The Lost Girls (Chris Cerulli Vampire Story)

Chapter 16

I slide off of my bike, constantly feeling as if I was being watched. The Dome was fairly packed like last time and I had double checked that Motionless in White would be playing tonight, so I figured that was why. I quickly purchased a ticket so I could go inside and I found the place was even more crammed with people than it was outside and that made me uneasy. Any one of those vampires could be among this crowd. I clutched my leather jacket tighter around my torso as I waited for the band to take the stage. 

Motionless in White was the second act and despite my nerves I still appreciated the show they put on. Yet again, I found myself imagining Chris up on the stage and what that would look like. I thought about what it would be like to meet him if he was 21, like he was supposed to be now, would he even give me the time of day? If Danielle had stayed away from him, would he and Carly still be together? I felt horrible that I was almost glad that wasn't the way things turned out. 

Before I could dwell on it any longer the band's set was over and I knew that I needed to be on the look out for my chance to speak to Angelo. My eyes scanned the numerous faces around me, but I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt a slight tap on the back of my shoulder. I spun around to find just the person I was looking for.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry for bugging you, but didn't I see you not too long ago?" Angelo asked appearing nervous. 

I nodded, "Yeah, you did. I came here to talk to you actually."

"Was that Chris with you last time you were here?"

"It was."

"Oh thank god, I've been so worried. Where has he been all this time? How do you even know him?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, so I need to talk to you about what happened before he ran away. And the only reason I know him is because he approached me at the fair awhile back and we became friends."

He nodded as well, "We all thought he had ran away, but after awhile we thought he might have died too. Where is he now?"

"I don't know." I shake my head and felt an ache in my chest as I watched Angelo's face fall. 

"Well, I'm glad that he's still around and it seems that he might have moved on from what happened to Carly."

I rose an eyebrow, "Why do you say that?"

He gestured to me, "When I saw the two of you last time, I noticed that he looked so much happier since I had last seen him. He looked at you the way he used to look at Carly. Are you two together?"

I hastily shook my head, "I-I don't know what we are." 

"Well take it from me, as his best friend, it's plain to see that he's very into you."

I felt my cheeks burn at Angelo's remark before turning my focus to what I had came here for. "So, this is going to sound strange, but was there something going on with Danielle and him back then?"

He gave a dry laugh, "So he told you about Danielle?"

"Not really, he mentioned her and I just get the feeling that they hated each other."

"Chris definitely did, but everyone knew that Danielle was basically obsessed with him."

"Really?" As far as I could tell Danielle didn't really seem to care for Chris all that much.  

"Oh yeah, Carly and Chris met because of her and I guess Danielle couldn't handle it that Chris hit it off with her friend instead of her. She was always hanging around them to the point it started to piss Chris off. He told her off one day and they stopped talking for months after that fight and then one day she came back totally different. She had cut off all her hair and gained this attitude that she was better than everyone else. It got to the point no one would talk to her besides Carly and her other friend Payton."

Angelo paused, seeming to recall the events he was telling me about in painful detail, "Chris had mentioned Danielle wanting for them all to go camping together. It was something about wanting to reconcile their differences and supposedly Danielle wanted to apologize to them in a more 'private' setting."

"And that was when Carly..." I trailed off, unable to finish the statement. 

He nodded with a solemn expression before continuing, "Danielle and Payton stopped going to school a few weeks after that. People still saw them around town, but then as soon as Chris vanished, so did they."

"Why do you think they did that?"

Angelo shrugged, "A lot of people said that they must have all ran away together, but everyone that actually knew them knew better than that. There was this theory for a while that Chris had ran away because of what happened to Carly and Danielle refused to let him leave without her. Have you ever met Danielle?"

My mind raced at that question. Should I tell him that I had met her? Should I be more worried about her than I already am? I quickly made my decision saying, "I think I might  have."

That caused his jaw to drop, "They're really still around each other?"

"Yeah, they're sort of roommates I guess."

Angelo let out a short laugh as he shook his head in disbelief, "That's insane. I guess tragedy changes people."

I nodded in agreement as I thought about that picture I had seen of Chris, he was truly changed by the horrors he's had to face. 

"So, what's your name again?" Angelo questioned, knocking me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, Ashlyn."

"Could you do me a favor the next time you see Chris? Tell him that he needs to stop blaming himself for that night. If anything it was my fault."

"What makes you say that?"

He sighed, "The day Chris was supposed to go on that camping trip my girlfriend at the time had dumped me and he ended up backing out of the trip to hang out with me instead. I wonder all the time what might have happened if I hadn't of asked him to stick around, whether or not Carly would still be alive."

I frowned telling him, "There's nothing you can do about that now."

Our conversation slowly drifted into lighter topics, but we mostly talked about Chris. About how he used to be so dedicated to their band and how much he loved music. Angelo told me about how they would go to concerts all the time and the rest of it they would skateboard all over the Pittston area. Chris had a dirty sense of humor, quick wit, and a hilariously short temper. The more we discussed him, the more it was dawning on me just how much I liked him. 

Another thing that stuck out to me from talking to Angelo, about what he told me about Chris being with him the night Carly died. So it couldn't have been him that killed her. It had to be Danielle, that is the only thing that truly explains why he hates her as much as he does. She had enough of a motive for it, she was obsessed with Chris and hated the fact she couldn't have him. I knew that I was still missing pieces to this horrifically complicated puzzle, but I knew that I had gained a very important piece tonight. 

"Ashlyn!" A voice hissed from the darkness as I stepped out of the venue. 

I halted, my eyes frantically searching the space around me for where the voice could have come from. 

"If you don't want to die, I suggest you get over here."