Locket full of Secrets

by Dana Burkey

  “Oh,” I commented, not fully convinced. “Well, it’s Friday now, so the only thing you need to worry about is regular or curly fries.”

  With a laugh Steven tightened his grip on my hand as we continued on our path. I found myself glancing more and more at Steven, waiting for him start acting normal. Trying to shake it off as we entered the fast food restaurant, I was determined to have a nice evening with Steven.

  “Sorry,” Steven mumbled after we ate in silence for a few minutes. “I just had a long week, and I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

  “You don’t need to apologize,” I smiled, trying to reassure him. “I just hope it’s not something for one of your classes.”

  “I don’t think so,” he sighed. “I almost think I forgot it was someone's birthday or something like that.”

  “You need to get one of those Palm Pilots,” I offered. “My dad always uses one for work stuff.”

  “I just might have to if I don’t figure this out soon,” Steven grinned.

  By the time we arrived at Norra’s art show half an hour later, Steven was back to his normal self. He seemed a lot less distracted, chatting and making plans for the rest of weekend. Getting some food seemed to relax him about whatever it was that was really bothering him. It might have just been lack of sleep and his classes, but in the back of my mind I thought it might be something more. Then again, hanging out with anyone, let alone a guy who was interested in me, was still a rather new occurrence for me.

  “You came!!!” Norra exclaimed, enveloping me in a hug when she spotted us while we walked into the gallery space.

  “But of course,” I smiled, extremely glad we had chosen to visit after all. Norra and I had started chatting more ever since Steven visited to study the first time. Apparently Norra was getting to know a guy in one of her classes and wanted my opinion about it since I was now an expert on boys.

  “Okay, you need to go check out my stuff over there, but then also check out that room off the hallway. My friend Katie did some amazing sculptures!” The words tumbled quickly from her mouth before Norra ran off to greet someone else. It was clear she was getting carried away with the thrill of sharing her work with everyone. Considering it was a project she had been working on all semester so far, it made sense that she was so excited.

  Walking in the direction she had pointed, Steven and I spent time checking out each of the works Norra had showing in the gallery. Despite so many people passing through, the gallery was rather quiet. Steven and I walked around also silent, our hands still linking us together. As we entered the sculpture room Norra had mentioned, I was in awe at a large eagle made of clay and wire. Walking up to it I was so focused on the intricacies of the work I did not notice someone was standing next to me until they spoke.

  “This one is especially beautiful,” they whispered, leaning closer to me to keep their voice down.

  “Yes, it’s just so-”

  The words caught in my throat as I turned toward the girl who has spoken to me. My mouth felt dry as it hung open, my mind only slightly aware of Steven asking me what was wrong. Finally, after what felt like an eternity I found my voice again.

  “Olena?”

  As she nodded, I felt my eyes well with tears and my body begin to tremble. Olena was here with me, after killing someone only a few months ago. Taking a step back and pressing myself into Stevens’s body, I stared at her, not knowing what to say. Olena’s return could only mean bad things for my relaxing evening with Steven, not to mention the almost normal life I was finally enjoying.

  “Come on Steven, we need to go,” I managed to say as I turned and headed for the exit, pulling Steven with me as I walked.

  “Claire wait, please,” Olena pleaded, following our progress to the door.

  “No, we’re leaving,” I announced, reaching the door and stepping outside.

  “Who is that?” Steven asked, his voice strained with concern.

  “We just need to go,” I demanded. Steven managed to stumble along behind me as I headed away from the art gallery.

  “Claire, just give me a minute,” Olena tried again, jogging to catch up to me.

  Stopping my rushed walking, I turned to face Olena. Tears were welling up quickly in my eyes.

  “I don’t want to talk to you Olena,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Just leave me alone. Didn’t you do enough damage last time?”

  “I did not mean to kill anyone,” Olena replied, her voice suddenly louder than I wanted it to be.

  “Wait, what?” Steven asked next to me, moving a step closer as if to protect me.

  “If you didn’t mean to kill him then why did you leave?” My voice was shaking now, tears spilling onto my cheeks at the sudden barrage of emotions.

  “It was self-defense,” Olena assured me with a sigh. “Yes, I killed him. But, if I did not he would have killed me instead.”

  “Claire, what is she talking about?” Steven’s body was pressed to mine, one arm wrapped tightly around me.

  “This is Olena,” I muttered, finally answering Steven with my gaze still on Olena. “The last time I saw her she killed someone then climbed out a window so she wouldn’t get caught.”

  “I did what I had to do to keep you safe,” Olena tried, her voice begging me to believe her.

  “What?” I asked, not expecting her comment.

  “When I got up to go to the bathroom it was because I saw I had been found,” she explained, shaking her head. “If I stayed in our booth they would have known you were with me and killed both of us.”

  “Who would have killed her?” Steven asked, my shock keeping me from asking the question myself.

  “We cannot talk about it here.” Olena lowered her voice as she looked around us frantically. “I promise I will tell you everything. But we need to go somewhere private.”

  “How do I know we will be safe?” I asked, using my coat sleeve to wipe my tears away.

  “The longer we stand out here the more danger we are in,” she quickly explained, not really answering my question.

  “Maybe we should go to your dorm,” Steven offered, now looking around as well.

  I weighed the options in my head. Could I really trust Olena after everything that had happened? With a sigh I turned and started in the direction of my dorm. Steven kept up, his arm still around me, now tighter than before. Olena followed close behind us, her eyes darting around as if someone was going to jump out at any second.

  Once we were in the safety of my dorm I collapsed onto my bed, my head pounding with a sudden headache. Steven sat next to me, one arm around my waist while the other held onto my shaking hands. Olena locked the door before turning to face us, her look more urgent than ever.

  “The guy you found dead in the bathroom was Alexi Dyatlov,” she began, a calm expression on her face. “He was sent to kill me back in ‘95, but my mom and I got away. That is why I left Ohio when I did. The man he works for has been trying to find us since we moved to the United States years ago. When we left we headed to Canada, thinking we would be safe, but then he found us again. That was why I needed to come find you.”

  “But why did you need to drag me into all of this now?” I asked, my voice finally calming down some. Something about the way she stated everything as a simple fact made me think there was even more she was not saying.

  “Until we met a few months ago they did not know you and I were connected,” she explained. “But now they are likely watching you, making sure I do not contact you again. I wanted to stay away and leave you out of this, I really did. But I do not have a choice.”

  With a sigh she sat on my desk chair, a look of remorse on her face. I glanced at Steven, his face a mask of concern and confusion. It felt good to know I was not the only one still in the dark.

  “I had to find you in order to get the necklace,” Olena began again slowly. “The locket I gave you is the key to all of this. I did not know it when I gave it to you, but it is the only thing that will stop these m
en.”

  “I don’t have it,” I managed to croak despite my dry throat. “I left it in Ohio.”

  “That is okay,” she nodded. “That means it is still safe until we can go get it. If we leave now we can get there while your parents are still asleep so we will not have to involve them in this any more than they already are.”

  “Wait, you expect us to come with you now?” Steven asked. A part of me could not help but smile to know he was going to stick with me through this. But, a bigger part of me was still a mess of emotions trying to make sense of everything I had just heard.

  “The longer we wait the more danger we are all in,” Olena explained. “They have been tracking me since I killed Alexi, and it is only a matter of time before they figure out that I came here to see you, Claire.”

  I could feel my heart pounding even more now, my pulse speeding up at all the news Olena was presenting me with. Earlier today I was happy to be spending time with Steven, and now I was being asked to drive to Ohio to pick up a necklace that was the cause of Olena killing someone?

  “How do I know all of this is even real?” I asked, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.

  “This might help,” Olena muttered.

  I watched in shock as Olena stood to shed her black coat before pulling off her black t-shirt. Standing only in her bra I sat in silence staring at her pale skin, covered in thick red scars. Most of the scars were small, likely not too deep. On her left side, however, was a scar that ran from her rib cage down towards her belly button. It was jagged and darker than the other as if it had only recently healed. Tiny puncture marks around it hinted at stitches and who knows what else.

  “The knife was just centimeters from rupturing my lung and spleen,” she explained, her fingers tracing the large scar. “I stopped the bleeding enough to make it to an animal clinic. I paid a vet tech to stitch me up just enough so I could keep driving. I had lost so much blood I thought I was going to die.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the hospital?” I asked, staring at the scars until she slipped her clothing back on.

  “They would have turned me in to the police,” she shrugged, slipping her coat on once again.

  “Won’t the police be able to help with this big mess?” Steven asked, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back.

  “No,” Olena said simply. “These men are not going to be stopped by the police. Nothing will stop them from killing me. Getting the police involved just means putting more people in danger.”

  “So if we go to Ohio it all ends?” I asked, the pieces slowly falling into place.

  “Yes,” she nodded. “They will follow me after I leave, so you should be safe.”

  With a sigh I turned to face Steven. His look was one of concern, but he gave a slight nod, letting me know he was going to stick with me through this. Somehow just knowing he was by my side made my decision that much easier.

  “Okay,” I finally mumbled. “When do we leave?”

  As we loaded into Olena’s car the clock on the dash read 4 o’clock. Steven and I sat in the back, our hands still connected, as Olena sped off. I was still shocked Steven had agreed to come with us, but it was becoming clear that even talking to Olena could have put him in harm’s way.

  “Thank you for this,” I whispered to Steven as we wove through traffic. I knew Olena could probably hear us, but still wanted to keep the conversation as private as possible.

  “It’s nothing,” he replied. “If I just let you go and something happened, I could never forgive myself.”

  “But what if something happens to us while we are helping her?” I asked, finally putting a voice to the fear that had been wracking my brain since I agreed to travel with Olena to Ohio.

  “Nothing bad is going to happen,” he assured me. “I won’t let anyone or anything put my girlfriend in danger.”

  Smiling for the first time since running into Olena, I snuggled closer to Steven. He just called me his girlfriend. Sure, it was a small thing in light of everything else we were facing, but it still felt nice to know we were on the same page with our feelings.

  Too wired to sleep, I stared out the window, replaying the last few hours in my head. I still didn’t know everything that was going on, but it was clear that Olena was in a terrible spot. I trusted her that she never wanted to involve me, but now that she had it was important for us to get the necklace before anything else happened.

  “We need gas,” Olena announced after a few hours of driving. We had recently passed through Saginaw and a large number of gas stations. Olena, however, managed to pull off at an exit with nothing but a small gas station and what appeared to be an old boarded up McDonald’s.

  “Let’s get some snacks,” Steven said as we got out of the car to stretch as Olena began pumping gas. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but knew we still had a long drive ahead of us.

  Entering the small station we said hello to the attendant before walking up the aisles looking for something we could snack on. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, but thankfully had still not reached its expiration date. Finding a few bags of chips, candy, and bottles of pop that would serve to ease our hunger, we headed to the counter to pay.

  As the clerk rang up our purchase a sudden burst of headlights shining into the store windows made dramatic shadows on the walls behind us. Lifting my hand to shield my eyes I could just barely make out someone opening their car door when the glass shattered and what I could only assume were bullets flew into the room.

  A scream escaped my lips as a hand on my back threw me down to the ground. Glancing back, I watched as Steven leapt forward, covering my body with his. The momentum slid us towards the safety of a stack of beer cases. Pulling my arms up I covered my ears to block out the shots that were still ringing out. I could feel glass crunching under my body as Stevens’s weight pushed me farther into the ground.

  Taking deep breaths I waited for what felt like an eternity before a stillness blanketed the gas station. Afraid to speak I peeked over my shoulder towards the exit of the gas station. The door was still closed, its glass now scattered on the floor. In just a few minutes the small store was a shell of what it once was.

  “Claire?” a voice called from outside.

  “In here,” Steven answered, rolling his body off of mine. “We’re okay.”

  “We need to leave,” Olena called out, the sound of a starting car punctuating her announcement.

  “Are you okay?” Steven asked as I rolled over and sat up slowly.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I nodded, leaning on the stack of beer cases to stand up. My eyes scanned the room, immediately spotting the clerk’s body slumped across the counter. “Oh no!”

  “We need to go, Claire,” Steven urged me, taking my hand and walking over the broken glass towards the exit.

  Stumbling after him I averted my eyes from the body lying on the counter. The sound of his blood dripping to the ground was a reminder to me of just how serious things had suddenly become.

  “Hurry up!” Olena called from the idling car. The back door was open, ready for us to climb in. I could feel my head swimming from the fall but did my best to keep moving forward.

  As we exited the now destroyed store I took in the scene around me. A black SUV was parked facing the building, its lights now off along with its engine. Most of the tinted windows had been blown out,; bullet holes were scattered along the side of the vehicle. The driver’s door was still open, and as we moved past it I was finally face to face with our assailant. I could feel my stomach lurch as I took in the sight of the man who was now lying in a pool of blood with three obvious bullet holes in his chest. I glanced away quickly and tried to shake the image from my mind. As we continued on our way I heard the crackle of a radio coming from inside the SUV. Although dead, the man that attacked us clearly had backup on the way.

  Stumbling the rest of the way to the car I slid in and reached for my seatbelt before crying out in pain. Steven had bumped my right arm
as he slid in the car after me, causing shooting pain from my wrist to my shoulder.

  “You’re bleeding,” Steven gasped as he closed the door in time for Olena to speed off once again. “We need to stop.”

  “It is too dangerous still,” Olena barked, taking sharp turns back to the freeway.

  “Is it bad?” Before I could think better of it I took a quick peek at my arm. At the first sight of my injured arm I could feel my stomach roll. My sweater was ripped to shreds, my blood staining the cream fabric crimson.

  “Just try to hold still,” Steven mumbled, pulling off his sweatshirt then pressing it to my arm to slow the blood flow.

  Leaning my head back I willed myself to not throw up. This felt too similar to the last time I was reunited with Olena. A man was dead, in fact two this time, and here I was losing blood and feeling sick.

  “How are you doing?” Steven asked as he applied pressure to areas of my arm not full of glass.

  “I...kind of-” I paused to swallow, my head starting to spin thanks to the motion of the car. I took a deep breath before finally answering. “Dizzy.”

  “We need to stop,” Steven tried again, his voice raised to ensure Olena could hear it over the car accelerating.

  “Not yet!” Olena yelled over her shoulder, weaving along the road much faster than before.

  Combined with the shock and blood loss, the motion of the car was too much for my system to handle. The edges of my vision began to get fuzzy, my eyes suddenly heavy.

  “Claire?” Steven asked, his voice suddenly sounding farther and farther away.

  “...please…Steven….” my mouth mumbled, many words lost in the haze my brain was fighting through.

  As the blackness overtook my vision I heard Steven speaking to Olena again; this time his words reached my ears in a jumble of sounds I could not understand. Olena’s reply was equally as confusing. No longer wanting to fight with consciousness, I closed my eyes and allowed their conversation to fade completely.