Little Green Stars

Chapter 7-Stains Don't Lie

"I..." I begin but stop when I hear the front door swing open. Shit.

At the sound, my hands fumble to fold the papers rapidly. Stuffing them in my pockets, I tip-toe over to the linen closet as I peer down below. A pretty Japanese woman, with a Dodgers shirt on—must be Jin's mom, is bringing in groceries. A blonde man-bun with glasses enters behind her with more crap. Must be Jin's parents—not what I was expecting. My curiosity is fleeting because I need to get the hell out of here. I get to the linen closet to find nothing is inside yet. Perfect. Reaching my hand in, I push up on the fourth row to release a lever. With a quick, sharp pull, the lever retracts, and the side of the closet hinges open just enough for me to slide through.

I run down the small-corridor, dodging spiderwebs, and my racing thoughts until I get to the master bedroom exit. Slowly, I push on the wall panel to peer inside the room. Clear. Sliding out, I replace the panel before heading to the balcony. With one quick, ungraceful leap, I shimmy down the balcony then jump down onto the retaining wall—build for this exact reason. Guess it's come in handy for all Shamrocks after all. Once on the ground, I dart as fast as I can out the side yard and just keep running.

Before I know it, I'm back at Maeve's sweaty and collapsed on the front lawn. I can't remember the last time my heart beat this fast. Holy shit, it feels like it's going to explode. I think I kind of like it. I feel the lump of papers in my pocket and remember the drawings. Suddenly, another unfamiliar feeling creeps its way in—this time, I think it's fear. Reaching for my pockets, my still shaking hands raise the lump of drawings to my face. There I am. Flowing hair, deep eyes, open mouth as if screaming into nothing. Each one looks the same except for a minor difference. Holy crap! I bolt up off the ground to run into the house.

"Where have you been?" Jaxson calls from the couch as I zoom past him. "Maeve is doing a late showing, so we gotta pick up Silas before six!"

Ignoring him, I race up to my room and lock the door. I fan each photo out on the floor and rush to my laundry hamper. Static shoots through my head and vibrates down my ears as I freeze at the sight of last night's PJs thrown across the laundry hamper. I scramble over to pick up the white v-neck shirt and yellow daisy PJ shorts to turn back to the drawings sprawled out on the floor. Tip-toeing over, my shaking hands place the clothes down by the drawing labeled 10/7. They match.

I go straight into freak-out mode, rushing over to my hamper, sending clothes flying every which way. It's like a madness takes over me, and I need to know. One by one, I grab pieces of clothes to place them by the drawings until I collapse on the ground as I stare back in my surreal shock. I have a piece of clothing to match every drawing. Every. Single. Drawing. Code Red. Rina said it meant ghost in some Japanese word. Does that mean I'm? All at once, it hits me, the irony and the fear, and I let out a gut-wrenching scream, and I don't stop. What in the hell is happening to me?

"VEL!" Jaxson's screams break my thoughts as his fists pound against my locked door.

Jaxson. Shit!

"I..uhh...I'm fine!"

"WHAT? Why's your door locked?!"

"Spider," I blurt out, not knowing what else to say.

"Spider? Since when are you afraid of spiders?"

I'm not. "Weird right, he just came out of nowhere," I lie as I scramble to collect the papers and shove them under my mattress.

"What the hell, Vel, let me in!"

"I wouldn't want you to watch my crazy!" I yell, dumping my garbage can out to throw my scattered clothes in.

"Come on..."

"It's fine, Jaxson. I'm over it." Obviously, I'm not over it, but I have more to worry about right now.

"Let me—" Jaxson begins as I open the door and extend an invitation to enter.

Jaxson leans his chin back and looks me up and down before entering cautiously.

"Where's the spider?"

"Window," I say, folding my arms.

Jaxson looks unamused at my attempt to lie. He knows my bullshit too well. Hell, he knows everything about me except this giant secret. But, how do I tell Jaxson when I don't even understand what's going on? Can I even trust him not to tell Maeve? After what he said this afternoon, maybe I don't know him as well as I thought. And if he wants to be "normal," then maybe I don't know him as well as I thought I did. I just can't risk it.

"Yup," I reply, sitting down at my desk.

"Well..." Jaxson begins, searching for words, "Want to talk about the house?"

"You mean how your girlfriend's cousin who can't stand the sight of me just moved into my house after your mom sold it without telling me? Yeah, I'd love to talk about it..."

An awkward silence emerges before Jaxson lets out a heavy sigh.

"I just want to be alone," I say, this time my words aren't lies.

"I know it's not fine..." Jaxson is at a loss of words. "I'll just go get Silas by myself. Looks like you're busy."

"Yup," I reply, keeping myself firmly planted at my desk, my face far away from his.

"Cool..." Jaxson says, closing the door.

As soon as Jaxson leaves the room, I release a deep sigh before immediately going back to panic mode. Running back over to my garbage can, I dump out the clothes and hold them in my hands as if examining them will give me some clue as to what the hell is going on. As I hold last night's pajamas in my hands, something catches my eye. On the bottom of my white v-neck is a stain. I wipe my hands over, and instantly the memory of Jin's giant bandaid jolts into my mind. All at once, everything becomes real. My sleep-paralysis, the drawings, Jin's fear of me, it's all real. I know it's real because there on the bottom of my dumb, white v-neck is blood.

-Enjoying the story so far? Make sure you vote. Thanks. -Barbara :)