Wicked Lies

by Michelle Areaux

  "Noah went to get some coffee, Sadie. He's been here all night with you. We couldn’t get him to leave." My mom smiled. I knew she'd forever hold a special place for Noah in her heart, knowing how much he cared for me and that he'd saved my life.

  I realized I couldn’t feel my diamond ring. I looked down, horrified to find that my ring was no longer where it belonged, nestled on my finger, and panic rose inside of me. I tried to push myself up again, searching the room once more, this time for any sign of my ring.

  "Sadie, what are you doing?" my mom asked, trying to push me back down again.

  "My ring," I cried, tears filling my eyes. I don’t know what I'd do if I'd lost that ring. Sure, to some it was just a silly ring my boyfriend gave me, but to me, it meant so much more. That ring symbolized love, hope, and my life with Noah, and I had to find it.

  Almost laughing, my mom shook her head and dug around inside her purse. "The doctors took it off when you arrived at the hospital. Noah wouldn’t let them put it with your other things, like your cell phone. He took it, and he's had it since you've been here," my mom said, patting my arm.

  "Oh, okay," I said, and I exhaled a deep breath. My stomach settled a bit, and I felt my heart moving back down to my chest.

  I smiled and relaxed back into the pillows propped behind my head. My stomach churned, and I realized I was hungry.

  "Mom, could you get me something to eat?" "Sure thing, honey. And as soon as the doctor

  says you're fine to leave, I'm taking you back home with me." She stood and grabbed her purse. I knew she was about to go to the hospital cafeteria to get me something to eat, but I stopped her before she could leave the room.

  "No, Mom, I don’t want to go home yet." I tried to sound strong and serious, but my body and voice were still weak, and I was pretty sure I sounded more like a toddler than a mature teenager.

  "Sadie, you cannot be serious. You almost got yourself killed. You’re going home." Her tone seemed final, and I knew I didn’t have the energy to argue with her anymore. I'd just have to let her think she'd won, then show her differently once I'd regained my energy.

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Mom, I'm okay," I grumbled as she frantically rushed around the car to open the back, passenger's side door. Even though the doctors had assured her I was fine, my mom insisted I be put in a wheelchair and wheeled out to the car. My left arm was broken, my ribs sore, and I had a huge gash on my cheek. Other than that, I was fine.

  "Sadie, you're not fine, and as soon as I get you back to Morgan’s we’re going to pack your things and we’re getting on the first flight back to Salem," she announced from the driver’s seat of her rental car. I wanted to argue with her, but I saved my energy. I knew that once we'd gotten to Morgan’s I'd have to battle with her to let me stay a few more days.

  I felt my phone vibrate in my bag and when I reached to retrieve it I felt a sharp pain shoot through my body.

  "Ouch," I cried, cringing from the pain‒I'd forgotten how badly it hurt to move.

  My mom glanced back at me, her eyebrows raised. "See? You are not fine," she stated.

  I rolled my eyes, pulled my phone from the bag, and answered the call from Noah.

  "Hey, Sadie, are you on your way?" Noah asked.

  He hadn’t left my side since the accident until my mom and aunt had forced him to leave the hospital that morning to go home and take a shower. From what I could tell, he'd really begun to stink up the place.

  Lucy had spent most of her time at the hospital, too, but she felt guilty leaving the farm unattended and went back to help Aunt Morgan with her paperwork until her yearly workers returned from their vacations. I think the hospital creeped her out. Lucy would never admit to it, but I knew it made her uneasy.

  "Yes, we are on our way home. Mom is acting like I'm broken," I said, trying to laugh, but even that hurt, so I held it in.

  "Well," Noah began, "your kind of are broken, babe. You need to rest and take it easy for a while. No more ghost hunting." He sounded almost angry, and I knew he was scared. The accident had changed a lot of things for me, too, but I hope Noah knew me well enough to know I wasn’t going to stop until the job was finished.

  "We'll talk about that when I get home," I replied.

  "Fine," he snapped before hanging up.

  My mom and I drove in silence. The drive from the Lexington hospital to Aunt Morgan’s farm was about thirty minutes long. Once we found ourselves out of the city and back in the middle of the country, a sense of relief washed over me. I was happy to finally get out of the car, but more than anything, I knew what I had to do to end the job.

  While in the hospital, I had a dream, a very vivid dream. In this dream, I was watching Bethany and William while they were both alive. I saw them promise each other they'd never give up. They spoke with such sincerity that I could feel the love they shared, even though I had an outsider’s perspective. They held each other tightly as they walked out by the pond on Aunt Morgan’s property. I knew I had to bring Bethany to William, even though Melanie was stopping them from reuniting.

  When my mom parked the car, Aunt Morgan and Uncle Johnny were waiting on the front porch. Both looked at me with such pity, I wanted to scream. Noah and Lucy were standing beside them, the same expressions on their faces, and I thought I might puke. Noah helped me out of the car, treating me as if

  I were fragile, like I was made out of glass and he was afraid he could easily break me. "We need to talk," I whispered as he helped me onto the porch.

  "Fine," he shot back, "but first, I need to give you back your ring. You know they wanted to cut this off your finger. I had to fight three different doctors to save this ring," he said, a hint of anger in his voice.

  I wanted to yell at him for snapping at me, but I didn’t. Noah’s voice might have portrayed anger, but his eyes were full of sadness. I held out my hand to let Noah place the ring back on my finger. When I glanced down at it, I finally felt whole again.

  "Thanks," I managed to say, trying not to cry from the pain of my injuries and the happiness I felt to have my ring back.

  Noah seemed content, too. He took my hand and gently kissed the diamond as he looked deep into my eyes. All I could do was smile back–there were no words I could think to say in that moment.

  Noah and I were quickly brought back to reality when we heard my mom behind us as he walked me toward the house. He nodded his head, motioning for Lucy to come with us. In the days I'd spent at the hospital, I was unable to tell Noah and Lucy about what had happened as either my mom or Aunt Morgan were always around. It was always too dangerous to try to talk about William and Bethany in the event a nurse or doctor might walk in on them. If anyone else heard about what had happened, they'd have locked me up in an insane asylum for sure.

  "We're going to take Sadie up to her room and let her rest," Lucy announced. She reached her arms around my waist to help me walk. As we began to move, Max watched me from the corner of his eye. For a dog, he was proving very judgmental. He also seemed like he was upset with me for leaving without warning and getting myself into a dangerous car accident.

  "Thanks," Mom yelled. "I'm going to book us a flight for the morning and then we're leaving." She turned to Aunt Morgan and Uncle Johnny and I knew they were about to have a tough conversation.

  My mom and Aunt Morgan had argued at the hospital. My mom blamed my aunt for my accident, believing she wasn’t keeping a close enough eye on us. Aunt Morgan felt terrible and believed it was her fault. I had to become their mediator, begging them both to understand the accident was my fault and my fault alone. I was the one that had decided to jump into the truck. I'd pretended like I couldn’t remember where I was going the night of the accident, but I assured them it was neither of their faults. After two days of arguing, Aunt Morgan and my mom agreed to put the accident behind them and stop fighting, but Mom was still rushing to get me out of Kentucky.

  Once we were upstairs, I locked the bedroom door, made Noah and Lucy sit on
my bed, and quickly filled them in on what had happened at Bethany’s grave and what I'd learned about Melanie. When I finished filling them in, they looked as if their heads were about to explode. I waited for the information to settle before I began explaining the plan.

  "So, let me get this straight," Noah began as he stood and paced the room. "Bethany's really Melanie, and Melanie's evil, so she's keeping Bethany and William apart." He stopped and looked at me for confirmation.

  I nodded. "Yep, that’s right," I said. "Wow!" Lucy yelled. "This is crazy."

  "It is crazy, but more than anything, it's wrong. What Melanie did was murder. Now she's keeping Bethany and William apart. We have to bring Bethany to William tonight, but in order to do that, we have to keep pretending we don’t know the truth about Bethany and Melanie. If Melanie finds out I know who she is, she may do something drastic." I stopped talking and shuddered. I was almost killed because of Melanie. I didn’t want to find out what she could do when she was really mad.

  I focused and pulled myself back to my current situation. "I'll distract Melanie by asking her to meet me by the pond at eight tonight. I'll contact Bethany and explain to her what we're doing. I'll tell her to meet us by the truck at seven thirty. She can follow us to Camp Nelson and that's where we'll reunite her and William. By the time Melanie realizes what's happened it'll be too late, and William and Bethany will already be together." I smiled, thankful to have my plan outlined and ready to go. I just hoped all would go as planned.

  "It sounds complicated but manageable," Lucy said, reaching for my hand. "Sadie, we're here for you and we'll help you with whatever you need, but…" her voice trailed off as she stared at me. Her eyes filled with tears as she struggled to form her words. I squeezed her hand, reassuring her that I understood her fear. As she continued to talk, she wiped away the tears that were falling down her face. "I want you to be careful. We thought we'd lost you, Sadie. The wreck was awful. You could have been killed," she said.

  Tears slipped down my cheeks, though I desperately tried to hold a brave face. I wanted to be strong for Noah and Lucy. I didn’t want them to know how incredibly terrified I was that something could go horribly wrong, like the last time. I wanted to scream and cry and jump on a plane and never return to that place, but I couldn’t do that to myself or to Bethany or to my friends who believed in me. I think Lucy knew it, too, and the idea that I was too stubborn to leave even in the face of such evil scared her.

  "I know you're worried, but I'll be okay. I'm always fine. We have to end this, or someone may get killed next time," I said.

  Noah was still striding across the room. When he stopped, it was to stand in front of Lucy and me. He wore a torn expression that made me want to reach up and hug him. He was scared for me–for all of us.

  "Promise us, Sadie, that this all ends after tonight. I know you can’t control how and when the dead contact you, but no more sneaking around and lying. If your job gets to be too much, you tell us. Let us help and we can fight with you. We'll even perform an exorcism on these crazy, evil spirits, but you have to be honest with us, because lying almost got you killed. Lying has consequences that Lucy and I aren't ready to handle." He sighed when he finished speaking. I stood up slowly with the help of Lucy gently pushing at my back. I reached up and kissed Noah, my lips barely touching his. I loved him. I loved everything about him. I loved that he cared about me. I loved that he was willing to risk everything for me. I loved that he believed in me. I loved that he continued to put up with my crazy life and give me second, third, and fourth chances. Because I loved him, I owed it to

  him to agree to his terms.

  "I love you, Noah. Lucy, I love you, too, just in a different way," I giggled and reached out to pull her in for a group hug. "I promise: no more lying.

  I know I've said that before, but this time I'm serious. You two are my rocks–I can’t do this life thing without you both. From now on, I'll always be honest, even if it hurts." We hugged one another and then stepped back and smiled.

  After devising a plan that would convince Mom and Aunt Morgan to let me leave the house, I met up with Melanie and asked her to meet me by the pond at seven-thirty in the evening. She agreed, thinking I had a way to get William to meet her there. Thank goodness she was dumb.

  I went to Bethany’s grave, and after explaining my plan, she more than agreed to meet at the truck and follow us, promising to stay transparent, as we didn’t want to risk anything with our plan being so close to finishing. Satisfied with my scheming, the time had come to convince my mom to let me leave her sight.

  We decided to tell everyone we were going to get ice cream at the local Dairy Queen. My mom hesitated, but she eventually agreed to our outing. We promised we'd be careful and be home soon. Our story wasn’t a lie–we did plan on getting milkshakes on our way to Camp Nelson. Technically, we weren’t lying. We just left out the part about visiting Camp Nelson to reunite two ghosts. I guess our honesty pact would have to wait until tomorrow.

  With only fifteen minutes left before I had to meet Melanie, I checked myself in the mirror. After a long, warm bath, I felt rejuvenated. I dressed in a pair of cute, cut-off jean shorts and a yellow tank top. I pulled my hair into a tight bun on top of my head. I decided to wear my Nike running shoes in case I had to move fast, which I hoped I didn’t, because I wasn't exactly moving fast these days. I swear, a snail could have probably beat me in a race.

  Lucy met me in the hall as I stepped out of the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of Nike running shorts and a black tank top. Like me, she had her hair pulled back, but hers was in a messy ponytail. We looked like we were about to go out on a run instead of reuniting the dead.

  Noah walked out of his room and greeted us. He had on black basketball shorts and a Salem High tee. We all sighed and went about preparing the adventure on which we were about to embark.

  When we left the house, my mom checked me over as if I were a fragile package. After swearing I'd be safe, she finally allowed us to leave. We made our way through the one lane, windy road leading from the farm to the busy Nicholasville Road. We stopped at Dairy Queen, which was insanely busy, and each got small chocolate milkshakes. We sat in silence as we sipped our thick shakes all the way to Camp Nelson. My nerves danced inside me, almost making me sick. I knew Noah and Lucy felt the same way, too, so I didn’t try to make small-talk.

  Once we reached Camp Nelson, I noticed the main gate was shut and locked; it was closed. "Oh, no," Lucy yelled as she jumped out of the truck and ran to the closed sign.

  "It is fine," I said. "We'll just have to walk over to his grave. It's not too far." No sooner had I spoke the words, than Bethany materialized in front of me, a warm smile spread across her beautiful face. For the first time, I didn’t feel scared or unable to breathe in her presence. Her calmness seemed to radiate and spread out to me.

  "Wow, is that her?" Noah asked as he jumped out of the truck, his eyes almost popping out of his head as he gazed at the figure before us.

  Confused, I turned around and watched him run over to me. Could he see Bethany?

  "Oh, my!" Lucy exclaimed, and she grabbed my hand and held onto it tightly, like a frightened child.

  "Can you see her?" I asked, dazed. "Yes," they shouted in bewilderment.

  Bethany laughed and took a step closer to us. "Don’t be frightened. I am allowing them to see me. I know they are your friends and I can trust them, too," she said in a song-like voice.

  "This is crazy," Noah added, still shaking his head.

  "Well, since we can all see each other, let’s get

  moving," I demanded. The sun was beginning to settle in the sky and darkness was swiftly approaching. I knew we had only a limited time to get to William's grave.

  Everyone followed me as we walked up the paved entrance road and then switched to the rolling grass which held the graves of the fallen soldiers. Bethany glanced around, looking devastated. "Did all these men die fighting in the war?" she asked, as a tear escaped h
er somber eyes.

  I slowed down and turned to face her. I hated that she had to see all those graves. I hated how little she knew about the Civil War and how brave those men and women were. "Not all of them died while fighting, but most of them did. Actually, there have been several wars since the Civil War, the one William fought in. All of the soldiers were brave, and they deserve the honor of resting in peace here," I said as I smiled and offered her my hand. She squeezed my hand and smiled back. After a moment of taking in the scenery, we all walked toward our destination: William’s grave.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, Noah pointed in the direction of William’s grave. "There it is," he said.

  The four of us made our way to the location and stood silently in front of the grave, unsure of what to do next.

  "William," Bethany called out, her voice desperate and somber.

  I looked around me, waiting for something, anything, to appear. I felt as if I'd been punched in my stomach, and my breath faltered as my body began to tremble.

  Noticing my sudden, eerie transformation, Noah rushed to my side. "Sadie, what's wrong?’ he yelled.

  A demonic laugh pierced through the night sky. I stood there, afraid to turn around, and glanced at my friends. Their faces were pale and stricken with fear. Only one voice was able to send shock waves of fear traveling through my body like that. And only one voice could paint that horrid look of recognition on Bethany’s face.

  We turned together to find Melanie standing behind us, a gruesome, smug look on her painfully beautiful face. Her blonde curls danced madly against the wind she'd conjured upon her arrival.

  "Hello, Melanie," Bethany spoke through clenched teeth as she took a step closer to her enemy.

  Melanie laughed and slithered closer to where we stood, frozen.

  "Hello, Bethany," she hissed. The way she smoothly closed the gap between us made her almost look like a snake as well. "You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with this?" Melanie sneered.

  Now it was my turn to face the monster that stood before me. In a tone that I hardly recognized, I turned to Melanie and said, "Well, Melanie, looks like you found us."