Chapter 7

On Monday, Darren greeted me by slamming my head into the lockers.

News of Hannah's death spread through the town like wildfire. From what I'd heard, her two sisters arrived home on Sunday and discovered her rotting remains covered sparsely with black feathers. It was clear to the police that parts of her had been eaten, but the way her body had been mutilated was so strange that it was hard to really figure out the method used to kill her. The first I'd heard from any of Hannah's friends was when Darren caught me walking into school on Monday morning.

He pinned me against the lockers, gripping my blazer. Through gritted teeth, he hissed, "What the fuck did you do to Hannah??"

So much for being the last person anyone would suspect. "What the hell are you talking about?" My head still radiated with the pain of being slammed into the lockers, and with his tight grip on my clothes and knuckles digging into my chest, it made it difficult to speak.

"My dad's a policeman. He said that your fingerprints were all over the crime scene."

I wrestled Darren's grip away from my clothes and shoved him back. "Don't be a dunce," I snapped. "I was at her house on Friday. We all were. I wouldn't be surprised if your fingerprints came up too."

His nostrils flared, breathing heavily as his dark blue eyes burned with anger. Lucas and Nancy were standing behind him, their gazes downturned. With a heavy sigh, Nancy murmured, "That's enough, Darren. Let's go." Her eyes were red and puffy, a clear sign that she'd been crying. I wasn't sure how close Hannah and Nancy were, but they never left each other's sides. And as the three of them turned and walked away, for once Nancy cast a friendly look in my direction.

It wasn't hard to predict that I wouldn't be welcome sitting with them at lunch in the outdoor courtyard, and I didn't try. Everything had been set back to the way it was before Hannah had even thought of looking in my direction. I sat at the lonely table near the edge of the courtyard, staring absentmindedly at the students who had friends. I'd almost forgotten how miserable I'd been like this before. The only times anyone had paid attention to me was when someone thought it'd be a good idea to rip up my sketchbook or shove my face into a toilet. I turned away from the students and instead watched the lawn, and just beyond it, the sports field. Crows sat on the bare trees, all watching me like they had been doing for the past few days. Though amongst them, I could not see Krieth. The one time I wanted him there, he was nowhere to be found. At the very least, it would've been someone to talk to.

"Hey, Jay?" I turned around to see Avery standing in front of the table, lunch in hand with her bag slung over her shoulder. Her eyes carried a sense of empathy within them, the kind of look I hadn't seen from anyone these past few days. It made me feel weak. "I'm sorry about---well I heard that..." She set her things down. "Mind if I sit here?"

I nodded. "Sure."

Avery settled down into the seat across from me, resting her gloved hands on the table and knitting her fingers tightly together. "I heard about what happened to Hannah. Well...everyone has. I'm sorry. I don't know how that must make you feel."

"Well it's...it's alright, really, I..." The more I thought about it, the more pressure began building behind my eyes. "We weren't really...like..." Images of Hannah's dead body flashed into my mind; I could taste her flesh on my tongue. "It was just..." And when I remembered the way that Nancy looked at me in the hall, tears started pouring down my face for the first time since that night. I stopped trying to speak, and instead choked on the strangled sobs that escaped my throat as I hid my face in my hands. So hard, I'd tried to distance myself from what had happened. But there was no way I'd be able to forget what I'd done, and with everyone else remembering it too, it would be damn near impossible. Now was as good a time as any to get the tears out. Avery's chair scraped the concrete as she scooted closer to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. She didn't say anything, and I was glad for that. All I needed was a moment to catch my breath.

It took a couple of minutes, but I finally managed to stop crying. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and looked up at Avery, who'd been by my side the whole time. She looked at me with a nervous smile, before quickly pulling her arm away from my shoulders. Her little mannerisms made me smile a bit in return.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "I'd just...I'd rather not talk about it."

She nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. I can't imagine you'd want to."

I rubbed my face, taking some deep and even breaths, and considered the rest of the day. I had English class with Avery after this, though I wasn't sure I'd even be able to focus in the slightest. Along with that, I hadn't even done the assigned homework. My weekend had been spent trying to wash the blood out of my clothes without either of my parents or my sister noticing. It didn't work, of course, and I ended up having to throw them out completely. Losing some of my clothes was the least of my worries, but the bummer that had been piled on top of the other unpleasant feelings I was trying to ignore.

"We can just ditch if you want," Avery suddenly said, as if reading my mind. "Well I didn't do the homework, and English is lame anyway. And I bet school's the last place you'd want to be right now."

I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Cool, we'll go right after lunch, then." She continued eating her food, and then looked at me. "By the way," she said, her mouth full, "Don't you have anything to eat?"

My stomach twisted with dread. "No, I'm not really all that hungry right now."

She nodded slowly and turned her attention back to her plate. "Alright. Just make sure you eat something. Can't have you starving on me."

"Yeah, I get it."

When lunch ended, Avery and I snuck out the side doors of the school while the halls were still crowded. To make sure no one saw us, we ran a little ways down the street so that we were out of view of the school. We paused at the corner of a neighborhood intersection to catch our breaths. While it was quite sunny that day, it was still cold enough for our breaths to come out in anxious white puffs.

I looked over at Avery, who was adjusting her disheveled clothes. "Now what?"

She glanced up at me, sweeping a lock of hair over her shoulder. "This is the part where we go to an abandoned house and take acid."

I stared at her. "You have acid?"

"No," she said with a laugh. "But I do know where we can hang out at an abandoned house."

I laughed along with her. "Alright, let's head off, then."

Avery led me through the neighborhood. "It's a little ways into the forest, but it's not too far. As far as I'm aware, no one else knows about this place."

"When did you find it?"

She shrugged with a nervous smile. "Just last week. I got a little...I was a little bored sitting around at home, so I decided to do some exploring." She put her hands in the pockets of her coat and shivered. "I wish this uniform allowed leggings. It's only gonna get colder."

"Yeah, it's a bit fucked," I said. "Have you tried wearing pants instead of the uniform skirt?"

Avery shook her head. "It's not allowed. They made sure we knew that when I transferred here."

"Damn," I sighed. Then remembering the first day she came into class, I turned to her. "By the way, what's New York like? You said you're from there."

"Not great." She laughed a bit. "I lived in Manhattan. It's like the worst part of the city in my opinion. You have no idea how happy I was when I learned we were moving to Washington. It's so pretty out here."

"Why this town, and not somewhere like Seattle? Or I don't know, Tacoma?"

"My dad said there's too many crackheads in the big cities. But I really don't mind. Small towns are nice and quiet. And nothing ever happens here."

"Right. Nothing ever happens here..." It went without saying what I was thinking of when she said that.

We reached the end of the neighborhood street that Avery was leading me down. The curbless street came to a dead end and the houses were more spaced out in this direction. Avery began climbing up the hill into the tree cover, and I followed right behind her. Soon, the ground leveled out and we were able to walk on flat ground---well, as flat as the undergrowth would let it be.

"Be careful," Avery said, looking at me over her shoulder. "There's a lot of big rocks and tree roots you can't really see here. I don't want you to break your ankle on my watch."

"I'll be fine," I assured her. I was sure that if Krieth could get rid of my tremors, he would be able to heal a broken ankle. Or at least, that was my hope. Still, I heeded her warning and followed her footsteps carefully. Snow covered the ground in patches, for the shadows of the trees prevented it from melting properly. The frozen snow crunched under our school shoes, and I could feel some of the water seeping into my socks. I moved a bit more quickly in disgust, wishing I had my boots and cursing the dress shoes we were forced to wear every day.

"Hey! I see it!"

I looked up and saw the house through the trees that Avery was talking about. The undergrowth began to clear up as we grew closer, so I picked up my pace and joined Avery at her side as we walked up to the house. The architectural style seemed to be somewhat Victorian, and old enough that the place lost any color it might've had. The wooden exterior looked to be dark with water, and moss and mold creeping up the sides. Avery walked up the front stairs to the porch, the stairs creaking under each one of her steps, and looked out at the forest from where she stood. I followed her and stood next to her, looking where she was looking. When I did, she looked down at the stairs that we both ascended.

"How did you do that?"

I met her gaze. "Do what?"

"When you walked up, none of the stairs creaked." She looked at me, slightly confused.

I smiled nervously. "Oh, I don't know. I guess I've always been good at that sort of thing. Keeping my footsteps quiet."

Avery smiled before gesturing for me to follow her. "Come on, let's see the rest of the house." She headed inside and I quickly followed. The door was half open, seemingly clinging to its hinges for dear life. Avery didn't touch it as she walked in, and neither did I. It was better to leave no trace that we were here anyway. The inside lacked any furniture at all, just the bare wooden floors supported by concrete and traces of what was left from the people who used to live there. Moving through what looked to be the remnants of the kitchen, it appeared as though it was too old to even have an oven or an ice box from when my parents were kids.

Avery stopped by the stairs to the second floor and turned to me. "We can't go up there."

"Well why not?"

"The floorboards are too loose. Especially in the bedrooms, they're not really supported all that much." She took my hand. "Come here, I'll show you something." Without waiting for my confirmation, she dragged me to what looked to be the den of the house and pointed up at the ceiling.

I looked where she was pointing and let out a low whistle. "Yikes." There was a hole in the ceiling, wide enough for us to see into the room above. "How did that happen?"

"First time I came up here, the floorboards broke beneath my feet." She shivered. "It was fucking terrifying. I didn't fall all the way through, luckily. If I did, I probably wouldn't be walking right now."

"Is there a basement?" I asked.

Avery nodded. "A cellar. The door is around the back, but I haven't been able to get it open." She sat down on an alcove under the window and relaxed against the wall. I took a seat next to her. "You promise to keep this place a secret?"

"Of course. Don't want anyone to ruin it." I sat criss-crossed and held my hands together in my lap. "It can be like our secret hideout or meeting spot."

She laughed. "What are you, ten?"

"Come on, you gotta admit it would be fun to think of it that way." I leaned on the window sill. "And it's always nice to have someplace to be that no one knows about."

"Yeah, I guess so."

We sat in silence for a while, the sky growing darker as the sun reached the horizon. I was able to relax with Avery, finally free away from the fucking crows. None of them had followed us into the forest and I was honestly relieved for the time being. I could pretend like I was still normal.

After a bit, I came to the unhappy realization that we should probably get going, reality seeping back into my body as the sun fell deeper in the sky. With reluctant resignation, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants. "We should get going before it gets too dark," I said. "Or cold."

"Yeah, you're right." Avery slowly lifted herself to her feet with a sigh and then headed in the direction of the door.

We walked back down the hill in silence, and right as we reached the street, it was dusk, and the few street lights started turning on. We paused, and I was ready to split up for the night, but then Avery flashed a grin in my direction. "Walk me home?"

I smiled. "Sure."