Sweet Like Candy (The Series)

Chapter Four: Who Am I?

Three days had passed since Carter's accident and there was no trace of him anywhere. He completely disappeared. I knew that whoever killed my father and hurt my best friend was responsible. I just didn't know who it was... yet. Harper came out of her coma the day after Halloween, where she made a complete recovery, much to the surprise of Doctor Lukas Davenport, who had told me in retrospect that he believed Harper would, and I quote, "Pass away in her sleep". I was so happy and relieved to have Harper alive and breathing on this earth. I didn't care if some crazy, middle-aged cat woman threatened that she'd be my downfall, I took Harper under my wing after her episode. I used the remaining dollars in my joint account with Mr. Matthews to rent myself and Harper a quaint, two bedroom, apartment in Downtown Oak Hills. I needed to get away from Mr. Matthews' anger and being on the cusp of Gabriella. There was no way I was staying in that area anymore. None.

In our new apartment, Harper's bedroom was to the left of our tiny kitchenette. Our two rooms had conjoining doors, just like the kind you find in old, vintage hotel rooms. When Harper woke up, I noticed a stark change in her. She dropped out of college because she felt "like she wasn't living", she spent way too much time with her herbal remedy making girlfriend, Misty Lowe, who seemed way too advanced for her and she would scream and yell in her sleep, almost as if a demon took over her. One night, the second night we stayed at our new place, is so vivid to me. It was a calm, pretty uneventful November night. I had the heating on because my cotton, lilac bed sheets were way too thin for my liking, so the unit was making some rocky noises. That night, I couldn't sleep to save my life. All I could think about was Carter, Gregory and who the mysterious Minnie Maguire was. I had been getting answers, but they only led to more questions. I didn't have time to go actively searching for Minnie, minus a sparse Facebook post. It was like she didn't exist. Anyway, that night, I heard rustling coming to the left of my room, where Harper's room was located. I told myself it was just my heating unit acting up and that everything was fine. It wasn't.

Bang. Scream. Cry. I heard them all, in unison. Fearing whoever I was fearing at the time was attacking Harper, I leaped out of my bed, and darted for Harper's bedroom. When I entered, I found Harper, all by her lonesome, convulsed in the bed, her eyes as red as the devil himself, her salvia dripping from both ends of her mouth. I thought she was having another heart attack. She wasn't. As I entered, Harper's eyes gazed into mine and I could see something in her I've never seen before: darkness. She continued to fit in the bed, vomit on the floor, and sweat profusely. I felt like I was watching The Exorcist. As I was about to call an ambulance to the apartment, Harper uttered four words that caught my attention, for the worse:

"You will be my downfall".

Downfall. That damn word. I hadn't told Harper anything about my talk with Gabriella and I knew for a fact that Harper didn't even know who Gabriella was nor had she ever met her. How did she know this? To be completely honest, I was terrified. Harper was not the same girl I had lunch with everyday for four years in high school. I feared, I so very much feared that that girl was as good as dead.

However, the 'demonic' Harper disappeared after she said those numbing words, as my Harper returned. She glanced over towards me, my face full of fear, with the most puzzled look on her face, as if she hadn't remembered anything at all. I was so relieved to finally recognize my best friend again, my sister. I rushed over to her and gave her the most embraced hug I have ever given.

"What... wh... what happened?", questioned a sleepy Harper.

"Nothing, Harper. You just had a really bad nightmare", I calmed, hoping it was a one time thing. It wasn't.

Harper and I decided that even though it was almost three o'clock in the morning, we would set up the TV and watch our favorite movie together - Maid In Manhattan. Harper sat down on the floor of our pretty empty apartment,  and hooked Netflix up to the TV screen. I skipped away for the bathroom, ready to answer a question of my own. I haven't touched on this yet during the book but I had sex with both Carter and Mr. Matthews' on the same night, weeks ago. The time with Carter was special, romantic, warm and simply, nice. The time with Mr. Matthews was cold as ice and I only did it to make him less suspicious of me, which clearly did not work, as evident by my bruises. As a direct result of my irresponsibility, I was five days late for my period. I walked into our bathroom, where a box lay on the sink counter top, with a pregnancy stick inside of it. I had taken the pregnancy test about three hours earlier but I was far too afraid and nervous to even look at it. I gathered up enough courage to open the lid off the box and I, with one eye closed, read the result:

PREGNANT.

How could I bring another Maguire into the world when I don't even know what that means yet? I was so nervous but I didn't have time to digest the life changing news because there was a sudden knock at the front door. Harper fled to her bedroom, for a reason unknown to me to this day. I left the shocking bathroom, dazed, and went to open the door. I was stunned that I didn't even think that an unexpected caller to my apartment at three in the morning was a bad thing. I answered the door, and I knew exactly who the woman on the other end of the door was. She had a silk, leather jacket, with a crimson pencil skirt, and hair so gelled it would stop floods. Her eyes were so vividly blue. Her skin, so sallow. She introduced herself, though there was no need to.

"Hi, I'm Minnie Maguire. I heard you were looking for me?", she smiled a smile so pleasant. I nodded, like a fool, and invited her inside. "W... would you like something to drink?", I curtseyed. I stuttered because I had never been in the same room as a living Maguire before. This was uncharted territory and I had no idea where to go. "No, thank you darling. I'm fine", she rejected so glamorously.

"I know you wanna know about us, the Maguires", she crooned. "What do you want to know? I can tell you everything and anything... if you like". Her words seemed so promising, so full of truth, until Harper came out from under her rock of a room. She was peering out the creak of her door when Minnie arrived. Harper swung her wooden bedroom door open and gasped, confused by the woman addressing herself as Minnie Maguire. Harper thought differently. Minnie's face dropped to the floor when she saw Harper, as if her cover had just been blown, which it was. "Misty?", Harper questioned, eyebrows raised. Minnie...Misty... whatever her name was, was speechless. She attempted to bolt out of our home. I was so in need of answers that I jumped and grabbed Minnie by the bottom of her legs, collapsing her to the ground. Harper rushed over to the front door and ensured it was locked. We were going to get some answers that night. No matter what.

"Get off of me! Now!", screamed Minnie, as loud as she could. Harper then did something I was never expecting to see her do. She grabbed a cream vase that was located next to our entryway, and she proceeded to smash it over Minnie's head, rendering her unconscious. As Harper shockingly did so, I noticed a piece of paper peering out of Minnie's purse. I immediately recognized the handwriting on the paper - it was Carter's, identical to the one I saw on his client list sheet. I ripped the sheet out from under Minnie's, blood stained, purse and read it aloud, as my heart broke in two:

"My dearest Phoebe,
Obviously, I never truly loved you. The emotions I felt were fake. I couldn't bare your nagging anymore.
This is my suicide note, and I would like you to know that you're the reason I'm dead.
Hopefully you will feel all the horrid things I felt with you, now that I'm gone.
Everything we had felt dull to me, our kiss, our sex, our love. Everything.
Remember that. Everything.

Carter".

I was the reason Carter was gone? I didn't know why or how "I was the reason he was gone". It didn't make any sense to me. As I read the letter, so many vicious, chaotic thoughts rushed into my head, as Harper tied Minnie/Misty up. If the baby is Carter's, how can I tell it I'm the reason it's father is dead? Why will Harper be my downfall? Who is Minnie/Misty? And the scariest question that, I had not been able to answer: Who am I?