The Departed (9 page)

Creeped out, I walked into my room. The drawing of Mount Hood was upside down. In fact, every single picture on my wall was upside down.

Overwhelming fear gripped me—a creepy sensation that raced along my spine and wouldn’t let go.

I ripped my blanket off the bed, grabbed a pillow, and started for my door. I stepped on something cold. I stopped, lifted my foot, and stuck on the very bottom of it was a razorblade.

Not again…

I picked the blade off my foot and then without another thought ran it across the pad of my thumb, a good inch, watching as the blood beaded and then the crimson stream raced down my arm, dripping onto the floor.

Instantly I felt release, followed shortly by guilt.

What the hell was I doing? Why had I done that? It’s like I had no control over my own body.

You cannot escape me. I am everywhere. There is not a minute you are alone. I am always there.

I sense you.

I feel you.

I am you.

I reached for the doorknob and it slipped from my fingers. A second later, invisible arms encircled me and I was tossed back and thrown onto the bed. Hands grasped either one of my arms and held me captive. Panic welled up inside me. What felt like long hair fell across my face.

Everything within me said to close my eyes and keep them tight, and yet in that moment I saw my friends’ faces flash before me, one by one. As easy as it would be to give up—to succumb to the darkness that consumed me—I couldn’t allow it. Laria was tormenting everyone I cared about.

“Show yourself, you fucking coward.”

The words hadn’t left my mouth when I was abruptly lifted up by my ankles, and dangled several feet above my bed. A forceful grip tightened around one ankle, dropping the other. How could a girl, who weighed roughly the same as me, hold me up? Cruel laughter vibrated in my ears and I saw a flash of my mother after the wreck. It was horrible. Even worse than I’d imagined. I had always believed there had been a reason I’d been knocked unconscious during the wreck, so I wouldn’t have to see what had happened to her. I realized now how right I’d been. Now, the blinders were off. “Stop it,” I cried, but the images burned in my mind, flashing over and over again.

Through the veil of my hair I saw others in the room…the individuals in black robes. Apparently, like Laria and Randall, they weren’t happy that I had gone to their hiding place.

“Mom…Anne Marie, please help me,” I said under my breath.

An image of myself on the shower floor—my wrists sliced open—flashed in my mind. At a glance, I knew I was dead.

The razor was now on the bed, next to my hand. Inches away. There was already blood on the comforter from where my thumb had bled.

Sweet release. Do it!

Nails bit into the skin of my ankle, and I returned the favor, gripping onto Laria’s ankles, digging my nails into them as hard as I could.

She laughed, obviously taking delight in my attempt at hurting her.

The door opened and Miss Akin appeared.

I abruptly fell onto the mattress.

“What on earth!”

I had no idea how much she had seen because I was face down, and a heavy pressure kept my head buried into the pillow.

“Riley?”

Her footsteps rushed forward. I felt Miss Akin try to pull me up, but her efforts were in vain. “Shane!!!!!!”

Her scream reverberated off the walls.

Blackness beckoned, the hand at my neck unrelenting.

Miss Akin was screaming now, and then the weight at my neck was gone. I rolled onto my back and sucked a breath into my lungs.

“Dear God, what was that?” Miss A asked, standing back with a stunned expression.

“Are they gone, Riley?” Shane asked, and I nodded.

“Is
who
gone?” Miss Akin asked, her brows pinched together.

“The ghosts.” Shane sat on the edge of the bed and hugged me.

Miss A gasped. “Anne Marie visited me in my dream last night and she warned me that this would happen,” she said absently, staring blankly at us. “Now I’m afraid for what is coming.”

She wasn’t the only one.

***

Miss Akin made us hot chocolate and when the sun came up we were all still sitting in the kitchen, looking at each other, trying to understand what was happening. I had let Shane talk, and Miss Akin had listened intently, nodding her head from time to time while saying “dear lord,” every few minutes.

She wasn’t surprised about Laria. After all, she’d had firsthand experience with her at the séance we’d had with Anne Marie, but she seemed more terrified now than she’d been back then, and for good reason. Seeing your boss’s daughter dangling over her bed while being held by an invisible force was a bit tough to wrap your brain around.

She had no idea how bad things were going to get.

“Perhaps you should stay home from school today. You need your sleep,” Miss A said.

“No, I’ve missed too much school already.” Plus, I didn’t want to tell her that school was one of the few places I had the most peace. And I wanted to see how my friends were doing, especially Megan, who had gone quiet on me. I hadn’t received a phone call from her since the slumber party.

“You said that Anne Marie warned you this was coming,” Shane said, reclining back all the way in the chair. “What did you mean by that?”

“I had a dream, and when I woke, I swear I saw her at the foot of my bed. It was just a second, just a glimmer, but she was there,” Miss Akin said, in a way that sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “Truth be told, she has visited me nearly every night since her death. Actually, I find it comforting.”

If I ever doubted at all that Anne Marie was working in tandem with us to help beat Laria, I had my answer.

“That’s how I knew something was wrong this morning,” she said. “I woke out of a dead sleep and heard her voice telling me to check on you.” Miss A looked at me. “Does your father have any idea of what’s happening?”

“No, and he won’t,” Shane said, raking his fingers through his hair. “We have to keep this to ourselves. He wouldn’t believe it, even if we tried to convince him.”

I was still shaken by the pictures that had flashed through my mind of my mom’s death, and of my own death. It had been the second time I had seen a vision of myself in the shower with slashed wrists. Were these visions a warning for me to stop cutting, because I could end up killing myself?

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Destroy her,” I said, hoping Laria heard me. The thing I didn’t tell Miss Akin was I had no choice. I had to destroy Laria before she had the chance to destroy me.

Chapter 9

Peter followed me around school like a lost puppy.

Although he didn’t talk to me, he did intentional things to get my attention, like rolling pencils off desks, tossing books on the floor, and making as much noise as possible. He had gained my classmates’ attention, but I refused to look.

If he kept it up, soon everyone in my classes would think I had telekinetic powers.

Every single time something strange happened in first period, Dana would look directly at me.

Even Aaron seemed a little freaked out, not to mention unusually quiet. I tried to focus on what he was thinking, but I was too distracted. I figured his parents had heard from Mr. Monahan and he was told to steer clear of me.

As the day progressed and Peter kept at it, I began to wonder again if maybe I was wrong. What if Laria had only said the stuff about Peter so I wouldn’t have a confidant who was another spirit?

I thought back on that day in the library when I’d looked up spiritual possession on the Internet. Peter hadn’t left my side, and he hadn’t tried to deter me from searching, either. In fact, when I asked him what he knew about the subject, he’d answered my questions pretty truthfully…not at all like an evil spirit who had been found out or wanted to derail me.

I was so confused and so tired. I was distracted after only getting a few hours sleep and waking up to Laria. My head hurt, and my exhaustion was catching up with me. At lunch, Kade asked me if I was feeling all right. I’d lied and smiled, telling him I was fine. Cait apologized at least a dozen times about talking me into going to the hill. I told her she hadn’t made me do anything, which seemed to pacify her.

Peter followed me home, and he stayed about fifteen steps behind me. I walked over the bridge, glancing at the river but not really seeing it. When Peter was within arm’s reach, I stopped in my tracks, ignoring the old lady who watched me from where she sat in her car in front of the market.

I abruptly turned. “Leave me alone.”

His eyes widened and he glanced over his shoulder, almost like he expected to find me talking to someone else. “I…what? Riley, what is happening to you? I don’t understand what I did to make you so mad.”

“Quit masquerading as other people and spirits, especially an innocent little boy.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, sounding close to tears. Suddenly it seemed to dawn on him and his eyes widened. “Oh my God…you believe she’s me, or that I’m her?”

He sounded so convincing…

I wanted to believe him. Truth be told, I missed the little shit.

With my mind racing, I picked up my pace, broke into a run, and didn’t stop until I was home.

I had an hour before I had to be back to school and at the football game. I washed my face, reapplied my makeup, and changed into a sweater. Miss A had mentioned that the nights would start getting cold fast, and she wasn’t kidding. The wind would pick up and the temperature dropped
really
fast.

The football game had already started when I got there. I texted Cait and she immediately texted me back and said she’d come down to meet me. I was grateful. I hated walking into any social event alone.

One nice thing about the after school games is that they weren’t as well attended as the Friday night or Saturday afternoon games. And right now, the less people I was around, the better.

Cass walked around the corner and smiled at me. “I didn’t think you were going to make it. I’ve been texting you for the past thirty minutes but you didn’t pick up.”

I frowned. “You didn’t text me until I just now texted you.”

She removed her cell from her pocket and showed me the last three text messages, which were all to my phone number.

First Kade and now Cass.

I showed her my recent calls. Zero messages, which was odd come to think of it.

“That’s insane,” Cass said, and tried to text me again.

My phone signaled I had a text and she frowned.

“Didn’t get it, huh?”

“I swear.”

She cracked a smile. “I believe you. Come on, we’d better get to the stands. We’re at the very top bleacher so we can talk, you know?”

“Good idea.”

“Oh, and Kade has been searching for you since the game started.”

I grinned, anxious to see him too.

We walked up the bleachers, and I ignored Dana and her friends who were sitting right in the middle of the small crowd. I just kept walking right past them.

I was stunned to see Milo and Richie sitting beside Megan. They normally never made sports events, but Milo was even more attentive to Megan. He obviously realized how serious Laria was. The problem was, anyone associated with me had a reason to be scared. Look at Anne Marie—I still believed her death was connected to Laria. Maybe there was such a thing as being scared to death…

We took a seat in the bleachers, and Richie planted himself right next to me. “I hear you have a ghost haunting you.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” I said, glancing at his hand that was resting right against my hip.

I liked Richie, but I think he enjoyed making me uncomfortable. Maybe it was because I knew Kade didn’t exactly appreciate the way Richie flirted with me.

“If you ever need anyone to spend the night with you,” he scooted a little closer, “you know, to protect you. I’m your man.”

I smiled and shook my head, grateful for the lighthearted comment. If any of my friends, guys included, spent one night in my house and saw what I saw, I wondered just how cocky they would be by morning.

I saw Cait making her way up the bleachers toward us. Mrs. MacKinnon and Maddy took a seat beside another mother and her young kid. Maddy didn’t look too thrilled to be stuck sitting with her aunt, and gave us a yearning glance.

Milo leaned in. “So, Ri…you’re psychic. Does that mean you can read my mind?”

Megan hit him in the arm and scowled. “Quit being a dick.”

He rubbed his bicep and laughed. “What, babe? I’m curious. It’s intriguing…I’ve never known anyone who was psychic before.”

Cait planted herself right in front of me, and I was forced to move my feet from where I’d had them on the bench.

“Shane has the ball,” Cait said, leaning back against my knees.

I smiled, proud of him and wished our dad could pull himself away from his girlfriend long enough to come watch him play before the season was over. The crowd groaned when Shane missed a goal by inches.

“Bloody hell, he just about had it,” Milo said, sounding surprised.

Within a few minutes Shane had another chance. Kade kicked the ball to him, and Shane nailed the shot.

Milo and Richie were on their feet before anyone else, and Cait squeezed my hand. Megan glanced at us, and I saw a flash of jealousy in her eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was our friendship that made her jealous or if it was the fact Cait liked Shane and vice versa.

When the visiting team took possession of the ball, Cait glanced at Cass. “So tell me, have you been car shopping with your dad yet?”

She shook her head. “No, not yet…but on Sunday he promised we’d visit his friend in Edinburgh, a broker who deals in luxury vehicles.”

“Luxury vehicles,” Cait repeated haughtily.

Cass rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that.” She lifted her chin and grinned. “But it does mean that Daddy is listening.”

“Anytime you want to switch rigs, we can do that.” Milo gave her a wink.

“Uh, that would be a cold day in hell.”