I'm Not Dead

Chapter Fifteen

After the whole ordeal tonight, I made sure to sleep with my door locked. Just before I fell asleep I heard the doorknob jiggle. Then I was wide awake.

I texted Laura: you up? ;)

She texted back a few seconds later—which honestly doesn't seem desperate guys, I'm sure she had her phone in her hands or it was on her night stand, so when you get a text just text back and don't worry about seeming to desperate—and said: I was about to sleep...

I smiled. What if I came over?

I sat up in my bed, waiting for a response. MY phone vibrated in my hands, the new texts from Laura saying: idk Elliot

Come on laura I wanna see you

It's a school night...

I bit my lip. What if I come over, and I chill for an hour, and then leave?

Elliot that's another hour I'll be awake.

Come on baby

Elliot no. not tonight.

I sighed and sat my phone down. Someone tapped on my window and despite every scary movie I've ever seen that told me this was a bad idea, I opened up the curtain and peered into the darkness.

Then I screamed when Genevieve popped up, smiling. She held up a notecard: open up J

I sighed and opened the window and watched Genevieve crawl through. "Scared you, didn't I?"

"How'd you even find out where I live?"

Genevieve flicked a piece of hair over her shoulder. "I'm your deal-demon, I know everything about you."

"Oh yeah?" I quirked an eyebrow.

"I know that your first like, true boner was for your teacher. She wasn't even that hot. I know that even with all the sweet, hot, intense sex you get from Laura you masturbate regularly. I also know a little—big—something about Laura,"

"What do you know about Laura?"

"Ah, ah, ah. We're talking about you here. I know that you think that you are better than Theo. And that without you Theo would be a nobody. I know what you think of yourself."

"Shut up."

Gen shrugged. "It's true."

A couple of minutes passed between us in silence. Then I asked the question that had been nagging at the back of my mind. "Who will I have to kill?"

"I'll tell you when the time's right. They're not even alive and in your life right now. Well, I guess they are technically in your life just not alive—" she gasped. "I said too much."

"What, like they're not born yet?"

Gen nodded slowly, carefully. "Yes. Not born."

"But if they're in my life... Then the baby will be someone I know. Someone's I know."

She didn't say anything.

"I don't know anyone who's having a baby, though."

Genevieve shrugged. "You do." She bit the edge of her lips. "I've said way too much, and really should be going. Don't worry too much about the person you have to kill yet," she said, starting to climb back out of the window, "I'll tell you when the time comes."

She shut the window once she was all the way through and just like that she was gone.

The next night I came over to Laura's, and I spent the night. I woke up in the early hours of the morning, the sky a dark blue, with the bed empty. Laura's bathroom light was on, the door cracked.

"Laura?" I stood up and walked over to the door, pushing it open.

She was kneeling down in front of the toilet, throwing up. I dropped down, pulling her long blonde hair back. "Laura are you okay?"

She panted, threw up more, then reached for a glass of water sitting on the counter top. She lifted her head away from the toilet and leaned against the bathtub.

"Laura?"

Laura started to cry. "Laura, are you sick?" I felt her head. She felt fine. She moved a hand to her stomach. Was she going to throw up again?

Laura wiped away her tears and stood up, still distraught. "Just leave, Elliot. You've already made everything bad enough."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Laura started to brush her teeth, ignoring my question. "What the hell, Laura?"

She spat out her tooth paste and rinsed her mouth with water. "I just wish we never got back together this year." She pushed past me out of the bathroom. "Could you just leave? I've got to get ready for school."

I looked at the time. It was a quarter till six.

"You're going to school?"

"Yeah." She crossed her arms over her chest, impatient.

"You just threw up. Most people would use that as an excuse to get out of going."

Laura swallowed hard. "Yeah, well."

Then a thought popped into my head, a crazy one that couldn't be true. What Genevieve had said got to me, driving me crazy: who's pregnant.

"You're not pregnant, are you?" I asked. Morning sickness, right? That's what this could've been? What if she lied to me about the abortion? If she did, then she'd be at least a month along...

Minutes passed and she still had yet to answer.

"Laura?" I pressed.

She licked her lips, nervous. "Elliot, I'm going to be late. Please leave."

Dammit.

She is.