What Lies Beneath (10 page)

“I told you to stay home, Blair. It’s too late now. He’s ready for you,” she said as her voice echoed around the room. There were girls in each mirror, staring at me with sorrow.
All of us
, Caroline had said and it was then that I realized that this was much bigger than I thought it was.

11

I was staring down at a package that had shown up at our front door the day after the carnival. I hadn’t opened it yet and it had been a full day since it appeared. I had found it and brought it up to my room, not letting my parents know about it. It was in an old medium sized cardboard box that had red sloppy hearts drawn all over it. I had scissors in my hand and my bedroom door was locked.

I didn’t want my dad or my mom walking in on me opening another gift from Dylan. It had taken me a whole day to boil up the courage to open it and since then I still hadn’t heard from Max or Tate. I had to cancel my visit to Pearl’s and reschedule it for later today when I was feeling a tad better.

Frustrated with all that had been terrorizing my life, I stabbed through the tape with the scissors, my teeth gritted, and my eyes watering. I ripped open the box and a dress fell to the ground, along with a beige envelope tied to a button. It was the dress I had in my basket at the Discover Shop.

I collapsed to the ground and sat up against my bed, tossing the scissors across the floor. I snatched the envelope and tore it open, crunching the envelope in my fist and throwing it to where the scissors had landed. It was a letter, written on some old fashioned stationary that had yellowed with age. The letter was written in black ink and I recognized the writing instantly. It was Dylan’s.

Blair,

I want you to wear this dress this Friday night. Come to Bernard cabin and do not let anyone know where you are going. I will be there waiting for you and we will complete what you objected to that night. You are mine now and forever Blair. Time is precious, my love. There is someone here waiting for you as well. He’s getting sick Blair, so you better listen to me. We are going to be together for eternity and you will love me for the rest of your life.

All my heart,

Dylan

             
My heart dropped into my stomach as I picked the dress up from the ground and laid it on top of the dresser. All along it had been Dylan, and I knew it. In three days I’d be dead and all the hard work my parents had gone through to keep me safe would have been for nothing.

This was how it was all going to end. It was either listen to him, like always, or tell someone and have them end up dead along with me. Dylan had Max, which I knew for sure. He knew I’d listen to him if he took something important from me and dangled it in front of my face.

              “Are you really giving up right now?” the voice didn’t surprise me. I already felt dead inside. I recognized the voice as Caroline and slowly turned around to meet her. She was sitting at my desk, her eyes narrowing on me with anger.

              “You can’t let him win.” another voice broke out and willed me to turn to my dresser where the dark haired girl sat, dangling her bare feet over the edge.

She was wearing a faded green blouse and the pants she was wearing had been torn and were dripping with water. It was the girl from the road. Both girls were now in my room, and they were staring at me like I’d disappointed them somehow.

              “What do you want from me?” I switched my gaze between them. “There’s nothing else I can do.”

              “That is where you are wrong, Blair. At the lake, I said you had to figure it out and you still haven’t. Dylan is not who he says he is. That night, did he ask you to kill yourself for him?” I quickly looked up at Caroline. How did she know that?

              “Yes.”

              “And that you’d be together forever?” the other girl asked. I nodded and let my head hang low. How did they know all of this?

              “How do you both know about all of that?” I asked, wrapping my arms around me. My room’s temperature had suddenly dropped and I figured it was because of the two dead girls that were now in my room.

              “We know because we were in love with him too. But like you we said no to his request and were murdered by him. I take it you already know how I died. But I didn’t kill myself, Blair. He made it look I did.” Caroline’s eyes welled up with tears. “My parents thought I killed myself. I would have never done something like that to them. But it was all because of
him
.”

              “He made it look like I killed myself too. And now my house is a sideshow and one of the most haunted houses in town.” I turned to the girl and felt as if someone had knocked the breath out of me.

She was
Hannah Bernard
. But there was something I didn’t understand. How could he have been with them when they both died in different eras? Dylan was only eighteen.

              “Wait, how could he have been with you both? You died so long ago, it doesn’t make sense.” I looked at them both and Caroline laughed to herself.

              “That is what I told you to figure out and you haven’t. It’s something you have to figure out on your own. We want to tell you but we can’t. But there is someone who can help you. The old lady, Pearl, she can help you. We weren’t the only girls he did this to, Blair. You saw that at the carnival. There are so many it’s too difficult to count. Go to Pearl and get the answers.” Caroline got up from the desk chair and stood near the window, the setting sun casting a glow on her face.

              “And stay away from that boy. He knows more than he’s letting on,” Hannah said as she joined Caroline at the window. Why did they want me to stay away from Tate?

              “Tate can’t be a bad guy,” I said.

              “He’s on the bad side, Blair. He was messing with things he did not understand and his parents paid for it. He’s more open to the spirit world than you know and we think he’s made a new
friend
. It’s getting dark, Blair. Go and see Pearl before it’s too late. We don’t want you to end up like us.” And with that they both vanished, leaving behind the cold they had brought with them.

              I had snuck out of the house, which ended up being easier than I thought. I left my parents watching TV and slithered out through the back door. There was no way I’d be able to get away with taking my dad’s truck, so I had to walk and I had to hurry.

I jogged down the road with the hood of my jacket obscuring my view of the woods to either side of me. I didn’t want to scare myself and it was getting dark. The cold invaded my throat, making my lips dry and my eyes water. How in the hell was Dylan capable of being with all of those girls, including me? The questions flooded my head and suddenly I was growing more frightened as I made my way down the road.

              As I grew closer to the town mall, the hood of my jacket flew back and to the right of me, I saw someone running through the woods. They were gaining on me, and my heart was about ready to burst out from my chest. I should have just asked my dad to drive me to Pearl’s.

The figure was nearly beside me and as I turned to face it, I slammed into someone and collapsed backwards onto the deserted road. I looked up slowly, hoping it wasn’t Dylan.

              “Blair, what are you doing out here?” Tate reached a hand down to me and I began to crawl backward, the palms of my hands scraping against the gravel. “Blair, it’s me, Tate.”

              “What are you doing here?” I asked.

              “I was coming to see you. My car broke down and I thought I’d pop in to say hi. The real question is what are you doing out here?” Tate came closer but I didn’t want him to see that I was scared, so I lifted myself up from the ground and dusted my hands off on my jeans, parts of my palms were scraped but I didn’t care. I couldn’t help that a part of me didn’t believe that he was bad. But the other part wanted to listen to Caroline and Hannah.              

              “I’m sorry. I’m just freaked out a bit. I need to go see someone and I thought somebody was following me.” he seemed to believe that I wasn’t scared of him and began to smile.

              “You want me to walk with you?” he asked. Shit. If I said no he’d know something was up. So I tried to smile and nodded.

              “Only if you want too, I don’t want to make you feel like you have to go with me.” my voice quivered and I pulled my hood back up, my nerves on edge.

              “Where were you going?” he asked.

              “To see Pearl Williams, I need to talk to her.” I started walking and he fell into step beside me. The clouds were crowding now, indicating that rain was coming again.

              “The psychic?” he smiled.

              “Yeah,” I responded, trying to avoid telling him too much.

              “She was running the palm reading tent. I’ve heard she’s a fake, but if she will make you feel better than okay.”

              “People around here don’t really know her, so whoever told you that is full of shit. She’s real and she
will
make me feel better.”

Tate followed me up Pearl’s porch; his presence was sending shivers down my spine. I didn’t want him to follow me inside and he couldn’t be around when I talked to Pearl about what was going on.

He knew more than he was letting on, Hannah had said. I didn’t want to believe her, but now that he was near me, something about him felt different. I knocked on the door as hard as possible. The front door squealed open, revealing a dark, musty hallway. I stuck my head inside and called out into the darkness.

“Pearl? It’s Blair Lewis. I need to speak with you.” my voice echoed through the hallway and heartbeat began picking up its pace. Something was wrong, I could feel it.

I was about to take a step inside when Tate rushed in before me and slowly made his way down the hallway. I followed him, one hand on the wall to guide myself through the darkness. I saw the doorway into the living room and as we neared it, something rotten and sour assaulted my nostrils.

I stopped before we could turn into the living room and Tate slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes growing intensely wide. I didn’t have to look. I already knew what he was looking at.

“Blair, stay there. Don’t come any closer.” Tate turned away from the doorway and I could hear him vomiting near the staircase.

“Call the police,” I said as I peeked into the room and saw Pearl, lying across the table, her throat slit wide open. Her eyes were a milky white and she looked as fragile as aged paper.

I turned and slid down the wall and began crying. Who could have killed Pearl? Everything quickly pointed to Dylan and I wanted to throw up. How was Pearl going to help me now? Tate left the hallway in search of a phone and I just sat there, numb as hell. No one could help me now.

“The line is dead. Do you have a cell phone?” Tate squatted down to me touched my shoulder.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Me neither. Shit. Will you be okay here while I run down to the bait store and call the police?” I nodded. I couldn’t move my mouth.

He hurried out through the open front door and bolted down the street. I covered my mouth and screamed as loud as I could into my hand, tears rushing down my frozen cheeks. I was all alone now.

“Don’t cry. It makes you look weak,” a familiar voice took over the hallway and I abruptly stopped crying. I slowly looked up from my hands and saw Pearl, standing before me.

“You’re dead.”

“I am and we don’t have much time. Now, get up from the ground and follow me.” Peal commanded. She moved swiftly as she no longer weighed a single pound. “I’m still getting used to this spirit business.”

I scrambled up from the ground, and wiping the tears from my face, I followed Pearl to a vacant room with no windows. With a snap of her fingers, all of the candles in the room came to life.