CHAPTER 35

MOONLIGHT DEATH WISH

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When we came at a three-corner road, I knew somewhere near there was the cemetery. I pointed at her running, still very unnatural at a distance in the road that was on the left of us, while Aiden had already sped off on the road straight ahead of us. He had to reverse rapidly and again he took a sharp turn at the left. I hit my head on the window. That road was always deserted and there was only one building that we passed by and it was half constructed, but abandoned.

"Didn't you put your seat belt on?" he bellowed very low at me again, testily. He hadn't too. I didn't answer him as I searched for her. If I concentrated on working on the seat belt, I might lose her.

"Put. the. seat. belt. on.," he pressed every word this time.

"There...," I pointed at her, still running. She was running along the fence of the cemetery and she fell.

As we came to a sudden halt, I was about to hit my head again, but he stretched his hand, pushing me back, dodging me from hitting. He got out of the car in one swift movement and I had to clamber out as I was jarred from all the swift movements. I couldn't see her anywhere. He ran roughly in the direction of where we saw her. I ran behind him. She wasn't anywhere near there. I looked around frantically and I couldn't find her anywhere. The place was muddy. The place she fell had her impression and there were footsteps that led to the place that she fell and after that, there were no footsteps because there were bushes and grass leading to a tall cornfield at a distance. I wondered how fast could she have run that she reached that field in seconds. I sort of saw the cornstalks moving in a wavering way, like someone was running through them. I tried running in that direction, but he snagged me back. It was so easy for him to pull me like that and I was so mad at him. There was no way that he would let me go into the fields and find her.

It was just as I thought. She had just disappeared out of thin air or she became invisible. I stomped back to his car, wiping all the sweat and tears that drenched my face. He came running back in just a very few steps and he held my hand. I wriggled out, showing that I was so mad at him. I had no intentions of getting into his car. I opened the door and took my stuff. Without getting into the driver's seat, he just rushed behind me, knowing that I would march home. He opened the door wide and he slipped me inside the car. Easy and smooth. I knew this would happen and he buckled the seat belt too. I didn't even try to get out of the car, protesting that I won't go with him, because he climbed into the car in two seconds and roared the car again. I didn't talk to him. Not after he stopped me from talking to Desiree.

I only opened my mouth when I had to tell him that I needed to get off at the beginning of my block, near the church. I didn't want my mom or Elec to see me get off his car. It would be too difficult to explain to anyone now. I was not in the mood for that. I stomped to my home without even waving him bye. I knew he would tell Irsia and Irsia to Elec and Elec would definitely call me from her window or she would just come over. I didn't care if they gave me an intervention. I have my own plan and I would execute it no matter what. I charged the torch light I had in my room. I broke into tears as I turned on the shower. Desiree didn't deserve that. So that was how people who got infected by CONSMISDUM looked like...?

As I'd imagined, in a few minutes, Elec called me from her window. "Can you please come over?" she asked in a very concerned tone. "And bring your math notebook."

I took my raincoat and my bag and walked to her home. To my astonishment, I found Aiden's car outside Elec's home. This was going to be bad. I shook my head and clicked my tongue to the air around me and I entered the house. It was dead silent, with all eyes boring into me.

"What?" I asked, rubbing my forehead.

"Have a seat." Elec patted the chaise lounge near her, gesturing me to sit near her.

"So..." Irsia started.

"You know what happened..." I broke the ice first, not looking at anybody but my feet. They made me feel like I should be embarrassed about my behavior, but I wasn't.

"We just want to know why you have a death wish, Walker?" Elec whiplashed me with her sarcasm.

I turned to her with my red face. "Elec, I think I should remind you that you were the one who had a stupid wish to go look at the Crossburn lake from the haunted house in the room where someone was murdered." I clicked my tongue again. "I don't think what I did was anywhere close to that. I merely wanted to help the girl and I didn't do it just for the thrill of it." I wished there was an undo button as soon as I said it.

"I wished it. I never made it happen on my own," Elec scoffed. She wasn't angry. She was just concerned and it bothered me.

"Next time you see her. Please run. Please call the cops." Irsia said, in a voice that she rarely used.

My eyes welled up. "She isn't a criminal. It's not her fault that she got infected by her dumbass brother."

I sobbed and Elec gave me a hug. Aiden just sat there with his elbows on his knees and his fingers steepled, looking at me. He didn't move an inch or even try to talk to me. Wait... now I was bothered that he wasn't talking to me? When Elec let go of me, I looked at him and he still stared at me. I should be the one who should be mad. What was he mad for? For not wearing the seatbelt?

"Why don't we finish the math homework now?" Irsia was trying to be herself.

We sat down on the floor. It was the first time we did homework together. All four of us together. As we kept going through the differentiation that was so simple for Elec, Irsia and Aiden as well -I was struggling. Of course, I hated math. I groaned and tore a page in which I made up my own calculations. Wrong calculations. Irsia taught me. I understood a bit. Elec tried, I understood a further bit. Aiden wasn't talking to me, but he explained and I just didn't understand anything. Dear God! Listening to him, I forgot what Irsia and Elec explained. Not because he was bad at it. He was good and I knew that. It's just that I paid so much attention to his features and tried not to think about his gestures, which seemed a little cold to me now. He even being cold to me, I liked that too about him. Oh! Holy Mother of God! What was I doing? Somehow again, Irsia explained and I finished the problems.

As I was about to leave home, I looked at Aiden. He still wasn't looking at me. I put the notebook in my bag and stood up. For a split second he looked at me and then brushed it off, as if it happened accidentally and I waved him bye. He gave me a wave again with that angry, fixated look. I hugged my raincoat with a dull ache rising in my chest and went home. After dinner, I snuck out of my room to where the ladder was usually kept. I kept it slanted toward the window of my room. As usual, Elec had closed her window at 9PM and it was half past nine. As I hit the sack, I couldn't help it. I thought mostly about Aiden not talking to me. I cried, feeling guilty that I was thinking about Aiden and not Desiree. Where was my life going?

It was about a quarter past 11PM and it had been half an hour since the lights in my parents' room had been turned off. If I go past my parents' room, I knew the squeaky floorboards would give me away. I got out of the blanket and I took the torch light, which was fully charged by now and I climbed out of the window. Oops! I almost forgot. I took my raincoat, pepper spray and wore a mask. I shoved the pepper spray down the pocket in my pajamas, but it was embarrassingly protruding out. I wore my raincoat and pulled the hoodie up my head. 

I hated climbing up or down, using the ladder. I always imagined putting my foot through the rung and not on the rung. I managed to climb down the ladder, taking deep breaths and I used the chair that we had in our porch to jump the fence. Thank God! Everything was going just as I had planned. I walked the dark streets. The roads were desolate, as expected, due to the curfew. Except for a few adorable stray dogs. It was just my shadow and me. At times, I jumped at the sight of my own shadow and I still kept going.

The busy Brightmaple signal seemed dead. After a few embarrassing jerks at my shadow and at the howling of the stray cats, I reached the place where there was that three-corner road and I still didn't stop. I walked, taking the left road and headed where the cemetery was. It was too chilly. I should have worn something warmer and I should definitely be scared to be out in this dark, especially to be anywhere near the cemetery. The sight of the cemetery in the dark, just with the light from my torch was scary. 

I shone the light on the place where she fell and I examined. I looked at the footsteps. There were a set of footsteps, which were bigger. It wasn't Desiree's. It couldn't be. I walked in the direction of those big footsteps and it led inside the cemetery. Why was I not surprised? An exhausted and exasperated sigh departed my lips. I didn't go inside the cemetery. I had that much sense in me not to go inside a cemetery alone in the middle of the night. I stood at the gates looking so foolish that I thought that I could find clues. 

Maybe I'd find footprints in the cornfields, if I went through the cornfields it could lead me to where she could be or maybe I could get some clues. What if she was waiting for me there? I felt a pull in the direction of the cornfields. A deep beckoning to my soul. I pulled the hoodie intact and started toward the cornfield. That's when I heard it. I turned in the direction of the sound. It sounded distinct, like an animal. A growl... a partial roar as it tore through something. I was pretty sure it came from the inside of the cemetery. I didn't dare shine my torch light in that direction to see what it was. Because if it was something scary and when I shine my light on it, what if it came after me? I ducked myself at the beastly sound. It wasn't a sound that shook the earth, but it was a low growling sound, a scratchy roar. I didn't move, contemplating whether I should run for the cornfields or if I should walk to the cornfields or maybe I should go home. Guilt seeped in. No, I should go for the cornfields and I should walk as quietly as possible without rushing through the bushes causing rustling noises. When I was about to move, I heard heavy footsteps.

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