Storm Warning

Rehash the Past

            It seemed like ages later before I awoke to the voices of Maddie and Derek. Lying awake and staring at Derek’s bare ceiling, I listen to their approaching voices, noting the barely contained worry in their voices and the timid way they move closer to the bedroom door. I look to the door just as it opens to reveal Derek and Maddie, both worried, heads angled toward each other, shoulders brushing against each other.

            Seeing that my eyes are open, they move to the edge of the bed as I struggle to sit up. Unable to handle the deadpanned and emotionless silence, Maddie asks, “How are you?” I look at her as she sits beside me.

            “I’m tired, but I am okay.” Shaking my head and shrugging my shoulders, “I have a lot to tell you guys.” Rubbing my brow, I chuckle. “I don’t even know where to start.”

            Maddie nods her understanding just as my stomach growls. With nervous laughter, she says, “Well, you slept nearly sixteen hours. It is a little after one in the morning. So, why don’t we start by eating this spaghetti Derek made.”

            The next hour passed in a blur as I formulated my thoughts, questions, and planned what to include in the retelling. As Maddie and Derek chat amongst themselves, I eat the spaghetti and drink the diet coke that fizzles on the nightstand next to the bed. It is not long before I notice the ways Maddie and Derek flirt with each other. A soft giggle here and an arm touch there for Maddie. A soft touch here and a gentle caress for Derek. Derek catches a loose strand of hair and gently tucks it behind Maddie’s ear. Maddie goes to press her cheek into his hand as she makes eye contact with me and blushes. Surprisingly, I feel happy and hope this works for them. They would be good for each other.

            Smiling to myself, I clear my throat and look to Maddie and Derek, both of which are oblivious to the support and acceptance I feel for them as shown by their jumping apart and blushing by both parties. Both of them look to me in surprise – as if they forgot I was there. Smiling to myself, I keep my own thoughts about the couple quiet.

            Shaking my head, I sigh as I prepare to tell them my story. “It is hard to know where to start. So, I will just start from the beginning. I left the party with Derek. We broke up.” Nervous to go into more details, I skip the rest of that particular event of the evening and go into the details pertaining to the rest of the night. “I walked home.” Seeing Derek wince, I smile and assure him. “Please don’t feel bad. I chose to get out of the car. I chose to go through the park, knowing you could not follow me. You have no reason to feel bad. It was my choice.” Moving forward before he could protest, “Anyway… then, I was at my front door. It was ajar, but everything was dark. It was weird, but I was trying not to panic. I was hoping she just feel asleep. I mean, our neighborhood is pretty safe, and many people fail to lock their doors. I was hoping she just left it open for some fresh air and fell asleep. I walked into the house, and it looked like Sarah was in the process of decorating for my birthday. I walked into the kitchen… and I tripped… over a male body. There was a wooden chair leg in his neck. The kitchen was in complete disarray. His body was propped up off the floor by Sarah’s body. There was so much blood.” An unsolicited image of Sarah's pale face and wide, open eyes popped into my mind's eye.

            Maddie walks over to me from her position next to Derek at the large wooden desk. Sitting on the bed, she hugs me, but says nothing. What is there to say anyway… Continuing, I say in a whisper, “That’s not the end of it. I went upstairs on a hunch. Everything was tossed. They were looking for something.” I see the look passed between Maddie and Derek and press on before they ask the question that I know they are thinking… they? Knowing that if they interrupt, I will be unable to continuing telling them everything. “I’m not done. When I went back downstairs and sat next to Sarah, I saw a message. She had written RUN in her blood before she bled out from her wounds.” Sparing them the gory details of her slit throat and repeated stabbing, I continue with my PG 13 version. “At that moment, the guys came back.” At this, Maddie and Derek whip their heads to look at me with expressions of dawning horror. “Two voices that I recall. I know, I think they were all together. I find myself wondering why would they come back? Unless… they didn’t find what…” Saying the one thing that has been plaguing my mind since I heard those voices and wincing with guilt, I say it out loud making it real. “OR who they were after, meaning she died protecting me. Otherwise, why tell me to run if they were just simple thieves.  There would never be any need to tell me to run. At this point, I ran. Now, the only thing I have left of her is this journal, which is already used and has someone random name in it. I remember thinking how lame it was to give a used journal of some random girl to someone as a present. I never thought it was the last thing she would ever give me. Or that it was the last birthday we had together.” I chuckle softly at the memory… the last memory before my world turned upside down.

            Confused, Maddie asks, “have you read it yet?”

            I shake my head. “I was thinking… that maybe it was her journal. If that is the case, I don’t know if I want to read it.”

            Maddie nods. “That’s understandable.”

            Before Maddie continues, Derek jumps in making us both feel bad that we forgot he was there. There was a lot of that going around. For so long, Maddie and I were a duo. He was our friend, of course, but was never in everything we did. We weren’t prepared for a third member to join. I mean, he has to be now that he hid me from the cops. I know they still need to get my statement, but I can’t… I just can’t yet. “But that journal might have the answers we need. She wouldn’t have left it without a good reason.”

            I nod, but inside I am terrified of what I might find in those pages.

            In an attempt to prolong the moment when I read the journal, I ask, “How did y’all know something was wrong?”

            Nodding, Maddie jumps in with her own tale. “Well obviously… you know that Sarah and I concocted a team effort to keep you out of the house all night so that she could decorate for the more intimate gathering she had in mind for you. When you left with Derek, I panicked but then Derek came back while I was still cleaning up. A d**k-move making me do all of it, but all he told me was that you needed space… to think. He stayed and helped me finish cleaning, but I sent a text to Sarah giving her a heads-up. The one I am guessing you replied to because when I showed up at your place at four in the morning, the cops were already there. They said they responded to a disturbance call and found that the place was broken into and ransacked. Then, they told me the owner of the house was found dead and asked how I knew the decease. He didn’t ask me if I did know her. Probably because who shows up at a place at four in the morning of someone you don’t know, right? Other than to commit a heinous crime, that is. Anyway, I told him that she was the mom of my best friend. He asked for your name. I gave it to him because you didn’t do it, you could have been hurt, and he would eventually find out. He also asked me weird questions about a man. The cop wanted to know if she was dating anyone or had any special plans with a man. Probably just routine questions. Find suspects. Find motives. That type of thing. Now, with what you told me about there also being a guy in the house, I am guessing he was the one they were asking about.” I nod to tell her that she did the right thing, and with a sigh, she continues, “Then, this guy in a jacket that said coroner came out and announced that the women has been dead for four hours at least, which the officer then confirmed is most likely accurate due to the first call being placed at eleven in the evening reporting the first disturbance. They received another call around two in the morning about how the daughter came home and ran out the back when two strange men showed up at the front door. Funny. The coroner never mentioned the man's time of death. Maybe he thought it was at the same time.”

            Taking a deep breath, she continues, “The neighbor reported thinking they were the cops at first, but then, there was more noises that sounded like yelling and breaking glass. Then, the guys ran out the back door after the girl. With it being dark and no flashlights, they came back five minutes later cursing, and they, too, left.” Looking around without truly seeing, she goes on, “The cops said she made another call at 330, and the cops showed up soon after. I still wonder, why five hours after the first call.”

            I nod. “That’s a good question but it wouldn’t have saved her. She was already dead when they called, and if not, she was soon after.”

           Maddie looks surprised. “You don’t know that? If they got to her faster, they could have saved her.”

           I shake my head at her. Sighing, I confess, “What I didn’t tell you earlier is that she was stabbed repeatedly… at least 5 times, I think, and her throat was slit.”

            Maddie covers her mouth with her fingers as she fights to hold herself together but is unable to hold in her tears. As she sheds tears that she had been holding back, she speaks softly, “He came back over to me and asked if I could account for your whereabouts. I said that we were at a club until about midnight but that you broke up with your boyfriend and chose to walk home, but that I could not be sure because I haven’t seen you since you left the club. The whole time, I was thinking… Sarah was already dead when I got the text from her phone. I knew that it had to be you, Arielle. So, I didn’t tell him. I didn’t say anything. He said that all crime photos were taken and that the neighbor requested the girl’s belongings if she showed up. Right now, he said, she is not a suspect. But she is a young girl and is proudly alone and terrified. We put together a bag of stuff but the consensus is that she won’t come back here, she can’t. So, we are going to give it to you and hope that she finds a way to you. The cop gestured to the bags of salvageable items, the last of her collection of material belongings and a cop brought them over and put them in my car. Shortly after that, I was home and praying for you to text me. When you didn't, I texted you. Once you texted back, things moved so quickly. I don’t even remember getting dressed or grabbing my keys, but I do know I was thankful because you were not dead, and my only thought was to get you to a safe place.”

            “How did you know Derek and I broke up? You said that he only told you I needed space.”

            Maddie nods. “I didn’t know. I suspected, but I can’t tell you why that slipped out. Still, I am glad it did. The cop didn’t ask for his name. I guess he assumed that you wouldn’t go to an ex-boyfriend’s place.”

            Maddie shrugs as Derek picks up the tale. “And you wouldn’t have gotten to a safe place… if it weren’t for Maddie. The cops already knew her name and address and are probably hoping you would go there. But when Maddie heard from you, she called me. She said that you guys needed a place to crash. I told her that we broke up, and she yelled at me that this was so much bigger than a broken heart. She didn’t tell me much but she did tell me that Sarah was dead and that you found her. The next thing I know is that you guys are in my driveway, looking like two drowned rats…”

            “Thanks for that.”

            Shrugging, he continues, “You looked haunted and detached while Maddie was behind you shaking her head at me while telling me to get the bags from her car.”

            Maddie, Derek, and I exchange glances. “Why would I need to be hidden if the cops know I didn’t do it?”

            Maddie shakes her head. “Of course, you didn’t. It wasn’t about that. I thought you would need time to deal before the cops probed you for details. I mean, you didn’t come to me… your best friend. I figured it was bad if you didn’t come find me and that you needed the time.”

            Nodding, “Yeah. That makes sense. But what now? Those guys are still out there… looking for me, I suspect. It is dangerous to be out in the open. We need a plan.”

            Maddie looks at Derek; Derek looks at me, and I look at Maddie. “Any ideas?”

            Derek jumps in quickly. “I think we should read the journal.” I get ready to speak about that before he continues to talk over me. “Listen for a minute… she gave you a used journal, and now, she is dead. I can’t help but think they are connected and that there is more to this than meets the eye.”

            Looking to Maddie, she nods. I sigh. “Okay. Step one… read the journal.”