Undead Secrets | On Hold 🗝️

Chapter 1

1 week later

Leah's POV

I should go. No I shouldn't. I should. But I shouldn't. Should I? I groan inwardly. The glow in the dark stars on my ceiling twinkle. After Hailey died, I've laid here every night, tracing the constellations with my finger.

I should go. I have to go. Because it can't be true. Hailey can't be dead. And I have to prove the police wrong. I sigh and flip the pillow over to the cool side. Maybe I'll go in the morning. But what if it's too late?

Slowly, I tiptoe out of bed and pull the door open a crack. As usual, my parents are in their room, arguing in hushed tones, as if they think I won't hear. It's not true. I hear every word of it.

Once I've made sure they're preoccupied, I creep down the hall and come to a stop in front of Hailey's room. I can't bring myself to touch the handle of the door. Only the police have been in here after Hailey died - er, disappeared. I start to doubt myself again. Maybe I shouldn't do this.

But what if she's alive? A little voice in my head says. Scratch that. She is alive. And I'm the only one who can prove it.

I don't know why I won't just accept the fact that she's dead. Everyone else seems to have. It's just that, well, I can't really place it. But it's like telling myself pigs fly. No matter how many times I say it, it's not true. I just know it isn't. How? I don't know. But I know it isn't.

Before I can lose my nerve again, I reach my hand out and am ready to turn the knob, but my hand seems blocked by some invisible wall. And trust me, it's not just a physiological wall. There's definitely some invisible wall.

I hear the door to my parents room open and quickly pretend I'm on my way to the bathroom down the hall.

"Leah, go to sleep," my mom says, sounding concerned.

"Sorry," I say quickly, hurrying back to my room. I shut the door and slide down so that I'm sitting on the ground, leaning against it. That couldn't have been real. Could it? I'm probably just so sleepy that I'm dreaming. Or maybe Hailey's death has driven me crazy. I lean my head against the wall and sob. There's no if. She's definitely dead. And some magic curse is keeping me from going into her room. What a night.