Just Another Lie, Right? [Kleinsen]

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"Alana called me last night." Evan said over the phone.

"You too? Dang, I thought I got her off our backs."

"What?" Evan said confused, "No, she just asked if she could come to dinner with us at the Murphy's today."

Oh.

"Oh and she asked to go trick-or-treating." He said.

I nodded, "Yeah, me too."

"Are you going?"

He doesn't think I'll say yes, because "trick-or-treating is for kids."

"Yeah."

"Oh, but you-"

"I know what I said!" I said, cutting him off, "But it's been a while, hasn't it? Maybe I'll find some more joy in it now." Of course I wasn't gonna tell Evan that the actual reason I haven't gone trick-or-treating these last couple of years was because of him.

Evan sighed, "Yeah. Sure."

I looked over at my clock for a second before deciding to change the subject, "When do you want me to pick you up tonight? Or are we walking? I have Alana's address, too."

"Why not walk?" He answered, "Besides, Alana may want to have some time to talk to us before we get there."

"Fair enough." It was 4:43, "We probably should start now, then, if we wanna get there early. It's a long walk, you know."

Evan made a noise of agreement, "See in like... now."

I chucked, "Yep." And hung up, starting to walk to Evan's.

-

"I am so excited, guys!" Alana said as she jumped off her doorstep to join Evan and I in our walk to the Murphy's. "I mean, I know I've meant the Murphy's before, but I've never eaten there!"

"You're not missing much." I said. Mrs. Murphy definitely wasn't the best cook.

I was trying to remain casual during the walk, but inside, I was panicking. Alana was skeptical last night about the emails, and now she's walking with us to the very heart of the lie.

It doesn't help that Evan has no idea she's concerned. At least, if he does, he didn't tell me. He seemed pretty confused on the phone earlier when I brought it up.

"Are you guys bringing any more emails?"

The truth was, yes. I had two or three emails in my backpack that I'd wrote last night to try to prove that Connor was getting worse. But, honestly, Alana's kind of scary right now. If I gave her the emails, she'd totally find something off about them, right? That's what she's been doing for all the other emails.

"No." I said.

I looked over at Evan, and he was slightly pale. No, not slightly. "Something's up." I said quietly, so Alana couldn't hear.

He shook his head. "I always get anxious before Murphy visits." He said, "I thought you'd notice this by now."

That sounded kinda like an accusation, but I wasn't gonna take it personally. Well, I was gonna try not to, anyway.

"Oh. Sorry." I said, not really knowing what to say.

Alana was leading the group, and when we came to an intersection, she stooped. "Which way, again?"