By accident or on purpose, Cindy and I ended up at Zachary's Elm tree. Tokens blanketed the base of the bark: a dozen scarlet roses, daisies, and a handful of canary yellow carnations.
These additions weren't for Zachary. They belonged to Cindy.
The rain steadily soaked me to the bone. Thick drips rolled down the bridge of my nose. The question that begged an answer burned a hole in my throat.
"I detest roses." Cindy sighed. "Mom says they are a sign of guilt, she much preferred carnations." Cindy selected one of the cut stems and inhaled.
"You kissed Daniel. Did you give no consideration to Laurie? Maybe you remember, but you're ashamed to admit what you did."
Letting the stem fall, she crunched the petals under her foot into pulp.
"For the record, I didn't kiss Daniel, he kissed me. Backed me into a corner and crashed his liquor-laden mouth over mine. I said no, but still ended up the most sexually experienced virgin in the school. Do you believe every rumor? Or are you secretly asking if I caused his actions? Did I parade myself in front of him, a desperate temptress, craving love but lacking moral judgement? You are revolting!"
Hearing her articulate it that way, I realized I might be guilty of accepting every slither of gossip without due thought. Taken it as fact. None of what I'd learned until the day of her death had any foundations in the truth.
I exhaled a breath and forced myself on. "Daniel places Laurie on a pedestal. Why would he risk that?"
"Aren't you forgetting about Emma? What he attempted with me perhaps he is trying with her, if her diary can withstand your judgement."
"You're right, but when did the rumors first surface?"
Cindy shrugged. "One day non-existent, the next, every hushed whisper in the school corridor echoed my name. Then the graffiti in the toilet stalls popped up. I was mortified."
"That quick, overnight your reputation tarnished?"
"Yep, there one day and truant another, just like that." She clicked her fingers.
"Something transpired, changed, any clue what that was? Did the rumors spring up before or after Daniel?"
"Before, after Zachary..."
"After Zachary died?"
She nodded once. There were two people who coveted Zachary, one even more so than the other. Could one of them hold the answer to the question, what changed when Zachary died? And, where did the rumors start?
The confirmation I was seeking was slight in her eyes. If I had blinked, I would have missed it.
"Laurie, my dearest friend," Cindy replied without missing a beat.
"That's where we'll go next."
Laurie resided in the Paradise Heights neighborhood; its landscaped lawns and imported Mediterranean marble paved the divide between us and them. Three houses perched on the hill, Zachary's steel-blue Charger lingered on one driveway as an unlit effigy of everything he symbolized.
Smiling at Cindy, I rapped my knuckles on the thick oak door. The clunk of the heavy bolt-lock sliding on the other side made us both stand to attention. The door opened. I craned my neck a degree to peek around the doorway.
The inside of their house told an opposing tale to the manicured exterior that faced the world. I couldn't spot a single item of furniture.
"Can I help you?" Mrs. Evans voice slurred.
YOU ARE READING
The Last of Us
Mistério / Suspense[COMPLETED] In late spring, a tornado sweeps through the idyllic mining town of Paradise, Texas. On the same day, eighteen-year-old Cindy Ackerman doesn't arrive home. As the mystery over her whereabouts deepens, Nick Brennan's curiosity for the gir...
