Page 42 of We Already Dug the Grave

I didn’t see her again until after third period, as she marched through the hallway. She’d been avoiding me for weeks, but now she walked right up to me, jaw set in defiance, her eyes bloodshot. I hated seeing her this way. She looked so much like my sad baby bird slumped on the bench at St. Mary’s.

I reached for her, but she shrugged me off.

“I did it,” she said. “Now leave me alone.”

She pushed past me and stormed away.

“Frances!” I called after her in the crowded hall, but she didn’t turn around.

And that’s when it finally hit me.

What if the death I’d seen in my fortune was the death of us?

Chapter 16

Now

“Milly?” Carla called out from the hallway. “Can we talk?”

I pressed the pillow hard against my face until I could barely breathe, desperate to smother the uncontrollable feeling. I held it there until my lungs burned. Until there was no sound left in me. Until spots danced behind my eyelids.

Until my bedroom door opened.

“Milly? Oh my God, are you okay?” Carla’s hand landed on my arm, and all my strength left me. The pillow fell to the ground. “What’s going on with you? You…don’t look so great.”

“I—” I sniffed, unsure what to say. “I don’t feel so great.”

“You poor thing. Flu’s everywhere right now. We had three nurses out with it yesterday.” Carla pushed a stray piece of hair from my face. I was painfully aware of how grimy I was. “I’ve been worried about you. Did you call into work?”

Work? Shit. “What time is it?”

“A little after ten,” Carla said.

I was supposed to be at the diner for the after-lunch shift. I didn’t have the flu, but I was in no shape to deal with the Huddle Hut. “I think I’m going to.”

“Good.” Carla grabbed my hands. “Come on.” She looked around my messy room and wrinkled her nose. “Let’s get you out of here and tucked onto the couch. You need to rest and to binge reality TV. Something super trashy.”

I didn’t feel like moving, but I let my roommate lead me to our small, tidy living room and deposit me on the sofa. She grabbed a bottle of Advil and some Pepto from the cabinet, then set both on the coffee table.

“I wish I could stay with you, but Cameron and I have had these plans to get away to New Orleans for a while. You know he never gets a day off.” She frowned. “But if you need anything, you can call me no matter what.”

I nodded. My eyelids were heavy and my life was shit, and I wanted to sleep for a year.

Carla darted around the apartment, pulling her bag to the front door, a pillow behind my shoulders, her shoes near the table, the remote in my hand. Finally, once I was settled and she was ready to depart, she chirped, “Oh, almost forgot.” She disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing a moment later with my Garfield mug filled with ice water and a sleeve of crackers. She sat both on the coffee table next to the medicine. “Now you should be all set. Seriously, Milly, call me if you need me.”

I forced a smile. I’d never drank anything but tea from the Garfield mug, but of course Carla didn’t know that. Why would she choose that mug? What does that mean? Because it must mean something…right?

“Thanks,” I muttered, cocking my head at the hazy thought.

Carla tucked her fuzzy pink blanket around my shoulders and sniffed. “You should think about a shower.” With those words, she grabbed her weekender bag from near the door and was gone.

The silence was deafening.

I stared at Garfield. He stared back.

Maybe…maybe this was a sign?

Yes, I was exhausted, but I couldn’t ignore the rustle in my chest. The whisper of look, look. Garfield—my preferred tea mug—watching me. Daring me.