The Dead and Buried

by Kim Harrington

  “That’s because no one’s home. We left. Kayla …” The words caught in my throat.

  He moved closer and reached out for me, concern etched on his face.

  I stepped backward. Holding the diary up, I said, “You lied to me. Kayla cheated on you with Kane.”

  “I didn’t lie,” he insisted. “Nothing I said was untrue. I’d wanted to change her, to make her into a better person. Then I found that I couldn’t and broke up with her. All that was true.”

  “But what about the cheating?”

  “I never told anyone about that. Why bother? To ruin her reputation? She was dead. I would’ve rather let people think she was better than she really was. Faye agreed to keep it secret, to protect Kayla’s memory. I never spoke to Kane about it. He doesn’t even know Faye told me.”

  He does now, I thought. I looked up into Donovan’s kind eyes, the blue shining in the reflection of the light. He should have told me, I still felt that. But at the same time I understood why he hadn’t spread the truth around. Despite the terrible things Kayla had done, Donovan was a gentleman to her — even in death. His integrity wouldn’t allow him to bad-mouth her. He wanted to let her rest in peace.

  Unfortunately, she hadn’t.

  Donovan reached out for my hand and I let him grasp it. “What happened?” he asked. “What is that? What did Kayla do?”

  “It’s her diary. I found it and read it, hoping to figure out who killed her. I thought it was Kane, but I was wrong. Then she … lost her patience with me.” I shook my head at the awful memory. “She possessed Colby again. This time in front of my parents. They freaked and we all left. We’re staying at Alexa’s.”

  “Then why are you back here?”

  “I found out she can possess Colby anywhere. I have to go in there. I have to — somehow — end this now.”

  Donovan glanced over his shoulder at the darkened house. “I’m coming with you.”

  My heart constricted at the idea of putting him in danger. “No, don’t risk it. I’ll do this myself.”

  He shook his head and gripped my hand tighter, protectively. “There is no way I’m letting you go in there alone.”

  I didn’t argue any further, both because I knew he wouldn’t change his mind and because I was less scared with him beside me. I found strength in being close to him as I used my key to unlock the door.

  We stepped inside and I ran my hands along the wall until I found the light switch. It illuminated the staircase as Donovan closed the door behind us.

  The air was unnaturally cold. Energy buzzed through the room with almost tangibly sharp shards. It nipped at my skin like thousands of microscopic teeth.

  “Do you feel that?” Donovan asked, his eyes looking around wildly.

  I nodded. My hair lifted up from my shoulders with static electricity. Kayla was all wound up. I’d never felt her energy this strongly before. I wished I could see her, communicate with her like Colby did. Just this once.

  Why was she so mad? Because we left? Because I came back? Because Donovan was with me? I didn’t know and without Colby I had no way to find out. But the unprecedented amount of energy both unnerved and motivated me. There was something different. Something added. And it made me feel like we were coming to the end. That Kayla was close to getting what she wanted.

  “Come on,” Donovan said, tugging at my arm. “Let’s go upstairs.”

  I followed him up the stairs as the charged air swirled around us. It wasn’t centered on me; it seemed to be everywhere. All through the house.

  We stopped at the top and stood in the hallway. “What now?” Donovan said. “What’s your plan?”

  “I don’t have one. I was just going to … try to talk to her, I guess. I don’t know.”

  I felt stupid now. Unprepared. I gripped the diary tightly in my hand and yelled, “Kayla! I’m here to tell you this has to stop now!”

  A rush of air swooped by me, headed down the hall. I stumbled back. As my hand touched the wall, a blue spark flew from my fingers, and I gasped.

  “The air is charged with electricity,” Donovan said, feeling the open space with an outstretched hand.

  “This isn’t going to work. I can’t talk her down. She wants to know who killed her and she won’t stop.” Panic rose in my throat.

  Donovan placed his hands on my shoulders. “Deep breath. Look at me. Jade, look at me.”

  I did and immediately my breathing slowed.

  “Try to think,” he said calmly. “Was there anyone else mentioned in the diary who would have a motive?”

  “Well, yeah, but I’ll never be able to figure it out. The whole diary is full of motives for murder.”

  “Wait.” Donovan let me go and put his hands up to his temples. “But who knew it existed?”

  I blinked. “What?”

  Donovan spoke excitedly. “Whoever broke in here to steal the diary and erase their motive for murder … they obviously knew the diary existed.”

  I felt the blood rush to my face. I was almost dizzy. Why didn’t I think of that before? Rather than searching for who’d had the biggest reason to kill Kayla, all I had to do was figure out who knew about the diary. Her parents didn’t know. But someone else did. Someone had asked her parents about it. I held my breath as a tingling of memory buzzed in the back of my head.

  “There was a passing mention,” I said. “It meant nothing at the time. I was reading it for motives, nothing else. I read it all in one night.”

  “What is it?”

  “Kayla did have an entry where she mentioned the diary to someone.”

  “Who? Who!”

  I opened the diary, flipping through, searching for the entry. “Kayla used all these number codes for people. I figured out who was who, but it took a while …” I found the entry. My finger followed the rounded handwriting: I already gave her some tips on handling boys and friends. Told her to trust no one. Keep her secrets to herself and her diary.

  I looked up sharply as I gasped. “I was right all along.”

  “Kane?” Donovan said, confused.

  “No. The motive. I was right about the motive. But the killer wasn’t Kane.”

  A creak of hinges made us turn around. Colby’s bedroom door was opening. Slowly.

  The peridot pendant felt strangely warm against my skin.

  “I see you found what I was looking for,” a solemn voice called out from the black of the room.

  Donovan moved in front of me, arms spread wide, in an attempt to shield me. But I wasn’t scared. Several feelings tussled for dominance inside me. Anger won out. This was why Kayla was so wound up. She’d been watching her killer search for her diary.

  “Come out!” I called. “It’s time for the truth.”

  One small foot stepped out first into the light, a black ballet flat. Then the rest of her came into view.

  Ellie Woodward. Kane’s sister.

  “You were so close this morning,” she said, in a small, almost-apologetic voice. “And I heard you tell Kane you’d found the diary. I had to come back one last time to try to steal it. It was the only evidence.”

  “You?” Donovan gasped. “You killed Kayla?”

  “I didn’t want her dead,” Ellie said, her eyes wide and wet. “I never planned for it.”

  “But … why?”

  I already knew, but I let her speak so Donovan could hear for the first time. Why Kayla had broken his heart and why she’d paid with her life.

  “I started to wonder,” Ellie said. “Why, after all this time, after all his years of trying, did Kayla finally give in to my brother? Why now? And why in this dirty, secretive way? I mean … cheating? Really? If she truly wanted to be with Kane, she’d have dumped you for him. But it wasn’t like that.”

  I should have realized Kane’s motive for murder was also Ellie’s. They were so close. They told each other everything. Of course she’d know. “Did Kane question why she was seeing him?” I asked.

  “Kane was in denial. He told me to k
eep my mouth shut and mind my own business. He said Kayla only needed time. He’d loved her for so long, I think he was happy to take whatever he could get from her. But I didn’t trust it. Every move Kayla made was meticulously planned out. I knew there had to be a reason.”

  “What happened the day Kayla died, Ellie?” Donovan asked.

  “I knew she kept a diary. I snuck into the house when no one was home.”

  “You used the trellis,” I said.

  Nodding, she said, “Kayla told me that’s how she snuck out of the house sometimes. I just wanted to read the diary. To see what she’d written about Kane. To make sure she wasn’t using him for something. I only wanted to protect my brother, that’s all.”

  “But you never found the diary,” Donovan pointed out. “Even when you snuck in again after Jade had moved in. So what happened?”

  “While I was looking for the diary Kayla came home with you.” She closed her eyes, remembering. “You were fighting. You’d found out she was cheating with Kane. You were furious. You broke up with her. She actually … begged for your forgiveness. Sniveling, crying. I’d never seen her like that — weak and vulnerable. She tried to explain herself, justify it.”

  “How?” I said, though I already knew.

  “She cheated with Kane because she felt guilty,” Donovan answered.

  Ellie nodded. “She was stealing the Bodiford Scholarship. Just as you said at my house this morning.”

  I looked sharply at Donovan. “She told you about the scholarship that day? You knew and didn’t say anything?”

  Donovan said, “Yes, but it didn’t matter. Kane had a lacrosse game that day. After I found out she’d died, that was the first thing I checked. I knew he didn’t kill her and I never imagined …” His eyes went to Ellie. Her small stature, her innocent stare. No one would ever think her capable of murder. But, in protecting Kayla’s memory and not telling anyone about her and Kane … Donovan had also protected a murderer.

  “How could you?” he said to Ellie.

  “That scholarship was rightfully Kane’s,” she spat. “It was his future. We have nothing. Our mother works minimum wage. And financial aid is such bull. He’d graduate six figures in debt. Meanwhile, Kayla grew up rich. Never had to work a part-time job on top of her studies like Kane did. She and her mother racked up charge after charge with designer clothes, five-hundred-dollar handbags. Sunglasses worth what my mother makes in a week. The whole family was always so concerned with appearances that they lived over their means and then when her dad got laid off, they had nothing. So now, out of nowhere, she’s going to qualify for the need portion of the scholarship. And she was going to take it. She didn’t deserve it.”

  Rage reddened Donovan’s cheeks. “She didn’t deserve to die!”

  Ellie’s chest rose up and down, but she ignored Donovan and continued in an eerily calm voice, “You left her alone, sobbing. You slammed the door. And I was standing in the hallway, taking it all in. My brother worshipped her and she was going to ruin his future. Just like that. The anger built up inside me. I was shaking with the power of it. And it just sort of … exploded out of me. I rushed down the hall and pushed her from behind. It wasn’t until she landed at the bottom that I’d even realized what I’d done.” She looked back and forth between us. “I didn’t plan it, I swear.”

  “Was she still alive?” I asked.

  “No. I walked down and … it was obvious. She wasn’t breathing and her neck was …” She buried her face in her hands. “I wish I hadn’t done it. I wish I had snuck out of the house while she was crying. Or, even if she saw me and ruined me at school … nothing Kayla could do to me could amount to what I’ve done to myself. I shouldn’t have pushed her. I should have just gone home and told Kane. I should have left. If I had done that one thing, all our lives would be different.”

  “Does Kane know?” I asked.

  “No. And when he and my mother find out …”

  Ellie’s mouth snapped shut as if she couldn’t bear to finish. But I knew why the tears rolled down her cheeks. Not for Kayla. But because everything she, Kane, and her mother had worked so hard for — all the planning, all the work — it was all ruined now. Because of the one moment of Ellie’s life that she lost control. One moment.

  “If I could go back in time …” Ellie said, more to Donovan than me.

  “I know,” I said. I reached into my pocket for my phone. “We have to call the cops. Don’t try to run.”

  She shrugged. “There’s no point. You can’t run from yourself. Part of me is glad it’s finally going to be over. And I won’t have to hold it inside anymore.” She leaned up against the wall for support. “Secrets are like a disease. They infect you and destroy you from the inside out.”

  “I’m at six Silver Road and we need the police right away,” I said into the phone and then hung up. The details could wait until they arrived.

  The three of us stood at the top of the stairs, in the place where Ellie had pushed Kayla, and waited in silence.

  Silence. I straightened. I’d been concentrating so much on Ellie’s confession that I hadn’t noticed Kayla’s energy disappear. Had she found peace? Had she really left?

  My mother’s pendant had begun to irritate my neck. I reached for it and gasped as it burned my fingers. What the? I looked down. The green peridot seemed brighter than normal, glowing almost.

  A sharp intake of breath came from Ellie. I looked up to see her head rock back. Her eyes shut. Her entire body shuddered as convulsions racked her small frame. I looked at Donovan, unsure of what to do. But before we could act, a strange, guttural sound came from her. She slowly opened her eyes, cocked her head to the side, then gave us a bitter smile. And I knew … it wasn’t Ellie anymore.

  Tendrils of fear unfurled in my chest. “Kayla,” I whispered.

  Donovan stared at her with growing horror as he realized what I already knew. Ellie/Kayla looked at him. Before, emptiness had filled Colby’s eyes. But now Ellie’s eyes were filled with love.

  In a soft voice, she said to Donovan, “I’m sorry for what I did to you. You always did deserve better than me.” And then, as if in suggestion, her eyes slid to mine.

  “You got what you wanted,” I said coldly. “Now go. Forever.”

  “I will,” she said. “In just a moment. But, on my way out, there’s one last thing to do …”

  That familiar menacing smile spread across her lips. She took an awkward step toward the top stair.

  “Wait,” I said, suddenly nervous. “What are you doing?”

  Ellie/Kayla looked over her shoulder at me. “Getting my revenge.”

  “No, don’t!” Donovan yelled.

  “We told the police,” I said. “Ellie will be punished.”

  “A pretty little honor student with a wonderful sob story?” Ellie/Kayla snorted. “They’ll call it an accident. She needs to pay.”

  My mother’s pendant burned against my skin. I felt feverish — from the inside out. “Don’t do this,” I said.

  “She did it to me,” Ellie/Kayla replied.

  “So be better than her!” Donovan said. “Be the girl I wanted you to be. Be the girl I thought you could be.”

  The hard look in her eyes faltered and softened for a moment. I thought he’d done it. Convinced her. But it was only a fleeting second and her determination returned. I realized it first and without thinking, reached out. I wrapped my arms around her from behind, hoping to have the strength to pull her back, away from the top step. But she was unnaturally strong. The writhing mass of our bodies tangled together and launched off the landing.

  Donovan’s eyes widened with fear. His hands reached out for me, but — too late — grasped only air. I screamed loudly in surprise as my feet no longer touched the ground. Ellie/Kayla had jumped, even with me attached to her. It wasn’t a perfect swan dive, though. We fell forward and to the side, awkwardly, haphazardly. I let out a second, smaller scream of pain when my head smashed into the wall. And then, clingin
g to each other, we continued to fall.

  Probably only two seconds had passed, but everything was in slow motion. It was like my mind knew — this is the last moment of my life. Slow it down, make it last. I was flying through the air.

  Ellie lost her grasp. Like a cell splitting in two, we separated, identical expressions of horror on our faces as gravity pulled us down. Ellie’s eyes were her own — terrified, confused. Kayla had gone, left us forever.

  Left us to die.

  But then, suddenly, my body was filled with electricity. My skin hummed with an energy like nothing I’d ever experienced. I felt connected … tethered … to something or someone else. And instead of falling, I was momentarily frozen in place. Instead of the pull of gravity, I felt the weightless sensation of floating. Of being held …

  Cradled.

  The scent of jasmine filled my senses. The sudden familiarity of it was overwhelming. An ache gripped my chest and my tightened lungs were unable to take in a breath.

  But then my feet were planted on a stair. My hand reached out and grasped the railing. And the energy left me. Only a hint of jasmine remained in the air. And at the moment I realized I was safe, I heard the thud of Ellie’s body hitting the bottom.

  Head first.

  Two weeks later, I walked out of the police station after giving my final statement. I sat on the steps to wait for him.

  The carpet my parents had installed saved Ellie’s life. The police arrived to find her unconscious body at the bottom of the stairs. Donovan and I were lucky that she lived, as it would’ve looked mighty suspicious if she hadn’t. Despite a severe concussion, she was fine.

  We left out the ghost stuff and kept it simple, telling the police that Ellie came to my house and confessed to Donovan and me that she was the one who had pushed Kayla. Then, in an ironic twist, she herself fell down the stairs.