Chapter 167 – A Short Walk – Holly Hayfield

How could I be so stupid? Why didn’t I stop to think about the possibility that Sarah Rivera would reach out to Crystal Gray after I specifically asked about her? Did I get too greedy? Was I too rash? Was there anything that I could’ve changed to alter this result?

What an aggravating outcome. Just thinking about it was enough to put me into a short-tempered stir. Why? Why was Sarah Rivera stupid enough to call up her old friend on the night I visited her? That was the only way Crystal Gray could’ve known I was there. So why?

Like everything in this long line of work, things rarely went as planned. Normally things didn’t explode this badly. The difficult part was how much time I spent thinking about Sarah. The decision to spare her life was hard on me. Crystal Gray made all my considerations obsolete in an instant.

The things Silver said about Sarah got to me in the end. I humanized her. She was a normal person that got tied up in a despicable web of lies and chaos. She was far from innocent, having worked to cover up Malorie’s murder in the first place, but she was one of the dubious names on my list.

Now though… Now I just wanted revenge, plain and simple. Crystal Gray snuffed out the self-doubt plaguing my mind. If she wanted to do things the brutal way, then this was the way they’d be. Only now, she was the final target on my list aside from Ms. Sampson.

“We’ll have to expand the range of our search efforts if we’re going to have any luck with this.” I said to Alyssa. “She can’t have gone far. Her family still lives in the city. I doubt she’d leave them unchecked.”

“There’s too much information to consider...” Alyssa said. “We need a solid place to start, or at least a way to narrow things down.”

Alyssa rotated the map of the town on my desk. We were both standing over the desk in my office. On the desk was a massive map, alongside several documents I managed to retrieve from Angel’s cabin on that fateful night. The desk was horribly cluttered and overflowing with loose papers.

The map had several points of interest drawn on it by Angelica. We added additional points of interest to the map after painstakingly examining her notes. She wasn’t just keeping in contact with her former associates. They were trading illegal goods between each other.

For many of these women their criminal lives didn’t end with their high school murder. Stealing, smuggling, bribery, blackmailing, and coercion… These women were waist deep in other shady acts behind the scenes, and many of them being tailed by the police. No rest for the wicked.

Angel, perhaps more than Ms. Sampson, was the center figure of their operations. Part of her job was to prevent any police inquiry into her friends from getting too far. This illegal service didn’t come for free, of course. The other women offered similar services in exchange.

For Crystal Gray, that meant providing the group with drugs. She worked at a big hospital, after all. Going by Angel’s notes, Crystal would create fake patients to solicit the drugs from the hospital’s stash. ‘Payments’ were made by grifting the fees onto other patient bills at the hospital.

“There are a few safe houses and store houses here on this map.” I pointed out. “She could be taking refuge at any one of them.”

“You think so? I’m pretty sure the police have this information as well.” Alyssa said. “She’d be risking it using any location that Angel knew about.”

“Maybe, but she may have little other choice.” I said. “If she starts using her credit card then the police will find her in a flash. If she uses her ID to register a hotel room or something, the outcome would be the same. She may have no recourse other than to use Angel’s resources.”

Alyssa hummed.

“What do you think she’s planning?”

I smiled weakly while looking down at the map.

“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” I asked. “Why even bother killing Sarah? If she were smart then she would’ve skipped town and never look back. Some of the women on the original ‘Ritual of Blood’ list did just that. Why carry out such an extreme decision, putting her husband through a police interrogation?”

“What if she’s planning to strike back somehow?” Alyssa asked. “She could be trying to find the Killing Cat before she’s found herself.”

“That wouldn’t end well for her.”

“Does that mean you plan to kill her?” Alyssa asked.

I stopped staring down at the map to give Alyssa a troubled look.

“Before, you talked about wanting justice.” Alyssa said. “Now…?”

I shook my head and sighed. I turned back to the map and brushed a few loose papers out of the way.

“I don’t know, Alyssa… I don’t know.” I said. “At this point, I feel like there’s no other way to end this. I…”

That’s when someone tried to open the locked door. They were quite insistent, pulling the door back and forth several times. I looked over at Alyssa and she instantly realized exactly what I was thinking. We both began putting everything away as fast as we could. The visitor knocked at the door.

“Holly! Alyssa! You two in there?” Silver called from the hallway. “Someone special is here to see you!”

“Keep putting this stuff away.” I said to Alyssa. “I’ll get the door.”

Alyssa nodded.

I walked over to open the door. A person tackled me so fast that I thought I was under attack! I reflexively reached down to my waist for daggers that weren’t there. We fell back to the ground together. She wrapped her arms around me when we landed.

“Holly!” Zara shouted. “It’s been so long!”

“Zara?!” I shouted, pulling her away from me to get a good look at her. “Zara, you…! You…?!”

“That’s right!” Zara sang. “I’m a student here now! Aren’t you happy?!”

“I… I…”

I looked over at Alyssa who was watching everything unfold. I pointed at the desk to signal for her to continue. Zara was the absolute last person I wanted to see all that. If she learned that I was the Killing Cat then it would get back to Ellie…

Ellie…

I looked back at Zara with great interest.

“Zara…” I started to say.

By this time, Silver moved over to help Alyssa with the papers. Silver froze and studied one of the papers on the desk.

“Wait, you’re already working on the next one…” Silver started to say.

“The next what?” Zara asked. “You got a patient coming in, doc? Silver and the student council told me you’re a counselor now. That’s great, because I’ve got a lot of baggage I’d like to unload.”

“I…”

I couldn’t find the words. I wasn’t prepared for this situation. Zara had to be kicked out now of all times? It was the final semester of her 12th grade year for god’s sake! What did she do to warrant being sent away now? I guess the details weren’t important. The only important thing was that she was here.

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“Cat got your tongue?” Zara teased.

I got up from the ground and pulled Zara up with me. Now that we were standing face-to-face I could seriously look her up and down. I put my hands on her shoulders. She had dyed pink hair over her black hair just as I remembered her. Her hair was slightly longer now, but she still looked the same.

“I can’t believe you’re here.” I said. “How are you?”

“I’m great! I just struck it big in a casino! Ask Silver!”

“Don’t ask me.” Silver said tiredly.

I looked between the two of them and smiled. It was clear that Silver was already getting a taste of Zara’s personality based on that reaction alone. I pulled Zara into me and held her in my arms. She returned the gesture.

“You stopped calling me once I was expelled…” I whispered into her ear. “I take it that means you know what happened…?”

Zara became uncharacteristically silent. She just held me tighter in response and buried her face into my shoulder. Maybe she felt guilty about dropping contact with me? Whatever her reasons, I couldn’t hate her for it. Before this moment I was always afraid that she resented me once I changed schools.

“I’m not mad at you.” I said. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters. We have a lot to talk about. Maybe we should talk somewhere privately…”

“Class is about to begin.” Alyssa pointed out from beside me. “She probably can’t afford to miss a class on her first day here.”

I pulled away from Zara.

“I’d like to talk to you after school. If you have the time...”

“That’s fine by me.” She said.

“Let’s exchange ChatCat IDs.” I said.

“What’s ChatCat?”

I gave Silver a quick glance.

“Maybe Silver here can tell you more about that.” I said. “Alyssa and I need to finish cleaning the desk off before lunch ends. I have an appointment coming up soon.”

Silver pulled out her phone.

“ChatCat is a popular messaging app.” Silver said. “Nearly everyone at this school has it. I can show you how to make an account. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.”

Zara pulled out her phone too.

“I should add Naomi and the members of the student council too.” Zara said. “It would be nice to add all the girls from your club. Can you forward their contacts to me? Is that possible in ChatCat?”

“Even better, I can just invite you to our group. You can add anyone you want from there.”

“You don’t need to ask the leader for permission?”

“No, it isn’t by private invitation. Anyone in our group is able to invite.” Silver said, showing the app to Zara. “It used to be like that, but Sam changed it when she became leader. Our group is more open to outsiders than it used to be.”

“Sam sounds pretty cool.” Zara noted.

“I know. She is. That’s why Holly kissed her.” Silver said matter-of-factly.

“Really?!” Zara asked with burning interest.

Alyssa dropped the papers she had in her hand.

“Really…?” Alyssa asked.

I slapped my palm into my forehead and laughed.

“It’s a long story…”

“So it’s true!” Silver said.

“I can’t believe you kissed her!” Alyssa said. “Would you kiss me too? I mean…! Just to be fair…”

“Me too!” Zara shouted, making things unnecessarily complicated. “I want a kiss if you’re giving them out!”

“Sam…” I groaned. “Why’d you have to open your big mouth?”

Our little group went our separate ways after Zara added us in ChatCat. They all left my office one-by-one. Alyssa was the last one out. She refused to leave until I at least gave her a kiss on the cheek. She was late getting to class because of it. That girl could be annoyingly persistent when she wanted to be.

Zara’s transfer was a surprise. I was genuinely happy to see her. It was nice to be reunited with one of my former friends. I had so many questions. I wanted to ask about Ellie and Opal. How were they doing without me? The potential answers produced anxiety in me. Maybe it was better left as a mystery.

The possibilities filled my mind throughout the remainder of the school day. This was something that I hadn’t thought about in a long time. I mostly moved on from the intrusive thoughts that once haunted my mind. Now I could hear the whispers once again along with random flashes of old memories.

Zara could provide me with unique insight, and a disturbing opportunity. Here was someone that was close enough with my former friends to answer the deep questions that once kept me awake at night. Here was someone that was fairly close with me before I changed into a new individual.

I didn’t think too deeply about it when I asked her to talk to me privately. This conversation held more importance to me than I initially realized. She had a benchmark by which to measure my current self. What would Zara think of my position at this school once she learned my history and upcoming?

We met in my office after school. From there, I showed Zara around the school a bit. There wasn’t much to show off compared to our former school. The most impressive aspects of this school were its size and exterior decoration. Everything else was average, if not subpar for a high school.

The place I chose for our conversation was the bird bath in the woods near the school. It was the same area that Erica and I had an equally heavy conversation at. The relative privacy of this spot would suit my needs with Zara also.

Alyssa was upset that we left her behind. Although she knew my past well by now, I still decided to leave her out. Zara wasn’t familiar with her. It was probably best to talk privately. Normally Zara was a bit of a blabbermouth and this wouldn’t be an issue either way. In times like this she became particularly quiet.

The things that I wanted to talk about were heavy. They were the type of topics that Zara proactively avoided herself. Zara was always upbeat because she never let the world keep her down. Trying to get her to stop and focus on the negative always had this tranquilizing effect on her spirit.

It was my responsibility to set the tone here.

I laid everything out to her the moment we sat down on the bench. I told her about the frustrations I dealt with over the summer after being cut off from everyone. I told her about how terrible things were for me when I first changed schools. I told her about how alone and trapped I felt for so long.

When she looked like she might shed a tear for me, I changed the tone of my recollection. I told her about Valentina inviting me to the student council. I told her about meeting Sam and Naomi. I told her about Lilith joining our group. I told her about the time we won the student council vote.

I struggled for a long time, but I overcame my issues in the end. Not only that, I became a counselor to help other people overcome their issues too. It took several months, but I went from being a nobody, to having the same measure of love and respect that I had at Cherry Vale Public High School.

“You went through a lot.” Zara said once I was finished recounting everything. “This school sounds a lot worse than I thought it was by your account. I don’t know if I could’ve handled that.”

“The school is improving, thanks to Val’s dream. So much of the student body shares the dream that I don’t know if I can fairly call it ‘Val’s dream’ alone.”

“You and your student council made a difference at this school.” Zara said. “Opal could learn a thing or two from you.”

I flinched at the mention of her name. It brought back the anxiety I was feeling earlier.

“Opal is part of the student council at Cherry Vale?”

“She’s the student council president there. Suzy’s a member also. They haven’t accomplished half of what you’ve accomplished here. Granted, Cherry Vale probably didn’t need as much of an overhaul.” Zara smiled. “I can’t wait to rub it in Opal’s face next time I talk to her.”

I crossed my legs and straightened out my skirt nervously.

“What about Ellie?” I asked. “Has Ellie said anything about me?”

Zara’s smile turned into a frown and she stared down at the brick tiles.

“Ellie…” She said carefully. “Ellie doesn’t say much about anything these days.”

“What do you mean?”

“I literally mean just that. She hardly talks to anyone. She often goes several consecutive days without saying a single word to anyone, as far as I know.”

“What?”

“The only times I’ve managed to get a word out of her was when she’s mad at me or laughing at something I did. Neither of which comes easily these days. I hate to say it, but she’s become a shell of her former self. We’ve been trying our best to bring back her energy, but things are clearly hard on her.”

I bit my lip as I thought about that for a moment. She didn’t sound happy.

“It hurts to hear you say that.” I said. “I still care about her, a lot.”

“It hurts to say it because I care about her too.” Zara said in a shaky voice. “I tried… I tried so hard with little results. There was nothing I could do to cheer her up. It sucks that I had to leave her in that state. I don’t know if she’ll ever be the same Ellie we used to know.”

I balled my fists in aggravation.

“I wish she would contact me!” I said, struggling to restrain my voice. “Our last conversation didn’t go over well, I know! But she cut it short when I said the wrong thing and I…!”

“Opal has been keeping her from contacting you again.” Zara said dryly. “Ellie’s radio silence probably wasn’t her idea.”

I went quiet and stared at Zara intensely.

“It’s true.” Zara said. “Ellie was on the fence about reaching out to you. She asked me about it in secret back on Christmas Day. It’s no secret that she misses you greatly.”

“Then why…?”

“Like I said, Opal… Opal became the undisputed leader of our four person group after you left. She thinks that you’re more dangerous than you let on. We all saw the images circulating of the aftermath of that warehouse. It had a personal effect on Opal. Actually, I could say that about more than Opal. A lot of students at Cherry Vale saw those pictures.”

I ran my hands through my hair.

“Well… Thank you for telling me, at least. This puts everything into a new perspective for me.”

I stood up and drifted over to the bird bath. I looked down at my reflection in the water. As much as I hated to agree with her, Opal was right in a sense. I was dangerous. At the same time, she must’ve realized that I’d never hurt them, right? What was she so paranoid about? Or was this more personal than that?

“All this time…” I said while staring blankly into the water. “I thought Ellie’s silence was because of something I said. I thought Ellie gave up on me and moved on. Now though…”

“She still needs you.” Zara said.

My heart swelled with emotions upon hearing that. If Ellie needed my help then I wanted to do whatever I could to lift her spirit back up. With or without me, I didn’t want her to be depressed. She needed to live her life to the fullest, not be stuck in the past in the same way that I was before.

“I need to talk to her again.” I said. “Do you think you could send a message to Ellie for me?”