Part of me wanted to turn around, confront the person who had made the hair at the back of my neck stand up. But I didn’t. It was the image of my sister on the day that she had been found that kept me moving forward, eagerly joining the crowds ahead. I hadn’t been there, but the newspapers had exploited every detail of her murder.
They had found her in an alley a few blocks away from a local club. It was a place that her and her friends had hung out numerous times since they had started college. They had been with her that night; her other two best friends, Noelle and Katy, but they said they had left before her, leaving Jessica alone and partially drunk without the security of their presence. The security cameras had shown her leaving alone with her eyes focused on a cell phone, but no one else had claimed to know anything else and her phone records showed no evidence of any activity at the time she had left.
It was labeled a mystery. With no leads to go off of and no apparent motive, they had pretty much given up. At least they had once they had finally cleared Spencer of suspicion. Most were under the assumption that it had been a robbery gone badly, even though nothing was missing when she was found.
Moving as quickly as I could through the crowds of runners, I exhaled a sigh of relief when I was sure I had put whoever it was who had been following me, far behind. My muscles were burning from exertion and I called my mom as I began to head home.
“Mom?” I said when she picked up.
“Hello? Hello?” It was loud in the background wherever she was and that annoyed me. I needed her.
“Mom!” I shouted louder, gaining a few startled glances from the people around me. “Hey, it’s McKayla. Something happened today and I don’t want to be alone. Can you meet me at the condo?”
“Kay? Honey is that you? I can’t hear you, what did you say?”
“Mom! Listen, I’m freaking out here. Please meet me at the condo.” I hurried away from the park and began to quickly navigate the streets that would get me home, my phone pressed securely against my ear.
“Calm down honey, I can’t understand you.” Her phone began to break up, “in a few… be there… soon…” and then the line went dead and I could only pray that based on what I could make out, she’d be there.
I took the long way home, trying to give my mom some time to beat me there, but that didn’t mean I trudged along slowly. On the contrary, I moved at an almost comical speed, throwing panicked glances over my shoulder every few steps. Some people stopped and stared at me with wide eyes, curiosity sparking within them, but no one stopped me.
When I finally approached the condo, I was disappointed to see the parking lot devoid of my mother’s vehicle. Panic and exhaustion warred within me, but in the end, exhaustion won out and I hurried toward my door. Once there, I wished I had listened to panic.
There were flowers lying against my door.
Okay so most people would be curious, look for a note or a card or something… most people would appreciate the gift of something so unexpected and beautiful. That was after-all, part of the appeal of receiving flowers in the first place. But given everything that had happened these past months, I felt that my reaction was just as predictable.
I began to scream… and when Spencer showed up a few minutes later, I began throwing accusations at him so fast that he had no time or chance to dodge them. So when the police showed up, he lowered his head and allowed them to take him into custody. Not because of the flowers of course, no one believed my flimsy story, but it was the accusation of him following me that had him being taken to the station for questioning.
My parents were out of town, there was no one who could stay with me, so I called Dr. Benning. He assured both my mother and me that he would stay with me as long as I needed him, or until she could get there, whichever came first. Jessica hadn’t come back. I was beginning to wonder again if I really had lost my mind, but that was for another night.
Dr. Benning, or Jared as he told me to call him, was making me dinner. It was nice. After the day I had just had, it was a good feeling to be taken care of. It was some sort of soup and the smell that was permeating the condo was spicy and comforting. I had spent most of the day curled on the sofa with a blanket while he flipped through the channels on the television. Feeling like I needed to stretch, I stood up and walked to the bar like counter that separated my kitchen from my dining room and watched him cook.
He handed me a tall glass of something to drink and I raised my eyebrows at him when I tasted it. “Wine? Wouldn’t that be contributing to a minor?” I teased.
He smiled slyly and winked at me, “well you are eighteen, so it’s not too bad.” His smile gave me goose bumps.
I took a rather large gulp and then burped. A giggle escaped from between my lips and my hand flew to my mouth to cover both sounds. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually react this way to wine.”
I watched his hand reach out to brush a strand of hair from my face and I froze. I was getting those goose bumps again. “You’re so beautiful McKayla.”
He leaned forward and kissed me and I realized that the goose bumps were not a pleasant sensation. They were really rather more of a warning. The feel of lips pressing to mine felt horrible. He pulled back, mistaking my gasp of horror as a gasp of something much more favorable. It was then that I saw her. Tears were streaking down her cheeks and in her hand; she crumpled the flower that she had been holding.
“Jess?” I whispered, confused.
He pulled the band from my hair and pressed his nose into the loose strands. “Yes…” he groaned, “you look so much like her. She was so exquisite… like the flowers I gave her.”
There was something wrong with me. My brain was becoming all fuzzy and my body was starting to feel heavy. I wanted to scream or run or both, but all I could do was look up at Jared with accusing eyes, my jaw opening and closing with no words coming out.
He smiled sadly and pulled the wine glass away from me. The wine! I thought. It had to have been drugged. “This is the only way I could have you. I’ve tried to get you to trust me, to get you to love me, but you’ve been blind to my advances. All of time we’ve spent together and you never even guessed at my true feelings for you.” Then it was like he was talking to himself, “just like her sister… never even thought to give me a chance. I could have loved her… I did love her… I could have given her everything… oh well… the only way I can have her…”
His ranting went on, but I was losing focus. Jessica was there, whispering to me how sorry she was, how she had tried to warn me, how it had been too late for her. Then she was screaming at me, begging me to stay awake; to fight the drugs that he had used on me… trying to force me to stay awake… to stay alive. But it was no use. It was too late… The room spun out of focus and I felt my body begin to slide to the floor… then I was gone.