Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter 6

    That night, I had decided to go to bed at nine, since I was exhausted from the days' events. I bid my mom goodnight, and walked down the hall to my room, carrying the fifth Harry Potter book, sporting my duck pajamas. When I got in my room, I quietly closed the door, and climbed into bed,making sure to get comfortable before opening my book. Once I got comfortable, I started reading from where I left off. " 'That was really unfair,' said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Harry and helping herself to shepherd's pie." I stopped readomg abruptly. What if what my dad said earlier was true? Was Mariah actually jealous of me and Zach? Jealous enough to kill him, knowing it'd break my heart?

    The thought rattled around in my brain, but I tried to focus on my reading. " 'Your potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's; when he put it in his flagon the whole thing shattered and set his robes on fire.' " I stopped again, unable to push the thought aside. I got out of bed, and walked out to the kitchen. My mom was sitting at the table, reading, drinking a glass of milk.

    "Mom, is Mariah home?" My mom turned around. I think I scared her a bit. She took a drink of her milk and said, "No, she's staying over at her friend Jessica's house, why?" "I was just wondering," I told her. That was a lie. I walked over to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, took a swig, then put it back, once again bidding my mom goodnight. I walked back down the hall, pretending to be all nonchalant and innocent, but as soon as I was out of her sight, I walked to Mariah's room, and opened the door, slowly, so my mom wouldn't hear.

    I had never actually been in my older sister's bedroom, not since she was ten and I was eight. But that was only so she could end up locking me in the closet for two hours. When I actually stepped in for the first time in seven years, I got the shock of my life. My siser had went through all those obsession phases. It had started with kid stuff like Dora, then it moved on to Justin Bieber, Twilight etc. But her new obsession was what scared me the most. Her bed wasn't made, the blankets were merely thrown on. There was a small desk in the corner, which held paper, pencils, scissors, and what looked like scraps from magazines and newspapers. Her dresser had little ornaments on top, but it looked like most of her clothes were strewn on the floor. What covered her walls scared me the most. They were plastered in pictures. Not pictures of celebrities, or herself, or friends, or anything normal. No, her walls were covered in pictures of me and Zach. The majority of them were Zach. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

    That was when I remembered the closet. It was small, but with my sister, you could never be too sure what she hid in there. I walked over to the closet, cautiously. I wasn't sure if something might jump out and attack me. I put my hand on the handle, but stopped. What if Mariah figured out somebody had been in her room? If she discovered it was me, she'd kill me. With a deep breath, I opened the door. I thought what I would've seen would scar me for life. But I was wrong. All I saw was clothes, and clothes, and some shoes. I went to close the door, but stopped. I always learned from crime movies that when you search a place, or look in someone's closet, you need to search it thorougly.

    So I started searching through her stuff, carefully looking at all of her clothes. Nothing seemed suspicious until I got to the last hanger. What I saw hanging there, sent a lot of chills up my spine, and I shivered, feeling like I had just stepped into a cold spot. Hanging on the hanger was a black sweater. But not just any black sweater, no. This was the exact same sweater I saw that strange person wearing while I was on my walk earlier.