Last 2 years of Ciara's life

Chapter 10

"What is the matter with you guys?" Helda screamed at us. "Why do you keep following me? You creep." She said looking at me. "Or should I be saying 'journalist'?"

We stayed silent. Linda walked up to us. I stared at her as if I have seen a dead person.

Oh wait, I just did.

"You are alive," I said in a low voice. "You were alive all this time? Why were you hiding? Who are you hiding from? What are you scared of? What-"

"Why too many questions? I don't even know you." Linda said cutting me off. " So, I am not answering your questions."

"You have to." Chloe shot back.

"Why? Who are you? Are you a 'journalist' too?" Helda asked Chloe pressing on the word 'journalist'.

"No," Chloe replied rolling her eyes. "I am just a girl who you hit with a car when you were in a hurry to meet your dead sister, or should I say the sister who everyone thought has died but is actually hiding out in a tent." She stopped for a while, stared at the tent, and then asked turning towards Linda. "Really, a tent? You live in a tent? I would have made a house out of wooden logs or something."

I stared at Chloe. This was literally not a thing to say when you just realized that a person who you thought was dead was not actually dead.

Helda rudely replied. "No actually we don't live in a tent, we live in a tree? Do you care?

"Monkeys do live in a tree," Chloe said, she said it loud enough for Helda and Linda to hear it.

"Aren't you a little too much rude?" Linda asked Chloe.

"Am I?" Chloe said and there was silence for a while.

"Yeah, you are," Helda replied.

"Look, I know I have been silent for way too long, so can I speak?" I asked looking at all the three of them. No one said anything. "Linda, are you in this situation because of the book?" I asked after I took a while, to sum up my courage.

She didn't say anything. She looked at the ground and lied. "What book?" She said as she walked towards her tent.

"Linda, I know about it."

"You know what? There is nothing to know. Please leave."

"Linda.."

"Just leave."

"Linda," I said angrily. "Don't act like you don't know crap about what I am talking and help me out." Then I took a deep breath and continued, "I have the book now and I badly need your help."

After a long pause, her green eyes looked into mine and she and said. "Okay, I can help you."

........................

We sat in her tent, it was pretty spacious. And I was getting along with Linda. She was very kind once you get to know her. She talked about how hard her life was once she started hiding from the world. And then I asked her about the book. She cleared her throat and started

"I don't know from where or how this book came to existence. But there was always a person who handled it. There was a guy named George. He was a serial killer when I used to be in school, I only studied till 10th grade. And you are in?"

"We are in 11th grade." I replied.

"So I had a perfect life until my grandmother passed away when I was in 9th grade. I was very sad about her leaving because she was like my best friend in the family. I loved her more than anyone. Even she loved me a lot. She called me one day and said me that she will always love me, she was going to die soon, so I thought she was just talking stupidity and just ignored her, or maybe she was talking like that because she was growing old, but then she said me to never open the book. She told me that stay away from that book as much as possible. I had no idea what she was talking about. I asked her which book and she said that its name was "Last two years of Laura's life." She made me promise that I will not open that book or let anyone open it. I didn't take it seriously. Days passed and it was 31st December. The last day of the year. According to the book she had to die that day... And she did. She was killed. She was stabbed. I realized that it was because of the book, I had to break my promise. To find more about her death I opened the book. But I didn't find anything, because her story was over and the words started changing. I saw that it changed into the Last two years of Linda's life."