“Abbigail.”
I start to open my eyes.
“Abbi.” the voice says again, taping me with their foot. “What?” I say, sitting up and shielding myself from the harsh sun. “Why were you asleep on the grass, Abbs?”
My eyes finally focus on the girl looming above me. It’s Addison. Great.
I try to lie to her and say, “I… I must’ve fallen asleep sitting outside.”
“Yeah, right, Abbs,” she says, pulling me up off the ground. “Seriously, why were you out here?” she continues.
I walk away without replying.
“Fine! Be that way!” she calls to me. But her voice wavers so I can tell she’s sad about the way I’m treating her. But she deserves it, right?
*****
I let my feet guide me. I need a place to think and simmer down without punching Addison. My feet end up taking me to our old tree house. It’s surprisingly sturdy considering it’s been up since Addison and I were five. I place my foot on the ladder Addison built with our dad and slowly make my way to the platform.
The dark cedar wood is warped with age but it supports my weight. I crouch at the window looking out at the yard. Addison climbed the tree diagonal from me and is pointing at an old walkie-talkie that we left up here from who-knows-when. How she knows I have one is impossible but I pick it up.
She immediately starts talking. “I’m sorry for being an idiot.” No she’s not. She’s never sorry for anything. “Abbs?”
“I don’t believe you, Addison.” I drop the walkie-talkie and hear it break as it hits the floor.
It’s my first act of defiance since I can remember.
I finally notice the piece of old paper lying next to me on the floor. It’s been folded over many times and it’s ripped in places. I open it carefully so I don’t damage it any more than it already is.
On it is one word, ‘Cupitor’
*****
“What’s a cupitor anyway?” I ask my best friend, Renee McWilliams.
“Abbi, I already told you, I don’t know. All I know is that it’s Latin.”
“Well that doesn’t help.”
I cradle the phone in between my head and shoulder as I walk up the stairs.
“Where’s Addison?” she asks me.
“She’s outside and I’d rather not talk about her.”
”What happened this time?”
I can’t tell her about seeing Nathan earlier today. “We’re just fighting.”
“About what?” I hesitate and she says, “You know I’m on your side for anything and if you don’t tell me in the next minute I will come to your house and pry it out of you.”
“Aggressive much Renee?”
“Who me? Not at all. Now spill it.”
I take a deep breath. I’m positive I can trust Renee. Before I start telling her she says, “ I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to Nathan’s funeral today.”
”Renee, I’ve already told you, it’s fine. Can you come over? I have a lot to tell you and I want to tell you in person.”
“I’ll be over in 10 Abbi.”
I had to seek the help of Addison when Renee started freaking once I told her that I saw Nathan at his funeral. I didn’t want to enlist the help of my sister because I’m still mad at her but I had no choice. She’s better in situations like this.
“Renee!” I hear Addison say. I left the room to see if it would help Renee calm down. It didn’t. I slowly walk inside our room, scared of what Renee will do when she sees me. “So what you’re saying is, is that Abbi is-” she starts but stops as soon as Addison shushes her. “That I’m what?”
Renee looks at Addison. Addison shakes her head and Renee says, “Nothing.”
“You can tell me. I’m not a baby.”
“I told you. Nothing.” I eye her skeptically and then look at Addison. She gives me a ‘what-I-didn’t-tell-your-best-friend-you’re-crazy’ look.
“You told her I’m crazy, didn’t you?”
“That might’ve slipped out.”
“Addison!” I yell.
“I’m sorry. This is the only logical explanation at the moment. You are, in fact, crazy.”
“No, I’m not.”
”If you don’t mind me butting in, Abbi, it does sound like you’re crazy. Nathan’s dead, how would you see him then?” Renee says.
“That’s the point, Renee. I don’t know how I see him. I think the paper has something to do with it.” I cross over to my desk, pushed over next to Addison’s, and grab the paper from the built-in-shelf. I show it to Addison but don’t bother with Renee since I already told her what was on it. “This is all it says?”
“Yep that’s it.”
”Cupitor? What language is that?”
“Latin. Or at least that’s what Renee told me.”
”Did you try looking it up?”
“All I got was someone who seeks after something.”
”Was this up in the tree house?” Addison asks me.
“It was when I went up today. I don’t know if it’s been up there or it was placed.”
“Who would’ve placed it there?” Renee asks.
“And would’ve known you would’ve gone up there?” Addison adds.
I decide there that I should tell them about Eliza, whether they think I’m crazy or not.
They’re both silent as I tell them about my two hallucinations involving her. Addison breaks the silence first. “I still think you’re crazy but this paper coming out of no where makes no sense and you couldn’t have written it. It’s not your handwriting.”
“Well, what does this mean, then?” Renee asks.
“I don’t know but I think Nathan has something to do with it.”
“He’s dead Abbi.” Addison reminds me.
“Can we stop saying that?” I snap.
“ I’m just stating facts.” Addison says, matter-of-factly.
“That fact has been covered, Addison,” I say. “What should we do?” I ask them both.
“Wait until you get another hallucination?” Renee suggests. “That would work but how do you know she’d give us answers? She’s not safe there in the forest. I know what happens to her.”
“Speaking of the whole soul-missing business, how is that possible?” Addison asks.
“It shouldn’t be possible but it is. I have a feeling that whatever is happening to Eliza isn’t a hallucination but something that is very real and very dangerous.”
“But why you?”
“I don’t know.”
