Undead Secrets | On Hold 🗝️

Chapter 2

The Next Day

Leah's POV

I can't touch the door the next morning either, but I make myself try again the next night. I fully expect it not to let me through, but to my surprise, I make contact with the cold doorknob. And then I hesitate. Again. I mean, what if there's some horrible secret hiding behind the door, waiting to get at me? No. I have to go in. Slowly, I twist the knob and place a foot inside. I hold the door open as I step fully inside and...nothing. I carefully release the door and it doesn't swing shut and lock behind me like in the old movies. Thank goodness.

I tiptoe around to her desk and freeze. Sitting on top of it is an old leather bound book that I've never seen before, and I know Hailey doesn't keep a diary. She's just not that type of person, plus we've always spilled our feelings to each other. Tears well up in the corners of my eye and I wipe them away with my sleeve. Should I open it? It's not like it's going to paper cut me to death or something.

I think back to all the movies I've watched. Has anything bad ever come from opening a book? There was Ginny Weasly in Harry Potter, and...well, that's it, I think. I reach my hand towards the book and tentatively open the cover. It seems like a normal book. The first page is the start of the first chapter, unlike most books, but it doesn't seem like it's cursed either. I pick up the book and flip to the second page.

Dear Leah, the first sentence reads. I drop the book. Then, after nothing happens, I pick it back up and continue reading, hands shaking.

Dear Leah,

I'm sorry. You know the truth and now you're stuck with it. It was beyond my control but I'm still sorry. I hate to tell you this, but the pressure's on you now. It's up to you to get us, well, me, out of this mess. The police were cursed, it was all a lie. But, as I mentioned before, you know that already. If you look carefully, you'll find sand that came off me when I came home from the beach. If you look extra carefully, you'll find                  . Unfortunately, all I can offer you is luck and my love. I know you can do this Leah. I believe in you. Good luck.

Sorry again,

Hailey

One of the words is blotted out, but I don't think it would make me any less confused. My head is spinning. You know the truth. The pressures on you now. It's up to you. What is Hailey talking about? But I can't linger long on it. I hear my parents starting to wrap up their nightly fight, which means my mom is about to come out and get tea. I contemplate ripping out the letter, but instead grab the book, shove it under my robe, and hurry back to my room. Panting, I sit down on my bed, get comfy in my nest of pillows, and flip through the rest of the book.

Some pages of the book look totally normal, clips from other books, but most of them are empty. On the last page I find writing scrawled on the bottom, this time not in the typewriter font used in the letter, but instead in Hailey's signature scrawl.

Keep this book with you at all times. Trust me on this one little sis. - Hays

I feel my eyes stinging with tears again.

"I trust you, I really do," I whisper into the book. Then I close it and cry myself to sleep.