Author's Note: Urgh, sorry for the long, long wait! :D My exams are finally over! *lifts up pom-poms and celebrates* yay! (: Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
'That night…' Lauren began slowly, looking all shifty and uncomfortable.
'Yeah…?'
'When… Alice and Rosalie died…'
'Yeah…?' I prompted.
'I… um…' Lauren stuttered.
I was getting really annoyed, to be honest. I mean, really, stop beating around the bush. Just spit it out, already. Of course, I didn't say any of this out loud. I imagine Lauren wouldn't be quite as enthusiastic to share her little secrets with me if I did.
'Yes?' I said testily.
'I didn't feel like myself.' Lauren said in a rush.
'How interesting.' I said dryly.
'Don't mock me!' Lauren exploded. 'What I'm telling you is relevant, okay?'
'Well, it's natural you wouldn't feel yourself. Your two best friends just got killed, after all.' I explained, feeling a little cheated. And here I was thinking this would clear up everything for me. Turns out Lauren only felt a little zonked out that night. It's normal, anyhow.
'That's not what I meant!' Lauren rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in exasperation. 'I felt… really weird. I mean…' she turned a delicate shade of scarlet.
'What's wrong?'
'It was like I…' Lauren stopped again, looking puzzled. 'Something's not right.'
'Um.'
'I felt like I was…' she trailed off again, clutching her throat, panicked.
I glanced at my watch. It was nearing dinnertime. 'I don't have all day, you know.'
Lauren glared. 'Go, then! Since you won't even listen. Please don't come back and visit, have a nice life.'
I hopped off her bed, sighing. I don't think there's anything else here. Another dead end. 'Buh-bye.' I waggled my fingers at her, already thinking about dinner. Mmm, I hope Mom makes her signature meatballs again.
Lauren gave an irritated snort and slammed her door behind me after I left. I would've just stalked right off if there wasn't someone else outside the door.
This ghost was a pretty strange one, as far as ghosts went. And trust me, ghosts can get pretty weird. It was a rather young girl, sporting a very unattractive case of acne. She was definitely from my time - that is, not wearing hoopskirts or ribbons in her hair. She was wearing torn-up jeans and a black Grateful Dead T-shirt. She was weird because she was standing right outside Lauren's door, shoving her ear against the wooden door and pressing her entire body against it, grunting as she pushed.
I stared, jaw slackening a little. 'Um. What're you doing?'
The ghost jumped like I'd pressed a hundred-volt Taser against her temples. 'Arrrrgh--'
'Hi. Bella Swan, resident ghost whisperer.' I stuck out my hand, reeling off my name and profession. I made sure I spoke softly enough, though. You know, just in case Lauren was listening. 'What's your name? You need any help… er, doing whatever you're doing?'
'You can see me?' she peered at me behind her glasses a mile thick. She was definitely the sort of girl you sort of saw drifting around, but you didn't notice much. The kindest thing you could say about her hair - which was twisted up into a bun at the nape of her neck - was that it existed.
'Yeah. Duh.' I rolled my eyes. The slowness of some ghosts astounds me. 'You know, if you want to get in, there's a doorknob, right?'
'Fuck!' she cursed. There was a split-second's pause as the both of us stared at each other, and she vanished.
Argh, some ghosts are completely insufferable.
I stomped down those enormous stairs again, fuming. I feel like giving up, really. Leave it to the police to solve this. I'm biting off more than I can chew.
The guy making out with Lauren just now - Tyler, I think - was moping around the stairs, looking miserable.
'Lauren's free now.' I pointed at the general direction of Lauren's room, huffing. 'Have fun.'
Tyler stared at me with ice-blue eyes. He remained silent. He was creeping me out, to be honest.
'Um. Yeah. Bye.' I bid a hasty goodbye and hurried off. The sound of Tyler's heavy steps thumping slowly up the staircase told me he'd gone back to Lauren's room, after all.
Oh. I forgot Alice, Rosalie and Angela. I vaguely remembered them telling me they were paying their death place a little visit. The pool, was it?
I looked around, lost. I didn't know what I was looking for. A sign with the words "SWIMMING POOL THIS WAY, IDIOT", maybe?
Oh my god. No way.
Is that a lift?
I practically bounced over, encapsulated in joy. A lift! In a house! How unreal is this?
It's very shiny. The metal doors are so clear that it doubles as a pretty awesome mirror. I preened myself for a moment before pressing the 'Up' button. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere near the roof.
My lower jaw permanently attached itself to the ground as I discovered that there was a plush seat right in the middle of the lift. Red velvet! RED VELVET!
Lauren is so lucky.
--
'Hello!' I cupped my hands around my mouth, shouting. The pool was on the roof. I fought the urge to tug all my clothes off and dive into the pretty, glimmering blue water as I walked around on the hot tiles, searching.
'We're right here!' Alice's soprano voice cried out. I didn't see her anywhere, until --
'Thanks a lot.' I said wryly. I'd been drenched from head to toe with pool water when the three of them exploded from the calm surface. 'What the heck were you guys doing underwater?'
'Trying to trigger a memory.' Alice shrugged. 'It's so cool that we don't need to breathe underwater.'
'Real cool.' Angela and Rosalie beamed. Being ghosts, not an inch of them seemed damp.
'So, you guys remember anything?'
'Nada. Zip. Zilch.' Alice sighed. 'The pool is bitching, though.'
I laughed. 'So. This is where you died.'
'This is where we died.' Rosalie repeated, somber.
'At least it was in an Olympic-sized pool, as opposed to stinking toilet water.' Angela made a very good point, scowling. 'I'd like to give that murderer of mine a little talking to after they find him.'
I stood at the edge, and glanced up, shielding my eyes from the sun with a lazy hand. 'You can see Lauren's room from here.'
'Yeah. Pretty awesome.'
'Yeah.'
My eyes judged the distance between Lauren's room and the pool.
'Lauren didn't wake up until you guys died?'
'No, she heard us screaming and she came over.' Alice corrected. 'I read the newspaper article.'
'You guys don't remember any of that, though, right?' I peered at them. They shimmered ever so slightly in the mild sunlight.
'Nah.' Angela's eyes widened. 'Are you accusing Lauren?'
Alice snorted. 'Lauren would never do that. Never.'
'No way!' Rosalie agreed, looking horrified at the very notion. 'That's sick. None of our friends would ever betray us.'
'How can you be so sure?' I asked, skeptical. I'd seen plenty of people turn on their lovers or friends or even family members plenty of times before. It wasn't completely impossible.
'Because!' Angela seemed rather pissed. 'We've known Lauren since second-grade, I know her better than my own brother. Lauren would never do that. She has no possible motive, either. You can't prove that at all.'
I thought carefully. 'Was she jealous of you guys in any way?'
'No! We were jealous of her.' Rosalie explained. 'I mean, of course we were! She has everything! You've seen her house.'
'Alright, alright.' I raised my hands. 'I don't think it's her anymore, alright?'
Of course, that wasn't true. After Lauren had acted so neurotic back in her room, I couldn't exactly bump her off my list of Possible Killers.
'We should go --'
A very loud crash interrupted my sentence. A really, really loud crash. Like, explode your eardrums loud.
My head whipped around towards the source of the crash, heart thudding like crazy. What the hell was happening?
What I saw next was something I could've definitely lived without.
Remember that huge window I saw at the end of the hallway when I was heading to Lauren's room? The really big one overlooking the sea? Yeah, that one.
It was exploding into millions of tiny pieces right this second.
The innumerable shards were flying through the air, soaring and glinting in the sunlight. A few were shooting this way, and with a wild yell I threw myself to the ground, shielding my face with my hands. A few sharp, jagged pieces bounced off my back and shoulders harmlessly. Behind me, I heard Alice/Angela/Rosalie (I couldn't tell which one) shout, 'Hey, one went right through me! Awesome!'
I probably would've laughed myself silly if the current situation was so damned bizarre. There was tiny little splintering and tinkling everywhere. When the sounds subsided, I lifted up my head, feeling completely disoriented. Girls getting their heads hacked off? Teenagers drowned? Windows exploding? What kind of town was this?
I picked myself up the ground, shaking. The three of them were still standing at the same spot, mouths open in shock. 'That window just exploded.' Alice pointed unnecessarily.
'No shit, Sherlock.' Angela hurried over to the edge, lifting herself up a little so she was floating in the air.
I followed her warily, looking at the big, empty hole where the huge sheet of glass used to be. Where was Lauren? She must have heard that crash. She'd have to have had her ears hacked off and legally deaf if she didn't.
Was that a gunshot of some sort? Things were getting really freaky around here.
Alice and Rosalie were at the edge before I was, staring down.
'Oh, my God.' Rosalie breathed, and clapped a hand to her mouth.
'What's wrong?' I didn't understand what was so horrible about shattered glass at the bottom of a cliff.
'Come see.' Angela beckoned, voice faint.
I perched myself precariously at the edge - the Mallorys really should get some sort of fence around the pool - and looked down.
I saw a huge, beautiful cliff. I saw a huge, glittering sea, looking undisturbed. I saw plenty of glass here and there. I saw a small portion of white beach at the bottom of the cliff.
I moved myself a little bit to see more clearly.
Then I saw a crumpled body lying haphazardly on the sandy strip of beach, limbs bent at an impossible angle and lying terrifying still.
Author's Note: I'm sorry about the length! :D It's just that it was the perfect place to end, you know. :) Alright, review! Reviews = faster update! Sorry I didn't keep my promise the last chapter but I swear I'll update quicker this time! :)
