Right Through Me

3

"Hi. I hate to bother you... but... what that girl's name again? The one who died in my apartment?"

Andrea grinned and leaned against her door frame. "Guin Hampton. Trying to have a chat with her?"

"No, nothing like that." Arden laughed. "I'm just researching. The guy at the dollar store got me curious."

"I don't remember if they released her name. I kept the article about it from the local paper."

"Um... why?"

"Because they interviewed me. Me and Laurie. Because we found her. Not to be creepy."

"Oh. I guess that's a valid reason. Could I see it?"

Andrea lead him inside her apartment, asking him to forgive the mess. Arden sat on her couch while she headed into her bedroom. She reappeared moments later with a shoebox full of paper scraps. From the look of her house, she was an avid collector of junk. She handed him a clipping, and he looked it over quickly. The first thing he noticed was a picture. It had been cropped down to where it was just her, but there was someone's arm on her shoulder. Guin was a slender thing, wearing a black shirt that swamped her body. She had shaggy, warm blonde hair, with long bangs that drifted into her dark eyes. Her smile seemed shallow. She was very pretty, Arden noted, probably pretty enough to be stalked.

"That's not a good picture of her. I don't even know where they got that. It's not particularly flattering. I think they made her YourFace profile a 'memorial' one. It has all her pictures. She was a cute little thing."

Arden nodded, starting to read the article. It didn't have very many details that he didn't already know. However, it actually gave him a tidbit of information on her. She had two brothers and both her parents were still alive. Laurie had reported that she was a sweet, quiet girl who liked to read and watch horror movies. Andrea had said that they thought when they came in, she was playing a trick on them, considering it was Halloween. Laurie had continued that Guin had always seemed really paranoid when she came home from work, but she refused to tell her why. She said that she was so sorry and how she wished she could've known before this happened. It didn't say whether or not that the man was caught, so he decided to ask.

"Oh, they did. He confessed. The guilt was too much, I guess."

"Huh. Good to know. That's really awful, though. Poor kid."

"For real. You hear about those kinds of things, but you never really think they'll happen to someone you know. You want some coffee or something?"

"No, no... I've got to finish settling in. Maybe another day. But thanks for the help."

Arden cleaned up the mess in his apartment, and put away some of his belongings. He then made his way into his bedroom and laid on the bare mattress. Curious, he pulled his phone out and looked up Guin's page.

There were hundreds of messages. All saying how much they loved her, how they missed her. Arden wondered, though, how much of that was honest. If these people really knew and loved her. He remembered what seemed like a flood of messages from people who "knew" Serena. Telling him how strong she had been in the face of death, how lucky he was to have had her. He knew those things, but what did these people have anything to do with it? How many of those people had been there for her at the end? 

He let the phone fall onto his chest with a sigh. It was so hard to move on when every thought brings you back. Instead of dwelling, he got up out of bed and found one of his old literature books. He brought it back to bed and began to read aloud some of his favorite poems from it.

~

She sat on the side of the bed, her feet dangling off. He was reading as though he knew he had an audience. She wondered if it was just in case, or if he would always do this. 

He started reading a new poem. One she knew by heart. She mouthed along. Pablo Neruda, If You Forget Me.

"everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me."

~

Arden's stopped reading as his eyes watered. Everything carried him to Serena. He laid the book down, closed his eyes and made an attempt at sleep.

Serena smiled at him from a playground swing. She loved having her picture taken. Her eyes had changed though. They were dark, much darker than he'd ever seen them. 

They walked home, and she held his hand. "Your hair is getting so long. Maybe you should let me cut it."

"First of all, no, and secondly, no." Their laughter filled the air. 

He walked into the apartment, as empty as he'd left it. A slim girl was laying on the coffee table, bruises all over her neck. She slid off the side and stood and faced him. It was Serena, and then it wasn't. 

"Do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you." Serena's voice said, coming out of this blonde's mouth. 

"Stop!" Arden yelled, waking himself up.