’d been dying to ask. “So, how’s your mama?”

  “Fine.”

  “She still seeing that same fella?” She peered at me over the top of her glasses.

  “Rick. Yes.”

  “He still good to her?”

  I raised my brows and exhaled. “So far.”

  “He doesn
’t make you feel, uncomfortable, does he?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Good.” She sighed. “I know I’ve said it a million times, but you can stay here anytime you want for as long as you want.”

  “I know, Grandma. I really appreciate it. But—”

  “I know. You gotta stay and look after your mom.” She took another sip of coffee. “I wish that daughter of mine knew how blessed she was to have a daughter like you.”

  I noticed my grandma wasn’t eating as much as she usually did. When she put her elbows on the table, rested her head in her hands, and rubbed her temples, I knew why.