The Lost Girls || Bbangsaz

XXIV

The next day, I lay on the red-satin bed in Hyein's living room, staring up at the patterns of mold in the ceiling, like black clouds gathering in the plaster. I'd just come back from finishing off a guy in the nearby park, and his blood still stained the front of my sweater. Hed been a fighter. Not normally an issue, but my mind had been elsewhere.

     Hyein had gone out hunting. She'd spent more and more time away from the house lately, as if she couldn't get away from there fast enough. I couldn't blame her. The house her mom used to keep a Dani-standard of clean was now crawling with rot and reeked of dried blood and mildew. It didn't feel like the same place anymore.

     In another hour, we'd meet with Frankie and find out whatever he wanted to tell us. I still didn't know why he couldn't give me the information to pass along, but it seemed really important to him to meet with all three of us. Dani insisted it was because he wanted to see Haerin. I had my doubts. Still, we needed him to keep tabs on Elton, and better him than Gwen.

     "I can't believe we're spending our last night with our memories in this dump," Haerin said

     "Why should we, though?" I propped myself up on my elbows.

     "Let's stay out after we meet with Frankie. Aren't we supposed to be creatures of the night or whatever? We can go where we want."

     "She does make a good point," Dani said. "I don't want to stay here, either. It smells weird, and it's already going to bother me forever that I never did get it all the way clean."

     "We'll figure it out on the way. We should get going now, though. It takes forever to get to the bridge." I rwisted Hanni's bracelet on my wrist. She was already gone, but it wouldn't feel final until we left town.

     Haerin grabbed my notebook and pen from the bed and left a nore for Hyein, letting her know we wouldn't be back until morning. She'd likely be gone that long as well.

     The three of us took a bus to the edge of town. I hadn't been up there since the summer between eighth and ninth grade, but everyone knew where to find Ghost Bridge. It was an intrinsic part of growing up in Glen River.

     This part of town stopped being developed after the fire. A few places that could've been banks or stores were now nothing but a few posts rising out of tall grass. A wall or two still stood back when Hyein and I had come here years ago. From the disturbed expression on Dani's face, I had a feeling that whole buildings had been intact during her time.

     I swatted a fly away from my face. "We should've made him meet us at Burger King."

     "Why? So you could pick up a job application?" Haerin asked.

     "Hilarious." At least I'd attempted to work. Productive member of society and all.
I walked ahead, picking up my pace at the sound of water splashing against muddy banks. The temperature around the bridge ran ten degrees cooler because of the creek. It wound all the way through the heavily wooded area and emptied into the Glen River. A storm had blown through the night before, raking out most of the remaining leaves. Trees pricked the skyline, their dark and empty branches like the thin and scratching fingers of nightmares.

     "This is an odd place to meet." Haerin jumped on the bridge, resting her weight against the time-worn planks. "Why did he pick Amelia's?"

     "Elton's maker?" I shielded my eyes from the sun as I looked up the hill. "No way. This place was a legend to me growing up.
Her family is supposed to be haunting this bridge."

     "I heard the same growing up." Dani gave me a soft smile. We grew up a few streets over from each other, but it never really clicked until this homegrown ghost story conneeted us across a generation.

     "Someone set fire to their house in the middle of the night, and they still wander this road, searching for their murderer."