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“Did your map take you home too? So weird. They make us all meet in that house, all to what? Send us home. It’s fucked.”
So that’s what was supposed to happen.
“Yeah, bizarre!” I pull down our street, grinning at Cooper when his laughter dies, and he shuffles up his chair.
“Holy shit.”
Bright red and blue lights flash from the cop cars parked on the side of the street. My stomach twists and turns, but there are a hundred houses down this street—it could be anyone. The chance of it being Cooper or me is slim. Maybe it’s Whisper Manor.
“Wait—Shi…” His voice dies out, and the closer I get to my house, the more police cars I see. As soon as the EMT van outside my house comes into view, my bones seize, and my gut drops to the ground. Something isn’t right.
I slam on the brakes in the middle of the road and tear off my seat belt before shoving open the driver’s door. Colors blur around me, someone grabs me by the arm, but I see nothing. Nothing but the white front door I grew up walking in and out of.
Officers step outside, blocking my view, but I shove away from whomever is holding me back. One officer catches me in his arms, standing me upright, and then it happens. My world crumbles around me when a gurney is wheeled out with a black bag on top of it.
“No!” I scream so loud my throat burns.
Shoving away from the officer, I reach for the bag and pull the zipper down. There has to be a mistake. No way. Maybe it’s Mom’s cleaner or friend—she would be fine. This would never happen to me.
My stomach swishes like a washing machine as my hand flies to my mouth. My mother’s face is pale, her skin beige. Purple welts around her eyes sink in, and her lips are gray. She looks nothing like she did the last time I saw her, and even now, I feel the memories of her slowly fading away.
“Shi!” I can hear Cooper’s voice, but I don’t want to.
Commotion blows up behind me, but my legs won’t move. Cemented to the ground, my body starts to shake as I slowly fall.
“Hey!” I feel arms curl around my back. “Fuck off!” They shuffle me into a hard chest before he softens his voice into the crook of my neck. “Hey…come on.”
“Look, I understand who you are, but you can’t go in there. It’s a crime scene.”
“Turn around and look at me, Shi…” Dion’s voice is foreign, almost one I don’t recognize, but I turn slightly in his arms, peering up at him through blurred vision. “Where do you want to go?”
“Not—” I shake my head.
“Okay. You’re coming with me.”
When I don’t stand, his arms slip beneath my thighs, and I’m being lifted into the air. I hate Dion. We don’t like each other, but right now, I’ll take him over the emptiness inside of my heart. Right now, everything is numb, and things I wish made more sense are no longer important.
“I will need to ask her questions, Dion. Don’t need to throw your name around. The world knows who you are.”
I bury my face into the side of his neck, the tears unstoppable as they drench his soft skin. He smells of something unfamiliar. His cologne doesn’t try too hard. But right now, all I can think of is getting out of here. Away. I don’t want to think this is real.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. I’ll tell you when you can see her, and not a second before.”
My body jerks as he walks, but I squeeze my eyes closed. I don’t want to see anyone around us, and hate that the whole neighborhood witnessed it. A few moments later, I hear a gate slam closed, the crunching of stones, and then a beeping sound before a door squeaks open, then clicks closed.
He slowly lowers me down onto a sofa, and I swipe the tears from my cheeks, refusing to look at him. I recognize the ceiling. How could I not? This ridiculously haunted house was my mother’s favorite. She only dreamed of redesigning it herself, and as she would say, turn it into art.
“I’ll find out all you need to know. You can stay here as long as you need, Shi. I know you and I are a bit—”
I swallow back my pain. I don’t want to hear what he has to say right now.
“Anyway. Sparrow will be here soon. Just…”
Just what?
“Don’t move.”
I blink past the tears, my body moving. Patterns are etched into the pale white ceiling, and if I squint my eyes, I can almost make them out. A star, an angel, a cross—clouds. My mouth turns dry as my head aches. When I shoot up from the sofa, my heart’s thumping against my ribcage to a deathly drum.
