Bitter Demons

34. Her Blue Eyes

I left practice early and spent the rest of the afternoon with an ice pack on my shoulder. When her mother and sister left for the evening, I slipped into Caroline's room to sit and think. Was Brooke the one who sabotaged my sneakers? Or was it another threat like the roses?

I doubted I would be able to prove it was Brooke, anyway. She'd never admit to it. But other than Mrs. King, Brooke was the only one with unlimited access to our lockers. I sighed and leaned back in my chair. It was impossible to tell who was on my side in this town. The second I started to really trust someone, they tried to kill me. Or at least hurt me really bad. The pain in my shoulder was still throbbing.

I knew Brooke's jealousy was growing, but I had no idea it had gotten so out of hand. Should I confront her? Or just be more careful about taking my sneakers home with me every night? What if she didn't stop with the sneakers and turned to something even more dangerous?

She didn't want me dead. That much I knew for sure. If I died, she died with me. No, she just wanted her spot back as the head of the squad. I'd have to find ways to put the focus back on Brooke during practice.

The door to Caroline's room opened. In the sliver of moonlight coming through the lace curtains, I could see Mary Anne's pale face and bright blue eyes. She closed the door behind her and turned to face Caroline. When she saw that I was in there, she gasped and backed into the door.

"There's no real change," I said. "She still hasn't opened her eyes."

Mary Anne didn't say a word. She just turned and put her hand on the doorknob.

"Wait," I said. "You don't have to go. Did you know Caroline?"

I thought of the night Caroline disappeared and how Mary Anne had been crying. She'd been surprised to see me come home that night, I was sure of it. Now, the way her blue eyes glowed in the dark room, sent chills up my spine.

"Mary Anne, you can't keep running away from me," I said, wanting her to stay and talk to me. "We live in the same house and probably will for the next few years, so this whole avoidance thing is getting old."

She took her hand off the doorknob and turned around, but didn't move away from the door.

"What happened to your shoulder?" she said.

"I had an accident at practice today," I said. I took the ice pack off and shuffled it between my hands. It wasn't very cold anymore anyway.

"Oh."

The room fell silent except for the rhythmic in and out of Caroline's breathing. Was it possible that Mary Anne did this to Caroline? The girl was strange, sure, but a killer? I didn't see Mary Anne being capable of inflicting so much pain on someone else. She seemed too frail. But those eyes...

"Did you want to sit down?" I asked.

"No thanks," she said.

Silence again. We both stared at Caroline.

"How come you don't like me?" I asked.

Mary Anne's shoe hit the door, like a nervous tick. "I don't know you," she said.

"You know me well enough," I said. "We've been eating meals together and riding to school together for months. It's not like we're strangers, but you never talk to me."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"How about how you ended up at Shadowford in the first place?" My heart beat a little faster. I desperately wanted to know more about her past, but I was afraid I was being too forward. I had no idea how to get someone like her to open up to me.

"Same as all of us, I guess," she said. "Foster homes. School problems."

"Where did you live before you moved to Peachville?"

"Why do you want to know?"

I paused. I couldn't very well tell her the real reason I wanted to know. "I was just making conversation," I said.

"I'd rather not talk about it."

I bit my lower lip. I wasn't getting anywhere with her. She was the hardest person in the world to talk to. "Is there anything you do want to talk about?"

Mary Anne opened the door. "I have something I need to do in my room," she said. She turned to go, but before she left, she said, "It might have been nice to be your friend. If things were different."

Before I could think of anything to say to stop her, she was gone.