Dead Jealous

Doubt

Sky sat on a bench, soaking in the sun's rays and waiting for Christian. The lake was bluer than ever, and glittered and sparkled the reflection of the sky.

She was still pretty freaked out over the afternoon before, but hadn't mentioned it to her mum or dad. She didn't want them to worry more, or freak them either.

Her mind drifted towards her suspicions and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

"Hey."

Sky jumped and her heart went crazy. She whipped around and took a deep breath when she saw who it was.

"Hey. Sorry, you freaked me for a moment." She laughed at her idiocy.

Christian cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

"Well... why don't we get something to eat first?"

Sky bought strawberry and Christian chose coconut ice cream. They licked their fast-melting deserts as they strolled along the foot path.

"Christian, I know we've basically only just met, but you need to trust me on this, and maybe even help me." She hoped she wasn't scaring him away by her serious statement. But at this point, she couldn't think of anyone else to help her.

"Sure. What is it?"

Sky took a breath. "I was in my room yesterday, and I noticed something. And I don't think it was there...before. But, I can see that it might have been there for quite awhile."
His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.
"See, I was looking at the mirror on the wall from an angle, and the light caught in the reflection, this greasy writing or something. And when I looked at it closely, it said, 'dead."

Christian froze. "Why would someone do that? It seems pretty weak to me."

"It seems like a death threat to me, Christian!"

"It was just, like, oil smeared or something, though. Why not something you could actually see?"

Sky sighed. "That's my point! Maybe they did write it on there to be seen, but then they realized it was the wrong room and tried wiping it off?"

Christian bit his lip and shrugged. "I guess it could happen."

She shook her head. "I feel like there's so much I don't remember that I need to know! I mean, surely in a month there was something that lead up to what happened? A creepy stalker's footsteps, maybe? Or something equally implausible. I don't even know." She dumped her unfinished ice cream in a bin, her stomach churning too much to stomach the creamy richness.

Christian put his hand on her shoulder, comforting her with his words. "Sky, don't worry. Whatever happened is in the past and I will help you get to the bottom of this, ok?"

"Thank you," she said, smiling softly.

Silence settled like a light dusting of snow. In any other situation, Sky would be desperately racking her brains for something to say; anything to ease the awkwardness. But there, then, she felt comfortable to let the silence settle.

"You know what? Summer is almost over, and I still haven't even eaten any mangos. What kind it summer is that?" Sky eventually said.

Christian gasped jokingly. "My god! We have to find you some mangos as soon as possible," he grinned.

Sky smiled back at him and suddenly became conscious of how close he was to her, and the way his lips curved in an easy-going smile.

Her eyes flickered away awkwardly and she scrunched a serviette in her hands. Christian broke off a piece of waffle cone, throwing it to several ducks that were loitering at their feet.

"Thank you for this," Sky finally said. "I can't thank you enough."

He shook his head. "You have no reason to thank me. You hear me? None." Without even seeming to realise, his hand had raised to her jaw, brushing away a few strands of hair. Sky froze at the almost tender gesture, so unfamiliar to her it seemed.

It was his breath, in the end. The coconut scent entwined in his warm breath, wafting from his soft lips. Her eyes widened and she recoiled.

"What's wrong?" He asked, concern flooding his features.

"I - I can't believe this." She laughed bitterly, standing up unsteadily. "You couldn't even tell me? That we already knew each other? And - and -" her voice choked up with anger and humiliation. She couldn't go any further.

He'd been lying to her the whole time. He knew everything about her, and more. Was this just another thing that her mind had blocked out?

She ran away from him and he could only watch after her with a forlorn expression that filled her with disgust.

Why couldn't he have told her? She'd liked him, a lot. Now every time she thought about him, her head went all muddled, newly surfaced memories mixing up with the last couple of days until she could barely tell where one started and the other began.