Lindsay stopped at their storage unit on her way home. It took her an hour to locate the box with the item she sought. Seeing the Ouija board game gave her a shiver. Hopefully this would allow Jace to tell her what happened to him and give her some clue how to get to Cameron before he went to court.
Her nerves were stretched after the explosion. Lance handled their mother, telling her it was a leaky gas tank and a stray cigarette that caused her car to explode. She knew her brother hated all the lying but she didn’t need their mother finding out Cameron and his friends were coming after her. Jack was in their office three days a week and Sheriff Wilson kept him from finding out so far. She just needed more time.
Lindsay walked the six blocks back to Merriman’s with the Ouija board in her arms, ignoring the honks and slurs from the kids who drove past her, calling her names outside their car windows. She kept her head down, determined she wouldn’t cry.
This was harder than she could have ever known. The kids she went to school with all her life turned on her on a dime, more ticked off their drug supplier was shut down than that he might have killed their star quarterback.
Her eyes filled with anger. Jace deserved better than this from his peers. They should be just as outraged as she was. Jace went out of his way for anybody; kindest to the most bullied kids in school. He used his popularity to influence his friends in that way while he was alive. He was gone now. Cameron slid into the role of king of the school with remarkable ease, as if born to it.
Their crowd went with Cameron. Rosemarie Barber launched an all out campaign against Lindsay now. She heard from Marnie everyone was supposed to boo when she went across the stage to pick up her diploma at graduation commencements. She didn’t care. There was life after Little Bend. She had her whole life ahead of her if she could survive these next weeks.
She entered her apartment and was grateful Marnie and Lance weren’t home. She didn’t need them thinking her crazy for talking to her dead boyfriend. She felt exhilarated as she entered, just knowing Jace was there. The connection they shared was not severed just because he was dead. It helped console her as she faced life without him now.
She removed everything from the coffee table and put the Ouija board down, taking the plastic pointer and setting it down. She got up and retrieved a notebook and pen from her room.