A Week with Katherine

Day Two

My second day with Katherine started pretty normally.

It was Tuesday morning and my mom had just left for work when there was suddenly a knock at the door.

I opened it thinking it was my mom and that she had forgotten something again but was surprised to see Katherine waiting for me.

She didn't wait to be invited in as she walked past me. Her eyes were covered by large sunglasses as she looked around. Her flowy sundress swayed with each step she took.

At the time, I was too shocked to say anything. I hadn't expected her to come there. After our time at the mall, we had gone our separate way and I thought that was the end of my time with her.

Looking back, I'm glad that it wasn't the end just yet. It was better to have known her for a moment than to have never met her at all.

"Nice house, did you know before you guys moved here everyone thought this place was haunted?" Katherine said, lowering her glasses to look at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, finally speaking.

I remember her looking at me like I was stupid. She would do that a lot.

"I brought donuts." She explained holding up a small white paper bag I hadn't noticed was in her hands before walking away deeper into my house.

I shut the door following behind her.

"Why?" I called after her. I found her in the kitchen going through the cabinets.

"What do you mean why? You didn't think our adventure was over already, did you?" She asked not even glancing at me as she got out a plate and started putting donuts on it.

Even now I don't know what I was supposed to say.

Eventually, I would ask her how she knew where I lived and she would tell me in a town this small everyone knew where everyone lived and everyone knew each other's secrets. Or at least they thought they did.

"You aren't talking about skipping school again, right?" I asked her in confusion. Even with her glasses, I could tell she was rolling her eyes.

"Of course I am." She smirked while handing me the plate of oversized glazed donuts.

"We can't skip school again."

"Why not? Don't tell me, you have another French test?" She mocked me as she looked into our fridge.

Katherine lacked a sense of boundaries.

"No, but-" I stopped myself. Even then I could tell there was no point trying to convince her. And although a part of me was cautious about going with her again, a larger part of me didn't want to miss whatever she had planned.

"So, where are we going today?" I asked taking a bite of a doughnut. She took her sunglasses off and placed them on her head.

"We, my friend, are going to the beach!" She explained excitedly.

————

I don't know how she considered where we went to a beach.

We ended up going to the shore of the town's namesake; the creek of Sorrow's Creek.

The car ride was spent listening to a news report about the discovery of a body in the lake a town over.

The police would wait a week till they would announce the remains belonged to Ivy Jennings, a teenage girl that disappeared the spring before. Katherine and Ivy's cases were never formally connected, but I had my suspicions.

But then again, I guess I would consider any other explanation for what would soon happen before considering the one that would become the official story.