Planning Your Future

Shut Up, Heather

January 21, 1991

Veronica's POV

I'm sitting on the couch, watching TV with my dad. The phone rings. "I'll get it." I go into the kitchen and pick up the phone. "Hello?" I answer. "Hey. I was just seeing how the trial went." JD's voice says. "Hi. It went great. My dad is keeping everything besides a few things he's letting her take. Like clothes and stuff like that." I tell him. "I'd say she doesn't even deserve that." I laugh, "I know. But my dad is too nice for his own good." JD laughs, "I know. He really is." I smile. "Well I should go. I'll see you tomorrow." I say. "Okay. Love you." I smile, "I love you too." I hang up.

"Was that the boyfriend?" My dad asks. "Yeah. He was just checking in." I sit back down. "So how is that going?" He turns to face me. "It's great. We love each other a lot." I find myself smiling just thinking about him. "I'm so happy for you." He pats my arm. "Thanks Dad." I hug him.

I sit on my bed, doing some of my assignments, drifting off with every minute that passes. I finally fall asleep, despite my wanting to stay awake. My punishment appears almost immediately. "Finally! I've been waiting for days!" Heather dramatically says. "What do you want?" I roll my eyes. "To torture you until you join me." She sneers. "Well I won't. Ever!" I insist. "Veronica, I know you. And I know what you did in the hospital." I freeze. "How?" I asked. "I am dead, Veronica. I am all-knowing." She puts her arms up in a dramatic fashion, once again, and spins around. I stay silent. "Oh come on Veronica, it was all over the school." She scoffs, I just couldn't believe it when I heard it. I knew you were pathetic but damn did I underestimate just how much?" She laughs. "What I do is none of your business." I bite my lip nervously. "But I don't really care." She shrugs. "Heather, why couldn't you just be a friend! Why did you have to be such a megabitch?" I mean she probably still is in death but who knows? "Because I could be one." She smirks. "Well as much as I would love to make you late for your flight, I'm kinda bored. So..." She gives me one last smirk, "Turn around." I roll my eyes and do as she says. There's nothing there but black. "There's nothing here." I say, annoyed. "Here: Let me help you look closer." She walks up behind me and violently pushes me. Next thing I see is my hand covered in blood. "Psst." I hear. I look up and when I look down, Heather is covered in blood and she has an evil grin on her face.

I scream myself awake. My dad runs into the room. "Are you okay?" He asks, looking like he's having a heart attack. "Sorry, bad dream." I rub my pounding head. "Okay, well I'm making you some breakfast before you leave for the airport." He closes my door. I take a deep breath.

After I eat, I finish packing and put my stuff in the car. We drive to the airport in an uncomfortable silence. Once we arrive, he helps me get my stuff out. We hug and I go towards security. I get on the plane and start to drift off. Nightmares drain you as you sleep. "Hello, I'm still here." Heather smiles. My eyes shoot open and I realize that she will be there every time I close my eyes.

I get home and JD picks me up. I kiss him. In the car, I debate whether or not to tell him about my predicament. "JD..." I start. "Yeah?" He glances at me as he drives. "So you remember when I had that nightmare? About a week ago?" I tap my foot nervously. "Yeah, what about it?" He asks. "Well, I keep having dreams about Heather. And she taunts me and berates me..." I trail off, thinking I must sound insane to him. "Oh my God... Wait, if you want it to stop it, I know a guy." He says. "What? Who?" I get maybe a little bit too excited. "His name is Alex. He's a 'hypnotist' as he told me. His dorm's next to Kyle's and mine." He explains.

Once we get back to Harvard, JD brings me to Alex's dorm. "Hey JD, what do you need?" Alex leans against the door frame. "My girlfriend's dream's are being haunted." JD tells him. "Oh. Step right in." We're brought into a very dark room with a couch and a chair across from it. "Sit." He directs me. I do as he says and sit on couch. "So explain what's haunting your dream?" Alex pulls out a notepad and a pen. "Last year someone I didn't like died. She had bullied me all year and now she's saying that she's going to "torture me until I join her" which I assume means she'll go this until I kill myself. But I'd like a better way out of it." I take a breath. "What else happens in the dream?" He asks. "The dream ends with me standing over her body like I killed her." I say. "Okay." He writes all of that down. He looks at JD. "You can sit there." He points to a chair in the corner. JD nods and takes a seat.

He pulls out his watch. "Okay. Now I'm going to wave this back and forth and I'll count to ten. Once I reach ten, I'll snap and you'll fall asleep. I will help you while you're in your trance." He starts counting back and I find myself getting sleepier and sleepier. He snaps at ten and I'm out.

Heather stands in front of me. "Oh wow! So you get your psycho trenchcoat boyfriend to introduce you to a creepy hypnotist to get rid of me? I see you stooped to a new low." She smiles. "Heather, I just want to be left alone." I beg. "Then how about you get on your knees and say it?" She smirks. I sigh and kneel. "That's better. Now tell me again what you want." She bends down. "I want you to leave me alone. Please." I look at the ground. "No. I want to have fun with you a little longer. There are some things I could tell you. But you'd have to find out for yourself. Like the real reason Heather killed me." She grabs my chin and forces me to look at her, "I suggest you tell your creepy hypnotist friend that you're done. Or you'll never find out any of things you've been wondering." I grit my teeth. "Shut up Heather." I spit. "No Veronica, you shut up. I'm getting really tired of you thinking you can talk to me like that." She pushes my face away. I fall.

"Hey, you know how you said the dream ends with you standing over her body? I think you have to kill her in the dream to get rid of her." I hear a voice in my ear say.

"Who was that?" Heather asks. "No one." I shake my head. "No. Who was that?" She demands. She walks up to me and I push her hard. "What the hell?" She screams. "I may not have killed you in reality, but I'm sure as hell will here." I grab her. I see a rock beside her. She may not have been killed with a rock in reality, but this isn't reality. I take it and hit her with it. "Do it again!" She laughs. I stop. "Ha! I knew it!" She continues laughing. I grip the rock before hitting her again and again. In my head I keep repeating "it's not real" every time I hit her. After a number of hits, she stops moving. She fades away. I drop the rock.

I hear a snap and I'm back in Alex's room. "Is she gone?" Alex asks me. "I think so." I rub head which is still pounding. "Now I suggest you take a nap, as you probably feel pretty drained from that experience." Alex tells me. I nod.

JD walks me to my dorm. "So that was a lot to hear. What was she saying? I heard you tell her to shut up." We arrive at my door. "Just the usual Heather BS." I lie. I kiss him and go inside. I lay down for a sleep filled with the normal dream crap. No Heathers in sight.

Well I hope you enjoy that chapter. I know I did. Soon there will be a reveal regarding one of Heather's lines from this chapter later down the road. Also I swear to god if any of the comments quote that godforsaken TikTok sound, I'mma be mad. Well bye!