Who Killed Sarah Foster?

27. His Deepest Darkest Secret

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"Don't you think two outings in one weekend is a bit too much?" George asked as he typed away on his laptop.

"Shut up George. She is finally getting out and you are going to sit and complain?" Linda was on her phone, going through her f*******: feeds.

"But-"

"I am off!" Leah exclaimed as she skipped down the stairs, wearing blue denim shorts and a beige off-shoulder top, her hair in a side ponytail.

"Where is Calum?" George got up from his seat. "Isn't he coming to pick you up?"

"He will be here in a minute, Dad." She rolled her eyes, giving her brother a side eye. Both of them knew that she hadn't mentioned Calum's name and though it was pretty obvious since he was probably the only living acquaintance she had at that point outside her family, her father was making sure it was him.

Leah threw her denim jacket over herself and pulled out her phone, and right on time, there was the honk of his jeep outside.

"He's here!" Leah turned to her dad. "So, no curfew?"

George was dumbfounded for a moment. This was a completely new situation for him and so he didn't know how he was supposed to act. "Oh yeah... Ten o' clock. And don't be late."

Leah stared at him for a second before giving a quick nod and waving them good-bye.

"You are late!" She exclaimed as she walked down the stairs to a waiting Calum.

"No, I am not!" Calum scowled, looking down at his phone. "Okay, four minutes is not considered late. Besides, I thought you didn't even want to come!"

"Well, more reason for you to be on time and not piss me off."

He rolled his eyes. "Let's go already!"

"Aye aye captain!"

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"This is Natalie Blake's house?" Leah stood in front of the huge white mansion.

"Yep, legend has it that whoever got lost in here never came back." Calum whispered in his best spooky voice. "So, you better stay close to me."

She smirked at him. "I should say that to you. Who knows how many ghosts inhabit this place!"

Calum gulped. Though he knew that ghosts were real now, he had not come across a bad one yet. But given Natalie and her family's character, he wouldn't be too surprised if there was a bloodthirsty ghost lurking about in there.

Giggles bubbled up in her chest as the expression on her new friend changed. The goofiness ran in the family, she noted. Even Sarah was a fun goofy girl.

"Sarah." She remembered.

Calum looked over at her with a frown on his face.

"What about her? Is she in trouble?" He quickly grabbed her arm, looking into her eyes with concern and fear.

"Nothing." She put her hands up. "Jeez, don't worry. There are little things that could hurt a ghost. I was just thinking maybe I should call her hear."

"Yeah, maybe she will remember stuff if she sees this. The party is thrown in her memory and it is supposed to be full on Sarah style."

Leah gave him a flat look. Agreed that he didn't know s**t about paranormality but sometimes this i***t could be extra dumb!

"She is not suffering from amnesia you dummy!" She shook her head. "All her memories were wiped out, more like left in her body so that she remembers nothing of her past life in her new one but alas, she got stuck in this life even after it ended."

"Why?" He asked, his eyed slightly wide.

"Because there was a reason strong enough to keep her here." She lowered her voice as she watched Tristan Brown make his way towards them with one of their jock friends.

"You are late and you are standing here?" Tristan asked as he high-fived his best friend and turned to the new addition to his circle. "Hey there freak!" He greeted with a grin, forwarding his hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I can find people's darkest secrets with a mere handshake." She looked intently at his hand before looking up to smile weirdly at him.

His grin dropped within seconds, replaced by a confused and spooked look. He looked over at his best friend.

Calum shrugged, enjoying it. "You know, I wouldn't put it past her. If there's one thing I have learnt about her in these days, it's that most of the rumours about her are true." He said seriously, lowering his voice as if he was spilling some deep secret.

"Oh man, look at his face!" Sean, the other kid, burst out laughing. Leah and Calum looked at each other before following suit.

Tristan looked between his friends confusedly before starting to laugh himself though he was still a bit spooked inside. But looking over at the carefree grin on the girl's face, he felt all negative thoughts dissipate immediately and he quickly came to the conclusion that his initial reaction was just an effect of his earlier assumptions of her.

"I am Sean!" The goofy Asian American put forward his own hand. "I don't have any dark secrets so I am fine with this!" He winked at her, gesturing to his friend.

Tristan rolled his eyes while Leah laughed, taking his hand. She took a step forward and whispered for only him to hear. "Hmm... not even that thing you did to get a B- in Calculus?"

Sean's face changed immediately as he pulled his hand back immediately, looking at her like he had seen a ghost.

She let out another laugh. "I found out through totally human means so chillax!"

"What?" Calum and Tristan looked at them curiously.

"It's a secret." Leah shrugged and turned to the still nervous boy. She winked at him and he chuckled nervously. "Who told you?"

"A little birdie." Named Paul Jackson.

Sean brainstormed in his mind who could it be and he came to the conclusion that it must have been Stella Marshall, the librarian, though she had let him off without informing the authorities. But he didn't think she would tell a totally random kid. But she might have thought that it would be fine since Leah was a loner. But now that Leah was in Calum's circle, he needed to keep her close because this could land him in so much trouble.

Leah didn't know that Stella knew, but he was the only comparatively good person among the people she knew dirt about – it helped to have ears on the walls. And she needed him to need to keep her close. It was a part of the plan that she had carefully put together in the one hour after Calum decided to introduce her into their circle. But for the plan to work, nobody but herself could know about it, and of course Michael. He knew everything. Perks of being the dead bigger brother of a mastermind.

"Let's go in!" She finally exclaimed, realising that things were getting very weird.

The boys nodded and made their way in, Calum falling back with her. "What did you tell him?"

"His deepest darkest secret."

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