Kelly Hill

by Laura Gibson

  “I’ll see you this afternoon,” Ryan reminded her. “For the memorial.”

  For a second Rachel made it look like she had forgotten, just so that she could say that she had a vulnerable spot. “Yep. You will.” She waved and walked away in the opposite direction that Ryan was going.

  “Wait!” Ryan called after Rachel. “Hang on, wait a minute.”

  Rachel stopped walking and turned to face him.

  “Rachel, you don’t even know Kelly like I do. What makes you think you’ll be happy with him?” Ryan’s hand was reaching out for her, like he was about to hold her.

  “What makes you think I won’t be?” Rachel raised her eyebrows, challenging him.

  “You don’t know what kind of man Kelly is, not really. There’s lots of stuff that you have no idea about,” Ryan defended his previous statement.

  “And are you any different, Ryan?” Rachel asked, wondering what he would say.

  Ryan’s gaze dropped, he stood there in a guilty silence.

  Rachel shrugged again, “That’s what I thought.”

  That time Ryan let her walk away, because she was right. He wasn’t different. He wasn’t removed. He was just better at hiding it.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Phillips Academy

  Charleston, West Virginia

  December 8th 2008

  Rachel

  Kelly and Rachel hadn’t spoken since they shared that moment in the library and Rachel was okay with it. She didn’t know what to do with a man like Kelly and she wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to find out.

  Kelly was his own mystery and she was already too busy trying to uncover the one involving Anna and Casimir.

  It turned out reconciling with Melody was the easiest thing Rachel had ever done. All she did was approach Melody, tell her she was sorry and she had been wrong and then everything was forgiven, as if she had only stolen a sweater or something.

  Making amends with Ryan came later. They had never officially broken up and so Rachel just seamlessly slipped back into his life like she had never left.

  It was Jefferson that was stubborn about everything; Jefferson that didn’t trust her. But he had every good reason not to.

  Rachel had decided that if she was going to commit to this mystery, if she was really going to expose all of it for what it was she would have to make them trust her again.

  The danger Rachel was in was nothing compared to the need she felt to figure out the puzzle presented to her.

  October easily bled into November and then December, all the while Rachel collected random snippets of information dropped by the people that were the least suspecting.

  On the night of the winter formal Rachel didn’t know that it would be one of the last times she would ever be at Phillips Academy.

  She preened and prepped with the best of them. She and Melody spent the first half of the day getting pampered by getting mani-pedis followed closely by getting their hair done.

  Rachel went for the classic updo style whereas Melody preferred to have a more glamorous look with her hair pulled around to one side, resting neatly on her shoulder.

  For more than a moment Rachel forgot that she didn’t trust Melody, she let her guard down and she allowed herself to have a good time, something she had never really done before. The feeling was almost addictive.

  They got dressed just in time to be picked up by their dates, the thought of whom immediately reminded Rachel of the real reason why she was doing all of this.

  As they walked toward the fountain, their designated meeting spot, Rachel couldn’t help but notice how charming both of them looked in their tuxedos. The material fit their athletic bodies perfectly and Rachel to smile. Her boys sure did know how to clean up well.

  The thought caused Rachel pause. Her boys? They weren’t her anything. In fact, she would go as far as to say that Jefferson was her enemy. So why did her brain think it was appropriate to put that thought in her head?

  Had she spent too much time with them? Was she forgetting just exactly what she was doing?

  As they approached their dates Rachel couldn’t help but think back to the first time the group had shared a double date. Jefferson had been nice that night. A true gentleman until Kelly punched him.

  This time around, there were no compliments from Jefferson to Rachel. Nothing to even indicate that he was looking in her direction. Rachel, who had once been the object of his strange affection, was now completely invisible to him and she was very much alright with it.

  Rachel had helped design the decorations for the winter formal and was looking forward to seeing them in action but it seemed there were other plans in the mix.

  Caleb Bronen, a man that Rachel only knew in passing as Jefferson and Ryan’s friend, sauntered over to them, his eyes sparkling from pre party drinking.

  He produced a flask out of his inside pocket and took another swig, “Are we ready to get this party started?”

  Melody giggled and took the flask from Caleb, “Thank God, I thought for a second I’d actually have to go to the formal.” She took a drink and tried to hand the flask to Rachel. “Want some?”

  Rachel frowned and looked at everyone. Had this been the plan? Had they just decided not to tell her?

  “No thank you.” She shook her head.

  “Oh, don’t be a sour puss, Rach.” Melody took another drink, “It’s not gonna kill you.”

  “Well.” Jefferson smiled, producing his own flask, “Loose lips sink ships.”

  Ryan laughed and took out yet another flask. “Oh please, Jefferson, I think we all have the same idea here.”

  Jefferson shrugged. “Come on, there’s more at the real party.” For the first time in months Jefferson looked at Rachel and winked. As if they were in on the same secret.

  The real party, as it turned out, was not a party at all, but just sitting around the abandoned sports club, drinking beer and waiting for something interesting to happen. Not Rachel’s idea of a good time.

  Melody turned on a radio in the corner and started dancing, she invited Rachel to dance with her, but again Rachel declined. She felt extremely uncomfortable about this entire set up, but couldn’t say anything.

  Melody handed Rachel her camera and asked that she take some pictures, just so everyone could properly remember the event.

  If she was going to find something out it was going to be now. Like Jefferson said, loose lips sink ships.

  A couple hours in Rachel noticed Caleb was slurring his words more than the others and laughing just a fraction louder. So she decided to make herself useful.

  “So Caleb, how did you meet Ryan and Jefferson?” Rachel sat down next to the boy sitting on the ground and he took a sip off his beer thinking the question over.

  Melody laughed in the background at someone unknown joke that she didn’t share with the group, but Rachel could only assume it had something to do with her question.

  “I don’t know.” Caleb’s face was full of mischief, “How did I meet you guys?”

  Jefferson shook his head and shrugged, his face a light pink from the alcohol.

  Instinctively Rachel reached into her purse and turned on the tape recorder that she had brought with her.

  By now she had tapes and tapes of strange conversations, but this one looked the most promising.

  “I think it was the coke.” Caleb let out a peal of laughter that was not felt by the rest of the group. “What do you think guys? Is that when we met?”

  Ryan chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.” He took a drink of his beer to steady himself but Rachel could see that this was not a topic anyone wanted to discuss.

  “Yeah.” Caleb nodded, “’Cuz Jeff’s dad needed my dad to sign off on everything.” He smiled at his ability to put things together in his drunken haze. “And they wanted us to be friends.”

  Rachel looked at Jefferson and noticed that his hawk like eyes had sobered up quite quic
kly.

  “You want to be quiet now, Caleb.” Jefferson’s voice was lower than before, a threat more than an instruction.

  “No, we’re all friends here.” Caleb laughed again and looked around the room. “I mean come on, this is the first time Jefferson has had any fun since Anna died.”

  “Caleb, watch yourself.” Ryan looked at Jefferson and shook his head.

  Caleb rolled his eyes and blew passed Ryan’s warning. “You should really get over that Jefferson, she was a junkie. You’re better than that.”

  He laughed, “Peddle the product but don’t try it.” Caleb nodded, “Yep.”

  “I don’t think you should be talking about Anna like you knew her.” Jefferson’s voice was cold, terrifying. This wasn’t the Jefferson that originally started the party. This was the Jefferson that had pushed Rachel down the stairs.

  “Oh I knew her, alright.” Caleb winked, “Then again, so did half of Charleston, so that’s not like a big thing.”

  “Caleb.” Ryan was trying desperately to keep the peace between Jefferson and Caleb but it didn’t seem like Caleb was doing any amount of listening.

  “What? She was a slut.” Caleb shrugged and put his bottle to his lips, “It’s not like it was a secret.”

  “I swear to God, Caleb, if you say one more word...” Jefferson's voice was threatening, a menacing snarl snaking across his dark face.

  “Here's a word for Anna.” Caleb chuckled. “C-” But before he could finish his sentence Jefferson was on top of him, slamming Caleb backwards and sprawling him on the floor.

  Melody screamed in the background for Ryan to do something as Rachel sat there in dumb silence while Jefferson bashed Caleb’s head into the hard floor repeatedly.

  Ryan rushed over and tried to pull Jefferson off of Caleb but Jefferson’s will was stronger and he stayed straddling Caleb until he stopped moving.

  Blood oozed in Rachel’s direction and she stood up to get away, feeling her insides turn over. “We have to do call someone.”

  Jefferson stood, his face splattered with droplets of Caleb’s blood. “You’re not going to call anyone.”

  “He might be dead, Jefferson!” Melody shouted, “What were you thinking?”

  Jefferson’s hawk expression turned on his girlfriend then, “Do you know what would happen if he is dead and they know we were all here?”

  Melody’s gaze dropped; more secrets that no one wanted to share.

  “Rachel,” Ryan whispered, walking over to her and holding her hand, “You can’t say anything.”

  His eyes plead more than Jefferson’s and she sensed something else there. Was he trying to protect her?

  Rachel’s eyes trained on the growing pool of blood around Caleb’s head and she felt her whole body begin to tremble.

  Ryan used a gentle hand to guide her eyes back to his and he looked more earnest than before. “Trust me, Rachel; you can’t say anything about this.”

  Rachel swallowed and nodded her head. She couldn’t. Not here. Not in front of these people. But later. Later she would take her evidence and she would expose them for the monsters they were.

  Jefferson was staring at her, waiting for her to agree to their terms, his dead eyes trained on her.

  “I won’t say anything.” Rachel whispered. “I promise.”

  Phillips Academy

  Charleston, West Virginia

  June 16th, 2010

  Rachel

  Rachel didn’t answer any of Ethan’s questions when she got back to the hotel. She didn’t have time to talk to him about everything he had read, about everything he had heard and Kelly was characteristically missing from the group.

  Rachel locked herself in her hotel room and began to write her speech for the memorial. A speech that would have to say everything and nothing at the same time.

  Rachel felt herself sigh again, wishing that she could be as bold as Shakespeare's Ophelia. Damning the king and queen with flowers but saying nothing at the same time.

  Speeches were something that Rachel was good at. She could form just the perfect words to make the audience like her. It was her way of connecting with people. As long as she was a version of herself they liked she found herself to be acceptable.

  But everything was different now. She couldn’t just work for the approval of others; she had things she had to do. She had to protect the one person that actually mattered to her.

  So Rachel sat in her room in the dark and she wrote her speech. When everything was all said and done Rachel had just enough time to go to the florist and buy the necessary objects.

  The stage for the memorial was set up in front of the library, looking out into the quad. There was a pretty picture of Melody next to the podium surrounded by dozens and dozens of flowers.

  People had gathered in the seats provided and Rachel was glad to see more than one news crew had shown up. This was going to be an event to remember.

  Grear stood up and made some noise about propriety and how Melody was the model student before she disappeared. How everything was sad, but how everyone needed to carry on in strength because that’s what Melody would have wanted.

  Then it was Rachel’s turn. She cradled her flowers in the crook of her arm and laid her speech out on the podium.

  “When I was first asked to speak at Melody’s memorial I was in fact speechless,” Rachel smiled, reassuring the audience that she took this charge as seriously as possible. “Most of you who remember me, remember my short time at Phillips Academy and my bittersweet parting, but it’s good to be back now. Standing here I feel as though I’ve come home.”

  She smiled once more and kept going, “I would like to invite my friend Jefferson Williams up here to help me with my flowers.”

  Quickly, Jefferson obliged and Rachel bid him to stand next to her. “Melody had a love for flowers and so to honor that, I would like to lie some of her favorites down. Jefferson?” Rachel looked at him, holding out a bouquet of fennel and rue. “Won’t you be so kind?”

  Jefferson gave her a look that would chill her, but the plan was already in motion.

  “And the daisies.” Rachel handed Jefferson another bouquet.

  Quietly Jefferson put the two bouquets down and stepped back, waiting for more instruction.

  “Those were always her favorites.” Rachel smiled up at the picture, “The fennel, the rue, and the daisies.”

  “And last I have my own selection. A bouquet of Rosemary and Pansies. They represent thoughts and remembrance because I will never forget Melody or the many lives that she touched.”

  Rachel laid down the last of her remaining flowers and took a step back. “Melody Jeffords was a kind soul. And she didn’t deserve what happened to her. I only hope that she’s found her peace now.”

  Rachel left the podium and took her seat in the front next to Ethan and Logan, noting that Kelly was still absent.

  Jefferson looked as though he was becoming emotional and disappeared around the stage.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Phillips Academy

  Charleston, West Virginia

  December 12th, 2008

  Rachel

  No one had seen Ryan or Jefferson for days. Even after Caleb’s body was discovered and his death ruled an accident they stayed away.

  Rachel wanted to know what they had gotten up to but at the same time she had no desire to follow them into that unknown. In her quest to uncover the secrets she had forgotten that Jefferson wasn’t a man. He was a monster and no one could control him.

  Melody and Rachel sat in their dorm room in silence, Melody reading one of her various questionable novels and Rachel studying her Russian, she was almost fluent in the language which she felt gave her a leg up in the mystery department.

  Melody sighed heavily but said nothing. Alerting Rachel to the fact that she wanted to talk about what had happened, but didn’t want to be the first one to start the conversation.

  Rachel put down her pen and closed her eyes. She wasn’t su
re what to say to Melody about any of it. She wasn’t sure how much Melody knew and how much she had decided to ignore.

  “Do you think Caleb was scared?” Melody’s soft voice came from her position on the bed.

  Rachel turned in her swivel chair to face her roommate. “I don’t know how he felt.”

  Melody frowned and closed her book, “It had to be scary.”

  Rachel swallowed, “Probably, yeah.”

  “I was scared.” Melody was honest with Rachel. “I’m still scared.”

  Rachel made a face, “We promised not to say anything.”

  Melody shrugged, “I just don’t know if it’s okay. What happened. Ya know? I mean, he’s dead now.”

  Rachel dropped her gaze and looked down at her feet, “Yeah. He is.”

  “Someone should do something.” Melody was more adamant now. “But it can’t be me.”

  “Why?” Rachel frowned, looking at Melody. “Why can’t you do it?”

  Melody gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes to push back the tears that were threatening to form, “Because you don’t know everything, Rachel. If I said anything I would probably wind up like Caleb. I know that.”

  “Then I’ll do it with you. And you don’t have to be alone.” Rachel offered, wondering if Melody was really going to do something about it. Could this scared little girl really defy powerful men that influenced doctors and lawyers and law enforcement?

  Melody shook her head, backing out once more, “I can’t.”

  “What could possibly be worse than this?” Rachel pushed, hoping that there wasn’t anything. Hoping that Melody was just letting the fear get the better of her.

  Melody shook her head, the tears falling now, unbidden, unbridled. “You don’t understand anything, Rachel. You think you know what’s happening because you’re friends with Kelly, but don’t you understand? This is Kelly’s fault!” Melody was shouting now. Shouting through her tears. Shouting through her fear. “He started this whole thing. Caleb is dead because Kelly Hill couldn’t just stay away.”