In the days leading up to Belmont's party, the vision of a death at the Falls played in my head on a loop, day and night. I was grateful that I did not have another fainting incident at school, though six people died and passed on through me, one of them as young as Ryan, yet dreading the vision coming true. They were meant to prepare a reaper for an impending death and the subsequent injuries, physical or internal, inflicted on them.
Elena was right that people would stop whispering about what happened in Biology but others, like Hilton and her minions, refused to let me forget it, pretending to faint in the hallway and offering me numbers to hospitals outside the town.
Belmont's jock friends were no better, snickering whenever we were in the same class and several times, I witnessed Parker make obscene hand gestures in my direction. I ignored their taunts, too consumed by my recurring nightmares. With the visions, I was usually able to pinpoint the target by sensing a unique aura around the person.
When it first happened, I was seven and at a church fundraiser with my parents and grandmother. An elderly women was selling chocolate chip cookies and every time I saw her, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Later that night, she died in a car accident on her way home from the fundraiser.
This time, the only information was that the victim was wearing a varsity jacket at the time of their death, which meant they were likely a jock. The dread in the pit of my stomach stemmed from more than knowing that soon, a classmate of mine would be dead. Ever since I had the vision the night of Casey passed through me, there had been something different when they appeared again in my head. I could hear a distant voice, always speaking the same phrase: Save them. It was number one on the list of actions forbidden by a reaper.
As I learned from my mother when dealing with the church woman's death, reapers did not interfere, no matter the circumstances, the rules deeming such an act as affecting the natural cycle of life. Death was inevitable, an inescapable fate. If I solely heard the voice once, I would have disregarded it as my visions conflating with a dream but the repetitiveness made me believe it was intentional.
Was an otherworldly force, perhaps a being responsible for a reaper's abilities, reaching out to me? It made me question if there was something significant about this particular death, that, for whatever reason, it was not meant to occur and as a reaper, I could save an innocent life.
I was gathering my books from my locker, Belmont's party the single topic of conversation in the hallway. People were either excited about attending or disappointed about not receiving an invite. He allowed any senior to go to the party but the underclassmen relied on friendships with their older peers and sheer luck.
"Tessa."
Will walked over to me, his backpack slung over his shoulder. He handed me a copy of The Mysterious Island.
"Your report on Jules Verne was great. Forget those brain-dead trolls," he said, referring to the students napping during the presentation. "Half of them are in AP English because their parents give the school money to bump up their grades. I doubt they can even read a book if it doesn't have pictures," he joked. "I thought you might want to read it...i—if you haven't yet. It was my dad's and I've read it a dozen times."
I placed the book into my backpack. "Thanks, Will. It'll be an improvement over the Dr. Seuss books I have memorized from reading them to my brother every night."
"And I uh got you this too," he said, handing me another book about hypoglycemia. "My mother bought it for Katie but instead of reading it, she threw it under her bed. It's probably stupid of me to assume but I know that she's fainted because of it. Not that I'm saying you have it too but with the similar symptoms and—"
"No, you're right. I went to the doctor after what happened in Bio and he said that's the likeliest cause. I should've known that you'd guess it. You're the smartest person in this town," I lied, using that as an excuse.
He blushed at the compliment. "Not very hard considering the competition. You're just as smart. If you didn't miss class because of fainting so much—forget I said that. My foot is lodged in my mouth. I should go before I make this worse. I'll see you at the party tonight...well, not that you ever go—okay, let's erase this conversation from our memories. Men in Black style..."
"You're going to Belmont's party?" I asked, thinking that I misheard him.
Like me, he never attended those parties. Will and I had been best friends since I moved to Belmont Falls, the timid genius one of the few people I could tolerate at school. I was second best in our year (technically, tied for first but fainting in the middle of class dropped my participation grade a couple points) and we had countless things in common, like our shared love of books, old science fiction movies, and nerdy jokes.
Will shyly admitted that his stepfather was forcing him to attend the party with Katie, his stepsister two years younger than him. His stepfather claimed it was to protect her from handsy boys but Will suspected that he had another reason: wanting his stepson to venture out of his shell.
"He says that if I go, the jocks won't push me around," he explained, not a proponent of that theory. "I don't mind being there for Katie. Who knows what those neanderthals would do to her?"
"That's a hurtful accusation, little Willy," said a taunting voice.
The football team and the cheerleaders were walking in from a side door that led to the locker rooms. Belmont put his arm around Will's neck in a friendly chokehold. Catching my eye, Hilton mockingly fainted on a freshman cheerleader, causing the group to burst into a fit of giggles.
"So you want to go to my party, huh?" Belmont asked, enjoying Will's struggle. "Well, I have this requirement. Guys can't go alone."
"I'm not going alone," said Will, fighting against his grip.
"Stepsisters don't count...neither do robots," he quipped.
His friends snickered at the childish joke. I held my tongue, to avoid drama with Belmont and his lackeys.
"That's a silly rule." Will's face was turning redder by the second. "You expect every guy there to have a date?"
Belmont tapped his nose. "Nope. I just made it up for you. Looks like your pretty stepsister will be all alone but don't worry. Chace will keep her company."
"He has a date."
I never realized those words actually left my mouth until Belmont looked at me. "What?"
"I—I'm going too...with him." Saying those words again led me to ponder a crazy plan. "I'm his date."
Hilton let out a shrill laugh. "I told you, Amy. King Dork and Make A Wish are dating. Wait till everyone hears about this."
The cheerleaders ran down the hallway, yelling loud enough for people in China to hear them. In their wake, people whispered about the supposed new couple of Belmont High and Belmont was staring at me in disbelief. Letting Will out of the chokehold, he leaned close to my ear.
"I know you said that to help out your geeky friend," he whispered. "Some advice for my party? Dress like an actual girl, not some depressed mess. No hoodies...or I kick you both out."
Belmont left with his friends, walking with them to the football field. Rubbing his neck, Will apologized for dragging me into the party.
"I don't mind," I insisted, genuinely wanting to help him. "Katie shouldn't be alone with those jerks."
He nodded. "A—and it's not an actual date. I'll pick you up around nine."
On my ride home, my car back from the repair shop, Elena joined me, asking about my presentation. "It wasn't that bad. Besides Mrs. Kent and Will, nobody—"
"Blah, blah, blah," she interrupted, changing the music on the radio.
"Apparently, you would've fallen asleep too," I said, stopping at a red light.
She turned to me, curiously. "Why does everyone think you and Will are together? Did I miss the memo?"
"We're not—Will's stepdad forced him into going to the party to watch over Katie but Belmont wouldn't let him go unless he had a date so...I lied that I was his date. It's not a real date," I assured her. "I'm helping Will. Belmont said I couldn't go unless I dressed like, in his words, an actual girl."
"Prick," she muttered.
Elena offered to help me pick out an outfit. It was not my first Belmont party ever but she did not count parties thrown in elementary school. The main problem was that I had to change my clothes.
My usual attire was casual, consisting of jeans, tees, sweaters, and hoodies. Though it never made me feel like less of a girl, it was done out of both comfort and necessity. As I grew older, some experiences, aside from the boys practicing their kissing skills without my consent, had made me self-conscious, to the point that I preferred covering my body. My classmates thought that I either had a tomboy style or my clothes reflected my so-called depression. In terms of necessity, there were visible markings that identified a reaper.
Hesitantly, I slipped off my hoodie. My body was reflected in the full-length mirror, showing the dark runic symbols that covered my upper arms and my entire back. In the center of my back was a large spiral, a representation in my culture of the cycle of life and eternity. Every reaper had an identical symbol on their backs based on their own heritage, the other symbols on my body taken from the numerous cultures of the world.
If an ordinary person on the street saw the markings, they would believe them to be intricate tattoos but I had them from the age of four, the age that reapers learned if they inherited their parents' abilities.
Elena never understood why I needed to hide the markings, finding them fascinating and a potential tool for popularity at Belmont High. The reason my mother ever gave me was that if the wrong people recognized the runes, it could endanger our family. If there was ever a chance that the markings could be spotted, my mother would hide them with an herbal paste that acted as a magical eraser.
An hour was spent on digging through my closet, with a detour through my mother's clothes. Elena wanted me to make a good impression, to shove Belmont's rude comment in his face. She eventually settled on an outfit that would not make me too uncomfortable: a pair of black skinny jeans, a matching short-sleeve lace bodysuit, and ankle boots. Despite Elena's pleas to leave my hair down, I tied it up in a ponytail after she finished with my makeup.
"Let Fin say you don't look like a girl now," she said, admiring my outfit with her chin on my shoulder.
"You don't see any marks?" I asked, observing my back in the mirror. "Maybe this is a bad idea."
"No, it's amazing." She glanced out the window. "Will's in the driveway. Time to party."
"Wait."
Opening my closet door, I grabbed a burgundy leather jacket in a box on the floor and put it on over the bodysuit. It gave me the benefits of hiding markings my mother may have missed and an extra boost of confidence. Judging by Elena's smile, it was a perfect addition.
"Forget what I said before," she said, pushing me towards the door. "If Belmont doesn't have a heart attack when he sees you, he's blind."
"I'm not going for Belmont," I reminded her. "I'm going for Will."
Running down the stairs, I saw my mother speaking with Will. They were having a discussion about my father's archaeological work.
"Sweetheart, you look wonderful," she said, pecking me on the cheek. "Don't get into too much trouble. I've heard stories that the Falls are haunted."
I did a sarcastic clap. "Hilarious, Mom."
Katie, his stepsister, was in the backseat of his car. Seeing me out of my tees and hoodies, her jaw fell in astonishment. She never said more than a quick hello to me in the past but on the drive to the party, she was far more talkative.
Will maintained, to a dubious Katie, that I was attending the party with him to appease Belmont's silly rule, not as a real date. Fixing her eyeliner while holding a compact mirror, Katie gushed over the senior party, the only one of her sophomore friends to get an invitation. Will was not as thrilled, hinting for her to be cautious around the upperclassmen, mainly Chace Parker.
"Tessa, tell him that he's overreacting," she said, dabbing on lip gloss.
"A little but you should be careful," I warned the younger girl. "They might be more...experienced."
"Who says I'm not experienced?" she retorted.
The color drained from Will's face. "W—what?" he squeaked.
"It was a joke. Lighten up, Will. You're as uptight as my dad," she said, scathingly. "Sometimes, I think you two are the ones who are related. I'm hoping to talk to Claire Hilton to convince her to give me a spot on the squad."
Will parked his car alongside the others, near the entrance to the Falls. We joined the lengthy line for the party. As we waited to get past the gate, I noticed people turning their heads in our direction. It was hard to eavesdrop on their conversations, due to the deafening music, but I overheard a trio of juniors whisper about a new girl.
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Belmont was standing by the gate, his arm around Hilton's waist. With his other hand, he took a swig from a beer bottle. Hilton's navy blue dress did not cover much of her backside. In between giggling at the kisses he planted on her neck, she drew on each person's hand with a black marker.
According to Katie, it was to separate the cool kids and losers at the parties. If a person was a loser, Hilton marked them with an X. She excitedly squealed when Hilton complimented her on her mini skirt and drew a star on her hand, the designated cool kid symbol.
Belmont lowered his beer bottle. "You look somewhat decent, geek. What happened? Did you and Make A Wish break up already?" he asked, slurring his words.
"I'm standing right here," I said, resisting every urge to break his nose.
Hilton's smug smirk wilted in an instant. Belmont's eyes traveled up and down my body like a hungry lion.
"You said I had to dress less...what was it?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Depressed mess?"
"Different clothes don't change the fact that you're a loser. You still get an X," sneered Hilton.
"Shut up, Claire."
He snatched the marker from her and sloppily drew a star on my hand. A lump rose in my throat when he winked at me. Unsurprisingly, he drew an X on Will's hand then offered to give me a tour of the Falls.
"I'm Will's date...not yours," I said, grasping Will's hand. "Yours is currently burning a hole through your skull."
"Ooh, the mouse has teeth," he teased.
Will pulled me away from the gate and over to a picnic table. Though I offered to be at the party for him, I had not factored in the unpleasant advances of oafish teenage boys who viewed themselves as God's gift to girls. Several boys stared at me like a scene out of a nature documentary of a predator about to bounce on its prey. I wished that I had joined Will to get drinks, to spare myself from cheesy pick up lines.
"Told you that you'd give Fin a heart attack. He was drooling," said Elena, placing her cup of beer on the table.
Rendering him speechless was a small satisfaction. "He's a pig...but I'll admit that Hilton's face was worth it. I know I came for Will but I kind of hope that Katie wants to leave early."
"Liar," she accused. "You didn't just come to help out a friend. This is about your vision."
"Pfft, what do you mean?" I tried my best to act oblivious. "I told you that it's not definitely happening tonight."
"But it could and that's why you're here," she said, seeing through my lie. "I'm not sure why you'd want to be when you could pass out again in front of everyone."
It was eerie how well she could read me. "You'll think I'm crazy. What if—"
"Hey Byrne!"
Parker walked over to the table, holding a red cup that smelled heavily like gasoline. I scooted back when he sniffed my flowery perfume.
"Where the hell have you been all my life?" he asked, his leg rubbing against mine.
"Sitting in the front of the classroom." My attempt to create further distance failed, with him moving towards me again. "You're usually asleep in the back or you ditch class it so it's not like you'd know that."
He grinned. "That's funny. Can I get you another beer or do you want a stronger drink?"
"Go hump a tree, Parker," said Elena, repulsed.
"No thanks," I said, straining to be polite. "Will's getting me a drink. He should be back soon."
"Ditch him." Parker gripped my knee. "Come on, I can show you this awesome spot by the caves. It's dark...and private."
Another red cup struck his head, beer spilling onto his jeans. He groaned and stood up angrily, searching for the culprit. Muttering about a dead junior, he stormed off into the woods.
"Elena, seriously?" I whispered, worried that someone saw her. She was not at the table. "You can't do things like that."
"Tessa?" I heard. "Who are you talking to?"
Will was standing behind me, holding two cups. He handed one to me and rubbed a small stain on his Star Wars shirt.
"Myself," I said, secretly searching for Elena. "I got a text and—it doesn't matter. What happened?"
"I was in line and Belmont bumped into me," he said, indicating the stain. "It's fine. He's pretty drunk so he didn't know what he was doing."
"If you say so," I replied, doubting it was an accident. "Shouldn't we keep an eye on Katie?"
He sat beside me, tapping his fingers on his cup. "She's okay. She's hanging out with the sophomores and realizing that these parties aren't so fun after a guy kicked dirt onto her heels. My stepdad will be happy. I wanted to...thank you for coming with me."
"I don't mind," I said, nudging his side. "You're my friend."
We gagged as we sipped our drinks. It was not beer but whatever beverage had been in Parker's cup. Belmont added it to his requirements for Will to stay at the party, his self-made special 'elixir'.
"Shouldn't fancy rich kids have good taste?" Grimacing, he lowered the cup. "Screw his rules. We keep drinking this and we'll have to call poison control."
If Will had not been at the party, I would have left hours ago out of boredom. Everyone was either getting wasted, smoking pot, dancing, or gossiping in their cliques.
Will and I were having our own fun, talking about plenty of random things from movies to how Dr. Baxter flirted with all the attractive mothers at school events. He entertained me with his impression of Mr. Wells, the trigonometry teacher who spoke in a monotone voice.
"I don't know how I survived that class. It made me want to fall asleep," I said, recalling the dreary lessons. "You stayed awake because he picked on you for the answers. You knew every one of them."
"So did you," he asserted, never one to let me downplay my intelligence. "I'd hear you whispering the answers to yourself."
I peered at my boots. "I don't like drawing attention to myself. I get enough of it as 'that fainting girl'."
"Is that why? Because if it is, it doesn't work, Tessa. Who wouldn't notice you?" He scratched his ear. "You could wear a potato sack and—"
A sharp ache pierced my temple, the same as the night of Casey's death and the vision. Seeing the concern on Will's face, I passed it off as nausea from Belmont's toxic 'elixir'. I sneaked off to the bridge, anticipating that the pain was another warning of the impending death.
Katie was standing atop the wooden railing, a varsity jacket draped over her shoulders. She stumbled slightly and giggled, taking a sip from her beer bottle.
"Chace! I'm waiting! You better hurry before my stepbrother finds us. He'll get mad if he sees us making out," she teased, between hiccups. "You know what? Let him watch! It's funny when he freaks out."
The beer bottle plopped into the cold water. Barely keeping her balance, she continued to walk along the railing. Her eyes lit up when she saw me on the bridge.
"Tessa, hi!" she squealed. "I'm meeting Chace here!"
I raised a finger to my lips. "Shh."
"I'm meeting Chace here," she whispered, her breath smelling heavily of beer and vodka.
"You need to get down from there," I said, holding out my hand. "You could fall, Katie."
"I won't fall," she said, extending her arms like an airplane. "I can't fall."
She spoke as if it was common sense. Afraid that my vision was seconds from happening, I cautiously inched over to the railing.
"Take my hand," I pleaded. "If you fall off the bridge, you can't hook up with Parker."
Katie drummed her fingers on her chin. "That's true. You're the partest smerson in the world. Ha, smerson." She hiccuped again. "Did you hear that? I'm hilarious."
Standing on my tiptoes, I grabbed her hand. A sudden wind blew through the trees, causing Katie to lose her balance. My firm grip kept her from plunging into the lake.
"Katie, hold on!"
I managed to pull her halfway over the railing when she screamed in pain. An invisible force was tugging her in the opposite direction. I planted my feet on the bridge but the force was too strong.
A teary-eyed Katie cried for help. Just as the adrenaline kicked in and I made progress in pulling her up, whatever was on the other side countered with enough force to throw me partially over the railing, my feet dangling in midair.
My heart raced as I spotted the creature that had a hold on Katie. I thought it had been a bear or a wolf but instead, there was a shadow-like figure. It resembled a person though its features were distorted, with pupil-less milky white eyes, gnarled fingers, and no mouth.
Slinking up Katie's body like a snake, it dug one of its fingers into the back of her neck. Her honey brown pupils dissolved into that milky white color. She spoke in a strange language, her voice disembodied and guttural.
"Let her go!" I screamed.
As I swiped at the shadow, in an attempt to detach it from Katie, my hand smacked the top of its head. My raven-shaped birthmark turned solid black and the shadow retracted its hold on Katie, its fingers burned by her skin.
Its body radiated a faint golden glow and to my horror, it advanced towards me. I prepared for the worst, that the shadow planned to take me in Katie's place, but before it could climb onto the railing, it vanished into thin air. Katie's eyes returned to their normal color.
"Tessa, pull me up!" she said, terrified.
A second hand grabbed her wrist. Elena helped me pull Katie over the railing and the three of us were sitting on the bridge, catching our breath.
"Katie?! Tessa!"
Will hurried onto the bridge. He practically squeezed the life out of his stepsister, hearing from the sophomores that she was meeting Parker. I was taken aback when his arms wrapped around me, thanking me over and over for saving his sister. Katie, who was unaware of how close she was to actual death or the creature behind it, muttered about him being a drama queen.
"Yep, that's me," he said, activating his big brother mode. "Home. Now."
"But the party's not over," she whined, wiping the mascara stains on her cheeks.
"Too bad." He pointed to the end of the bridge. "Now, Katie."
"You're so lame!" she shouted, stamping on his foot.
"I'll uh meet you by your car, Will." I said, still winded. "I left my purse at the table."
I could hear their bickering until I was in the woods. Elena had followed, knowing that something was bothering me and it was not Katie's near-death experience.
"You were right that I wasn't honest about why I wanted to come to the party," I confessed, my mind reeling from the events on the bridge. "It was for Will but I wanted to be at the Falls in case the death was tonight. I wanted to stop it."
"Stop it? Can you do that?" she wondered. "Isn't that rule number one on the list of reaper no no's?"
"It's more of an implied rule. It's what we're taught and I've accepted it but this vision wasn't like the rest. A voice was saying to save whoever was meant to die. I've been hearing it over and over and I did, didn't I?" I reasoned. "I mean, Katie was holding the beer and had the varsity jacket. It was Parker's. I saved her."
Elena reined in her cheers. "I sense a but coming..."
I lowered my voice. "She wasn't alone on the bridge, El. I don't know what it was but it was a kind of shadow creature. Katie couldn't see it. It was possessing her and tried to make her fall into the lake. It spoke through her. I didn't recognize the language. When I touched it, it let go and then it vanished into nothing."
"You've never seen it before?" she asked, checking behind her as if the creature was breathing on her neck. I mentioned seeing the shadow the night Casey passed through me. "You should talk to your mom. She's the expert on this stuff."
"Just shut up!"
Belmont was pacing back and forth, yelling into his phone. He could not stand without leaning on an oak tree for support. When we arrived at the party, he was a bit tipsy but now, he was wasted, speaking incoherently and taking his aggression out on a shrub, ripping its branches.
Elena and I hid behind a pair of trees. "I don't care. Do you hear me? I don't care what you think, asshole. I'm—by this time next year, I'm gone. I don't give a damn about—no, you listen to me." His nostrils flared. "I'm not drunk. I'm talking good. Oh, I know that tone. You can add it to my long list of disappointments. Screw you!"
He slammed his phone into the tree and downed the remains of his beer in one sip. The bottle ended up like his phone, shattering into pieces as it hit the same tree. Elena pinched my arm, urging me to return to Will's car.
"I know that look," she hissed. "Don't you dare. This is the worst moment to—"
"Are you okay?" I asked Belmont.
She threw her hands up in defeat. "And you do it anyway. Abort, abort, abort."
I carefully stepped over the pieces of broken glass. Belmont pushed his tousled hair out of his glazed eyes.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," I said, speaking calmly to not exacerbate his anger. "It was kind of hard not to hear you yelling."
"Just another joyful conversation with my dad, Mr. Perfect," he muttered. "What are you doing out here all alone, Jamie?"
"It's Tessa," I corrected. "I needed to get my bag before heading out. Katie almost fell off the bridge."
"King Dork's sister?" he asked, with a quiet snicker. "That would've been hilarious."
"There is something fundamentally wrong with you," I said, regretting my decision to show him an ounce of compassion.
The drunk jock pouted at me. "You don't think I'm funny?"
"I think you're an ass and talking to you is a mistake," I snapped. "I should go."
With a tug on my wrist, I was pushed up against the tree, feeling shards of broken glass under my boots. Towering over me, he kept my arms pinned to my side. His breath reeked of an assortment of liquor. One of his hands rested on my thigh and his dusty green eyes locked with mine.
"I knew you had a sexy body under those baggy shirts," he said, his fingers digging into my thigh.
"I could feel it in Bio that day you passed out."
"You mean when you were giving me fake CPR to cop a feel?" I asked, struggling to move from under him.
"You make it sound so awful." His hand trailed higher, to the button of my jeans. "Any girl would love my hands on them or they prefer my tongue. It can be our secret. Forget your boyfriend."
"Will isn't my boyfriend," I said, tired of that misconception.
He chuckled. "Right. He's your charity case."
"He's my friend," I replied, clenching my fists. "You wouldn't know what that is since all you have is a bunch of lackeys who only hang around you because of your money. I can't think of any other reason that they'd want to be around you."
"Look who's got a lot to say these days," he said, impressed. "You've barely said a word unless it's for a presentation or to geek out with your nerd buddy. If you dressed like this all the time, you wouldn't have to settle for a bottom feeder like that."
I scoffed at his hollow offer. "I'd rather hang out with him than an arrogant ass with an ego the size of this planet. Let go of me."
As he fiddled with the button, his lips getting closer to mine, I heard him let out a painful groan and he fell face-first onto the ground. Elena was holding a thick branch.
"Bitch!" he snarled, peeling wet leaves off his cheek.
I ran out of the woods, taking my purse from the picnic table, and over to Will's car. Katie refused to speak the entire ride back to my house. Furious that she was forced to leave the party, she settled on giving Will the silent treatment.
By the time I was home, it was midnight and my mother was fast asleep. I decided to tell her about the party in the morning, no matter how much I wanted to forget most of the night. Sleep proved difficult, thanks to nightmares about drowning in the lake.
I was startled by a loud thunk. My vision blurry, I moved my hand around until it found my lamp and flicked on the light. Belmont was standing in the middle of my bedroom, bouncing up and down and holding his foot. He muttered a slew of curses at my dresser.
It took a few seconds, thanks to an hour of sleep at most, to realize that he had sneaked into my room. Out of instinct, I grabbed whatever was nearest and lifted my alarm clock, planning to throw it at his head.
"What are you doing in my room?" I hissed, not wanting to wake my mother or brother.
"I don't—damn, you should wear shorts more often," he said, eyeing my legs.
I covered myself with my blanket and brushed my dark hair to one side. "Shut up. You have three seconds to get out before this clock breaks your nose."
"I don't even know how I got in here, Jenna," he said, raising his hands in self defense.
"Tessa!"
"What?" he asked, bewildered.
"For the five hundredth time, my name is Tessa." Lack of sleep led to lack of a filter. "You know what? Screw it. Call me whatever you want...just get out. What, I rejected you so you had to be a creep and break into my house?"
Belmont scoffed. "Rejected? That's what you call bashing my head in?"
"That wasn't m—you deserved it," I said, hoping that being mean would convince him to climb out the window.
"And before you go psycho on me, I didn't sneak into your room. I don't remember how I got here, actually. One minute, I was at my party and the next, I stub my toe on your dresser. I don't control what I do when I'm drunk. It was an accident...a weird accident." He looked around my room in confusion. "I don't know where you live. My sister's walk-in closet is bigger than this."
"You expect me to believe—"
As he stepped into the light, I dropped the clock. He had a deep gash on the side of his head, caked with fresh blood. Both his hair and clothes were soaking wet. His lips were not their soft pink color but a pale shade of blue.
"Where's your jacket?" I asked, abandoning my anger. "Your varsity jacket. You were wearing it tonight."
He shrugged. "I don't—I told you that I was drunk."
"You were drinking beer. It wasn't Katie..." I whispered, overcome with the dread that had plagued me for days.
"What are you mumbling about?" he asked, clutching his head.
"That thing...it wanted her." I had been so sure that Katie was the intended victim. "It had to be because...I should've stayed there. It wasn't done."
"I'm talking to you!"
I glanced up at him, unable to say a single word. How could I even begin to tell him how he ended up at my house? This was different from the other encounters where I hardly knew the person, except for passing by them in the street.
I had known him since second grade, remembering how he laughed after Hilton pushed me off the swings during recess and how he bragged to our classmates about holding his father's cigars. What was I supposed to say to the boy who had the best chance of leaving this town, whether it was by a sports scholarship or driving off in one of his family's expensive cars with a stack of credit cards to travel the open road?
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, blood sticking to his palm.
Instead of words, water dribbled out of my mouth. At first, it was droplets but within minutes, it was like one never-ending flood. I rolled off my bed, struggling to breathe as the air in my lungs was replaced with water.
It was like what happened with Casey, when I fainted during the Biology exam. I was having the reliving his experiences though I would not end up with his fate. As my room faded to black, the last thing I saw was him shaking me roughly and one final thought crossed my mind.
Fin Belmont, the charming rebel with the crooked smile, was dead.