'Til Death Do Us Part

Thirty Six

I packed up Ariana's entire vanity without finding her necklace. Determined, I ransacked her room. I wasn't even packing boxes anymore; I was just turning things over and shoving things out of my way.

It wasn't until I emptied out her nightstands that I finally found it. I could tell she had thrown it in there without a care. It wasn't wrapped in anything or placed in a box; it was just tangled up with some junk. I held it in my palm for a minute before slipping it into my pocket. Since I'd finally found it, I figured I could pack up another box for her mom since she'd asked for my help.

I dragged an empty box across the carpet, not knowing where to start. I sat down on her floor, my legs crossed, and glanced around her room. From that perspective, down there in the floor, her room seemed even larger than it was, her pale walls reaching high up to the vaulted ceiling. I leaned back, resting against the side of her bed.

Closing my eyes, I could vividly remember all the times I had spent sitting in that exact same spot when I was younger. I ran my hand across the carpeted space my sleeping bag had occupied hundreds of nights. The carpet was soft and bumpy under my palm, and as I went to place my hand in my lap, my fingers hit against something. Bending over, I peeked under Ariana's bed.

Suddenly I remembered Vivian telling me how she had found things under Ari's bed that, according to her, were items of black magic. Lying flat on my stomach, I tilted my head and stretched out my arms. After pulling out a few stuffed animals, some crumbled pieces of paper that contained scribbled notes from our science class over two years ago, and an old candy wrapper, I found a box.

I grasped the corners of the box with both hands and dragged it out from under her bed. It was completely black in color without a label or writing of any sort and was the size of a shoe box. The lid didn't appear very dusty to my surprise, leading me to believe this wasn't something Ariana had placed underneath her bed at one time and then forgot.

Sitting up, I lifted the lid off and set it carefully onto the carpet beside me. I held my breath as I peered inside the box. My eyes widened at its contents. The first thing I grabbed was a black candle that, from the look of its wick, had been used plenty of times. I set it aside and reached in again. Placing each item in front of me, I stared at it quietly for a moment before taking each into my hand to inspect it further.

A faded metal chain with a black stone attached to it was tangled and resting on the carpet. I straightened out the chain and holding it up into the light, I admired it. Slowly, it swayed back and forth until I released it back to the floor.

I pulled out a photo that was wrapped in a black sheer fabric. I grabbed it and stared at it intensely. Ariana and I were smiling during her birthday party. In it, she wore the Best Friends necklace for the first - and only - time. Wrapped around my neck was the other half. I gave the Ariana in the photo a smirk.

I found your half! I mocked her.

I tossed the photo to the side. Other than that what I had found so far, there were just some dried out leaves and a dirty looking ball of hair. I cringed as I blew the hair away.

Since the candle was almost gone, I put it back inside the box, placed on the lid, and slid it back underneath the bed. Then I put the necklace in one of my pockets and the photo into another.

I gave Ari's bedroom one final look before I left her house for good. Even with the few cardboard boxes added, it still was very much Ariana's bedroom like it had always been. Her room still smelled like her; perfume lingering on her bedspread or on various pieces of clothes that hung neatly in her closet. The only things missing from her room (other than what I had stuffed in my pockets) were the clothes she had been buried in. Everything else was exactly where she had left it, soon to be thrown into boxes and packed away. I had no idea what her mom planned on doing with all her stuff. I doubted she'd set up a new bedroom for Ariana's belongings. My guess was that she would store everything away, hiding these boxes in some new garage or attic space, until the day finally came where she was brave enough to rummage through them.