THREE

 

How did you get in here?  I asked Carolyn, who was still sitting in the corner of my basement closet.

She didn’t say anything.  She sat there, trembling, just staring at me as if she had seen a ghost.

I realized that I was still holding the knife and I got rid of it right away.  I was probably scaring her to death, holding the knife like that.

I tried to sound calm, so that maybe I could get her to talk.

“Did you follow me here?”

She nodded.

“You couldn’t find anyone at the museum?”

She shook her head.  Still not saying a word.

Something was clearly not right, I mean, even if she got in the school bus without anyone seeing her, she wouldn’t know where I lived.  I drove home from school and she was certainly not in my car.

Still controlling my voice to sound calm, I asked, “Do you want to tell me how you really got here?”

She shook her head once again.  Okay, this is so not going well.

I grabbed my cell.  “What is your parents’ number?  I will call them for you.”

She shrugged.

Great!

“You do at least know your address, right?”  I asked her.

She nodded.  Okay, we are making progress.

“Okay.  That is good.  How about we get out of this basement and I will take you home.”

She hesitated.

“Come on, you can’t exactly stay here.”

Carolyn slowly got up and walked out of the closet.  She was still shaking, as if she was cold.  I told her we would go by my room and get her something warm to wear and then I would take her home.

She followed me to my room, not saying a word, just looking around.  Once in my room, I showed her where my walk-in closet was and told her to pick out a sweater. 

I went to my bed, grabbed Kelly’s laptop to put it back in her room, just in case she got home before I did.  I also wrote her and Andrew a note.  I would have called them but they were probably too busy at their charity dinner.  After putting the laptop back in Kelly’s room, I went back to my room and got my shoes on.

Carolyn?  I called out her name.  Okay, so letting a stranger alone in my room… That was smart!  Kelly and Andrew really need to work on this alarm system…  Carolyn?  I called her again, after not getting any response.

She still didn’t make a sound.  I walked over to where I had left her.  I was already losing my patience, which wasn’t that great to begin with. 

Carolyn stood in the middle of my closet, just looking around.

“Are you ready to go?”  I asked.

She nodded.  I hoped she didn’t live too far, or this would be one long ride.

I noticed that she was still shaking.

“Don’t you need a sweater or something?  You can pick whichever one you want.”

She looked as if she was going to reach for a sweater, but she stopped herself and shook her head.

I looked at her, confused.  “Alright.  Let’s go, then.”

Carolyn followed me downstairs. 

“I’m just going to set the alarm and lock the door.  You can go ahead and get in my car.  It is the R8 in the driveway.”

She looked at me confused.

I rolled my eyes at her, and then hoped that she didn’t see it or notice that my patience was gone.

I took a deep breath.

“The black car,” I said.

She nodded and went to the car that I had now unlocked.  I almost thought about using the remote start, but something gave me the feeling that would probably scare her….  The girl was really starting to creep me out.

I locked the front door and walked to my car.  As I got in, I noticed that Carolyn looked really uncomfortable, but I didn’t ask her why… not like she was going to tell me anyway.

“Okay, I need your address, so you are gonna have to talk.”  That came out a lot harsher than I meant to.  I tried an apologetic smile but I don’t think she even noticed.

Her voice was so low that I could barely hear, but she did give me an address.  I plugged it in the GPS as she watched my every move, and then I turned the radio on, knowing that would be the key to avoid the awkward silence.

The address that she gave me wasn’t too far away.  It took about twenty minutes to get there, and her neighborhood didn’t seem too bad either. 

I parked in front of the two-story house.  Even being dark outside, it was noticeable that her house was the only house in the neighborhood that didn’t have a well-kept lawn.  All lights were off and there was no car in the driveway.

“Umm.  Are you sure you will be okay?  Doesn’t seem like anyone is home.”

“I will be okay.  Thank you,” she said in a low voice.

Carolyn started to reach for the door handle, and stopped.  She looked down, avoiding eye contact.  “I am not sure how to open it.”

You have got to be kidding me!  I thought to myself, hoping that she couldn’t read my expression.

I started to show her how to, but… again, lack of patience…. I got out of the car, walked around and opened the door for her. 

She got out, and thanked me again.  She even smiled this time, and I kinda felt bad for her.

“No problem.  I will stay here and make sure you get in safely.”

Her smile faded.  “No need to.  I have to go in through the back door.”

“Okay.  Well, I guess… bye.”

“Good-bye,” she said, and then she went toward the back of the house, disappearing in the darkness.

***

 

Traffic going back home was not that great.  I got home freaking forty minutes later. 

Andrew and Kelly still weren’t home, so I took the note that I had left them and threw it away…one less thing to explain.

I went to my room, took a shower and got ready for bed.

I realized that I forgot to check Ashley’s Facebook to see what kind of rumors she was spreading, but I heard Kelly and Andrew downstairs, so I just went to the living room and used the computer that I was actually allowed to use.

Surprisingly, there was nothing on Ashley’s page, but Justin had sent me a couple of messages saying he missed me. Ugh.

“What is wrong?”  Kelly asked.

I shrugged.  “Nothing… just broke-up with Justin today and he is trying to get back together.”

Kelly didn’t care for Justin at all, but she also never passed up the opportunity to try and get closer, having mom-daughter talks, that type of thing.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, eager to give advice.

I usually gave in.  She and Andrew were always so nice.  They always went above and beyond to make me feel as if I belonged, and I did feel like I belonged. I even thought of them as my real mom and dad, but for some reason I just felt more comfortable calling them by their names.

I turned away from the computer and looked at Kelly.  “Yeah, we can talk about it, but can we do it tomorrow?  I am exhausted.”

Kelly smiled.  “Of course we can, Kayla.  How about we go out to dinner tomorrow, just you and I?”

“Sounds great,” I said cheerfully.

With no hesitation, I deleted Justin’s messages and then went to my room.

I really was exhausted.  I put my cell in the charger and went straight to bed.

I was lying there for a few minutes when I heard a noise.  I couldn’t tell what it was, it wasn’t even that loud, but I could tell it was something in my room.  I turned the light on.

I heard a strange noise coming from my closet.  It wasn’t that loud, and I had no idea what it was, although it sounded like fingernails scratching a wall and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep unless the noise stopped.

I opened the door, and was startled by the sight of Carolyn trying to reach for one of my sweaters.

I didn’t even notice her reaction, I turned around and went running out of my room, screaming, “MOM! ... DAD!”