Chapter 16

I kept running, likely longer than I had to, until I ended up back near Abigail's house. Standing on the sidewalk in front of her house, I stopped to catch my breath. Krieth returned to his place on my shoulder, a judgmental look in his eyes. "Look how well that went."

"Thanks, want to say anything else?"

He was silent for a moment before asking, "What's the point of smoking that stuff?"

I sighed. "You're kidding."

"I'm not."

"Well, normal people smoke it to get high. It gives euphoric feelings. For some reason it doesn't work on me anymore, so I just like the way the smoke feels."

Before Krieth could answer, my name was called from behind. "Hey you! Jay!" I whirled around to see Abigail standing in her open doorway, a cigarette pinched between her fingers. "Who the hell are you talking to?!"

I stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded. I hadn't seen her since November, when I dropped off Daisy, which was primarily due to the fact that Dahlia no longer trusted me to take my younger sister places. It wasn't like I cared, but it was strange to me that I'd ended up here again. I hadn't even been paying attention to where I was running.

"I...I uhh..."

She sighed. "Save it! Come inside!"

"What---?"

"Come on! Before I change my mind!"

With a sigh, I walked up to her front porch. "I should really be getting home, Abigail---"

"Jesus Christ, kid, you look like you haven't slept in days. Look, if you have somewhere to be, I'll tell your mother it's my fault. Come inside."

As I stepped inside, she shut the door behind me and put her cigarette out an ashtray sitting on a hallway table. I looked around slowly, wondering if anyone else was home, judging by how quiet the house was. "Don't just stand there," she said, making me jump. "Take off your jacket. You can hang it up on that rack next to you. Oh, and if you're wondering, Steve took Karmen ice skating out in the city today."

"Oh, alright." I took off my jacket and hung it on one of the hooks against the wall. I followed her to the living room, where she slumped down on one of the couches and gestured for me to sit next to her. Slowly, I took a seat beside her and held my hands together. "So...why am I here?"

Abigail let out a long sigh, pulling a hand through her loose hair. "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, ever since I heard about what happened to your classmates. I probably should have done this sooner."

I tilted my head slightly. "What exactly did you want to talk to me about?" The only times in the past that she'd ever wanted to talk to me was just to scold me about how I treated my mother and sister. Which was justified. I never thought she'd ever think of me in any other way.

"Are you doing alright?"

I was taken aback by this question. "Since when did you care?" The words were out of my mouth before I realized it and I immediately regretted it when I saw her reaction.

She frowned. "'Since when did I care?' Jay, I've always cared about you and your family. I'd thought you would know that. Guess not." She slouched into her couch and looked up at the ceiling. "Just bad luck, I suppose."

"What do you mean, 'bad luck'?"

"The town I grew up in. Similar things happened like this to kids at my own high school. Horrific murders. Done by a serial killer." Abigail stuck another cigarette in between her lips and lit it. "I'm sure you've heard about it."

"Well I don't know, it was a while ago..." I said, my voice trailing off, but clearly she wasn't listening to me.

"I don't like talking about it," sighing out smoke, "But if anything, I know what you're going through. With the murders and all. God, maybe I should just get out of small towns altogether."

I shook my head slowly. "I don't really think---"

"Don't try it. Anyway, if I were you, I'd get my parents to get out of this town. Go somewhere else, so you don't have to be around all this stress." She let out another puff of smoke and waved it away from her face. "But really, do whatever you think is best, Jay. And quit it with the 'I hate everything' mentality that you kids have. The world really isn't all that bad."

I looked away, towards the window. "Yeah, alright." I slowly stood up. "I really should be leaving..."

"If you must. But think about what I said, and take care of your sister. She's really not so bad."

"Thanks." I took my jacket from the coat rack and walked out the door.

It was a sunny morning. It hadn't snowed in a few weeks, for rain had taken its place. The winter had felt rather short, though I wasn't sure if that was just me. It seemed that we were already on track to enter the spring. I wasn't quite ready for spring. It felt that time had moved too fast since Hannah's death, and the way I perceived it, it made me feel less and less like I belonged here. Less and less like I still wanted to stay. As far off as Abigail was, she was right, I needed to leave, but where could I go? It wasn't like there were any places that I could stay for long. And I was sure Krieth wanted me to stay somewhere without many people at all.

On my way home, I passed by Hannah's place. I stopped in my tracks, watching as her family and some movers brought boxes and furniture from the house and set it in the back of a moving truck. Lucas was with them, a smaller box in hand as he ran down from the porch. When he spotted me, he offered a friendly smile and walked over. "Hey, Jay! How have you been?"

"Could be better. What's going on here?" I asked, gesturing to the activity happening around us.

"The Taylors are moving out of town. Trying to get away from everything, you know?" He swiped a lock of hair out of his face. "Asked me to come and help pack up Hannah's stuff, since we were friends. They said they called your and Nancy's places, but didn't hear from either of you."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I've been...busy."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We've got it all handled anyway. Anyway, I'm going to stop by Nancy's place when I'm done here. She hasn't been doing too well, so I figured I would bring her some food. Wanna come with? I'm sure she'd be happy to see both of us."

I shook my head. "No thanks, that's...that's alright. Just...tell her I said hi, alright?"

"Sure thing, man. I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you around..."

Lucas smiled at me once more before returning to the others. I watched them for a moment before making myself continue on. It wasn't worth thinking about.

I climbed up to my bedroom window on the second floor of my house from the side of it. I pulled my window open and slid inside, knocking my things off my desk. I sat back in my chair, staring at the dark interior of my bedroom. It was a mess, much like the inside of my head. Over the past few months, it had just gotten worse. I didn't care enough to clean my room anymore, so clothes and feathers covered the floor, as well as loose threads from when I needed to stitch my skin back up. I picked at the stitches on the inside of my wrist, and then looked at my mattress, drawings and sketchbooks stuffed underneath it. My parents and Daisy didn't come into my room anymore. I seemed to repel anyone at this point, and I had a pretty good idea of why. Dahlia didn't think of me as the kind of person who would sneak out, so as far as she knew, I'd been in my room all morning. At the very least, it helped.

"So what's your plan?"

I looked at Krieth, who was perched on my window sill, watching me expectantly. "I can't stay here. Just like you said."

"Glad you've decided."

"I'm gonna go up to the abandoned house. Stay there for a while."

"Best get going then."

I stood up from my desk and grabbed a backpack from my closet. I stuffed some clothes in the backpack and a couple more things that I thought I might need, namely, needles and thread and a sketchbook, just to keep my mind off of things. A jar of money I'd saved over the years sat on my desk, and I was sure it didn't amount to much, but anything helped. I shoved it into my backpack with my other things and headed out of my room to get my things from the bathroom. When I turned to head back to my bedroom, I spotted Daisy standing in the hallway outside her bedroom.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

I rubbed the back of my head, the seams coming loose around my neck. "Nowhere, Daisy. Just go back to your room."

A look I rarely ever saw from her, a look of worry, or maybe it was fear, stared back at me from her pale blue eyes. "Will you come back?"

I hesitated. "Oh. I don't know." I sucked in a sharp breath. "Can you do me a favor?"

She nodded.

"Don't tell anyone you saw me, alright?"

"Okay." She turned to head back to her room and muttered, "Freakazoid, why are you leaving?" She closed her door behind her before I got the chance to answer. I stood there for a moment, and then looked towards the stairs.

A heavy knock shook the front door. It was the kind of knock that was less than friendly, that held that kind of menace behind it. It drew my attention and I got to my knees, looking around the corner from the landing. Dahlia went to open it, coming from the kitchen as evidenced by her apron. She unlocked the door and pulled it open, and to no surprise, police officers stood on the other side of the door.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she said.

"We're here for Jayden Anderson. Is he home?"

"Why do you need him?"

The police officer sighed. "There was a DNA match with your son's at a crime scene. We need to bring him in for questioning."

I didn't stay for the rest---I'd seen enough. If I remained any longer, there was a higher chance that I'd be seen, with no chance to get away. So I climbed out my bedroom window, and ran through the backyard before they could even get upstairs. I ran through alleyways, avoiding being seen by any passing residents. It was midday, people were out, and the weather was nice. Who would pass up that sort of thing?

I arrived back in Avery's backyard before long. I hurriedly tapped her bedroom window, and waited restlessly for her to open it up. It took a minute, but she swiped the curtains open and then pulled the window open when she saw me. Her black hair was done neatly and rested over her shoulders, shining in the sunlight. She was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and blue jeans when she opened it, and appeared as though she was well rested. At the very least, I could be glad that she got some sleep.

"You could just come through the front door," she said with a small laugh. "No need for---"

"I need to leave town," I said, bluntly cutting her off. "I can't stay here."

She pulled in a sharp breath. "What?"

"They matched some of my DNA with stuff found at a crime scene. I have to go."

"Well I'll go with you. Where are you going?"

I shook my head. "I don't know yet. I really think you should stay, Avery. You belong here. I...I don't."

Avery shook her head. "I've made up my mind. There's nothing you can do to convince me." She stared into me with her dark eyes. "So, where are you going? What's the plan?"

I sighed, leaning on the window sill. "I'm going to the abandoned house. You can meet me later, and we can figure out where to go from there."

She placed her hands around my cheeks and pulled my face toward hers. "We'll figure this out, okay? I promise."

I held her hand and looked down. "Don't make promises you can't keep." I kissed Avery's palm and turned to leave. As I climbed over the fence, I could feel her gaze following me.