Souls Of The Innocent

Chapter Thirteen: Amber’s Suspicions

“ What do you mean we all have to stay here? If my parents find out that I am not at home, I will be grounded for life!”, Stacy anxiously said.

“ I’m still wondering what is Nathan Ricci doing here”, Debra said and everyone turned to look at her.

“ Are you being serious Deb! Didn't you hear what I said, I can’t stay here, I have to go home”, Stacy said with a serious tone.

“ Calm down Stacy. I know all of this seems a bit too much to digest. Just calm down”, Logan softly said to Stacy. She took in a deep breath and calmly apologized to Debra for raising her voice at her.

Debra gently squeezed her hand and told her that it’s ok. They all had a tough time tonight, no one will come out of a séance with a sane mind, especially when one had observed certain things which were overwhelming. They had surely unlocked a pandora box tonight and who knows how they will be able to close it. They had been dragged in a paranormal world, into the mysterious disappearance of Nora Jones and a mysterious woman.

“ I can drive the girls to their home, we shouldn’t be scared of that woman, whoever she was”, Nathan said and the girls turned and looked at him.

It was clear that Nathan had no clue about what was going on. If he only knew how that woman had been a living nightmare for Amber, then he wouldn't have said those words. A mysterious woman who first appeared in her dreams only, now she was even outside her friend’s house. Unless Nathan had seen something else and he had gotten confused, maybe it was Logan’s neighbor. But if that was so, why was she just standing there and staring at the house? Amber questioned herself as she stood there looking blankly at Nathan. He waved a hand in front of her face and she snapped back into reality. Stacy agreed to Nathan’s proposal to take them home. She wanted to be far away from this house, but she knew that most probably, she would be sleeping with the lights on tonight. Debra informed them that she would stay to keep Logan company and Amber thought it was a good idea. Debra was the only one who didn’t lie to get out of her house, but she told her parents that she was going over to Stacy’s place. So fingers cross her parents don’t call the Kane’s residence looking for her. A loud knock on the front door startled all of them. Logan walked towards the windows, she slowly drew opened the curtains enough for her to see who was knocking on the door.

“ It’s my neighbor Mrs.Patterson. Maybe she was the one who came earlier”, Logan whispered.

“ Nathan you need to hide... otherwise she will be on about me having boys over when my mum is away. Sorry, old-fashioned people ”, Logan said with a soft smile as she indicated to Nathan to go upstairs.

Nathan walked up the stairs, for some reason Logan’s house spooked him or it was just because he was still thinking about Amber’s reaction when he had mentioned that woman who was standing there staring at Logan’s house. The thought of the lights flashing inside Logan’s house and that woman was giving him goosebumps. He couldn’t show that in front of the girls, after all, he was a man, he couldn’t portrait himself as the weaker person. But, he was surely not spending the night in this house. He stood out of view and listened to what was going on downstairs, hoping that he could hear something which will help him to understand what was going in this house.

Logan opened the door and her neighbor smiled brightly at her.

“ Came over to see if you are fine dear. Roger said he saw the lights flashing inside your home earlier. Is everything ok?”, Mrs. Patterson said.

“ Yes ... Uhm, it was just an issue with the breaker box. I fixed it, seems everything is fine now”, Logan answered choosing her words wisely and remaining calm.

“I can see that you have company. Anyways we are only a phone call away. Have a good night”, Mrs. Patterson said to all of them.

“ By the way Mrs. Patterson, did you come here earlier ?”, Logan asked the question which all of her friends were hoping she would ask. They stood there waiting for the answer trying not to show how eager they wanted to hear what Mrs. Patterson had to say.

“ No honey, I said I’ll come around before I call it a night”, the old woman answered and they all glanced at each other.

Logan waved goodbye to her neighbor and closed the door and quickly locked it.

“ Then it must have been her!”, Amber whispered and quickly stopped talking when Nathan walked back into the room.

“ Can someone please explain what is going on here!”, Nathan asked with a serious tone as he glanced at them one by one.

The girls glanced at each other again. Amber didn’t think that it was a great idea to tell Nathan anything about what was going on. Firstly, he would probably laugh and then proceed to tell his friends at school who would spread the words around the school and her life and that of her friends would become a living nightmare and secondly, she was sure that the disappearance of Nora had affected his family and she was hundred percent sure that Nathan had this bitter resentment for her and her family. The police constantly being around their house questioning Eva until they had to send her away to another school or wherever she was. It was undebatable that the Ricci’s were upset with her family and she wondered if that was the reason why Nathan was spying on her or always finding ways to make her miserable whenever they crossed paths. Maybe he was trying to find something to clear his sister’s name. Fact is, her family never accused Eva, but a family like the Ricci’s having the police around their place and their children , those were enough reasons to embarrass them and make them look bad in the eyes of the community. They were a rich family and drama like this would attract the media and they wouldn't be happy that the newspaper would published any articles about them. Amber remembered an article which was written in bold black on the front page of a newspaper a week after Nora’s disappearance “ The Daughter of businessman Emanuel Ricci is being investigated for the disappearance of her best friend Nora Jones ”. She was sure that Emanuel had caused a racket as the following week the newspaper apologized to the family. As Amber looked at Nathan she wanted to tell him to mind his own business but she told herself that she didn’t want to get on his bad side. The only thing that she hoped for was that Nathan would keep his mouth shut and that he wouldn’t tell anyone about what happened tonight. Her life was complicated enough, she didn’t need any extra attention from anyone at school.

“ I’ll explain on the way”, Amber answered and Logan glanced at her with narrowed eyebrows as if she was asking her if she was being serious. Amber glanced at Nathan and seeing that he looked satisfied with her answer she didn’t add anything else. She would now have to think of a good lie to tell him. She wasn’t going to disclose what happened inside this house tonight, that would only stay between the four of them.

“ Can we please go now? It’s past midnight”, Stacy said almost pleading with Amber.

“ Are you sure that you will be ok?”, Amber asked Logan and she smiled and answered yes.

Amber knew that those two wouldn’t be going to bed straight away. She had noticed that it seems like a certain curiosity of the unknown had awoken in Debra. Amber was sure that Logan would have loads of explaining to do tonight. Stacy grabbed her bag and handed Amber hers.

As Amber hugged Logan, she whispered that she wasn’t going to tell Nathan anything, the two girls looked at each other and smiled. Amber hugged Debra and after saying a final goodbye they walked out towards Nathan who was waiting for them on the porch. Logan locked the door and walked to the windows where Debra was standing looking at their friends walking towards Nathan’s car.

“ Was I the only one who was surprised to see Nathan here tonight?”, Debra asked.

“ I was as surprised as you. I think he might be spying on Amber and we have to find out why?”, Logan answered.

Amber rolled her eyes when Stacy asked her to sit in the front passenger seat. She didn’t want to sit next to Nathan but she had no choice as Stacy took the backseat of the convertible car. Nathan started the engine and switched on the lights, Amber glanced at Stacy in the rearview mirror. Her friend breathed out a sigh of relief as the car started to move. If there was someone who wished she had no part in what is going on, it would be Stacy. Amber had seen fear written on her face several times tonight. She turned around and offered her hand to her friend. Stacy placed her hand over hers and gently squeezed it as she softly smiled at her. Amber wanted to simply reassure her that everything will be fine. If Stacy didn’t want to play detective with them, she would never force her to do anything that she wasn’t comfortable with.

The drive to Stacy’s home was a quiet one. Even if Nathan had loads of questions to ask Amber, he thought that he would rather wait for when they would be alone. He didn’t like this bad vibe that he was feeling. He was sure that something was up and he will have to get the truth from Amber. Nathan couldn’t help but wondered if Amber was aware of what had happened to Nora. He was scared to discover that she was some sort of serial killer. It wasn’t like things like that didn’t happen in real life, just like in the movies or in the books. A sister is jealous of another sister and decides to eliminate her to get her out of the way. Nora was a beautiful girl and she would have probably won the prom Queen crown this summer, Amber, her name would be listed on the unremarkable girls' list. She was the clear definition of a plain Jane. She had a good reason to get Nora out of her way, she couldn’t be known as the the sister who goes unnoticed for the rest of her life. Stacy indicating to him where she leaves brought him back to reality. He switched off all the lights on his car as he slowly parked in front of Stacy’s house and switched off the car. Amber got out of the car so that Stacy could get out, Nathan’s Audi convertible had only two doors. Amber asked her friend if she would be fine to go back home on her own and she nodded yes. Stacy quickly hugged her and then she glanced around as she made her way to her house . Amber got back into the car and asked Nathan if they could wait for five minutes. She wanted to make sure that Stacy was safely inside before leaving . Meanwhile, her friend was trembling as she slowly opened the front door. She was scared that someone would be up and catches her creeping in at this hour. All she wanted was to get to her room, have a quick shower and get in bed. She hoped that tonight’s events don’t keep her awake. Stacy wasn’t surprised that Debra wanted to stay at Logan’s house, she had a feeling that her best friend will be the next Logan.

Stacy made it to her bedroom and quickly got in and locked the door. “Phew”, she whispered breathing a sigh of relief. Her pulse finally started to slow down. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, she took it out and checked the screen.

“ Are you in?”, she read the message from Amber. She quickly replied yes with a smiley face. Amber replied with the same emoji. Stacy walked towards the window which has a good view of the road. She saw that Nathan’s car was still parked in the same place, she smiled, Amber had to make sure that she was in before leaving. Stacy hoped that Amber doesn’t tell Nathan about what happened tonight. He would think that they are crazy, but if he was there in that room, he would have turned into a crazy person as well.

“ I don’t want to think about anything that happened tonight!”, she softly said as she hurried to the bathroom.

Nathan started the engine and slowly drove off. He glanced at Amber, she was still looking towards Stacy’s house.

“ Funny how people you didn’t know before could suddenly become your friend”, Nathan said.

Or maybe they had been friends all along Nathan said to himself.

Amber glanced at him and smiled, what he had said is true. She would have never approached Debra, Stacy nor Logan if they didn’t come up to her. She had become too personal, especially after the way she had fallen out of her friendship with Lara. Amber ran a hand through her hair and tied it up in a ponytail.

“ So now can you please explain to me what is going on”, Nathan said and she glanced at him.

“ Nothing much to tell”, Amber replied.

“ Are you kidding me, Amber? You crept out of your home to go to Logan’s house. You got all worked up when I said that I saw a woman standing staring at Logan’s house and now you tell me that there’s nothing much to tell”, Nathan said and Amber could feel that he was upset.

Now, what do I do!?, Amber said to herself.

“ What could you possibly have to do at Logan’s house tonight. You all looked as if you are involved in some sort of illegal business!”, Nathan said and Amber glared at him.

“ What are you insinuating Nathan Ricci?!”, Amber asked with an angry tone. She had a feeling to where this conversation was heading and she didn’t like it one bit.

“ If you think that I killed my sister, then take me to the police now! I told you once you have no idea of what I go through every single day! It’s not your sister who has disappeared ,if you haven’t walked in my shoes then don’t make any insinuations!”, Amber carried her on with the same tone as tears tickled her eyes.

“ Then if you don’t want people to stop being suspicious of you then stop giving them reasons to!”, Nathan said.

Burning with anger she glared at him, she couldn’t believe that he could be so inconsiderate to say something like that. In what way was she acting suspicious, does he know something that she doesn’t!? Was the police suspecting her as well and had mentioned something to his parents?

“ Since you suspect that I did something to my sister ..then I could think about the same thing when it comes to your sister!”, Amber blurted and Nathan pressed his foot down on the brake and the car came to a halt.

“ What did you say?! Are you going to drag Eva into this?!”, Nathan snapped and Amber glared at him.

“ I’m nearly home, thanks for the ride but I’ll get out here!”, Amber said but Nathan locked the doors.

“ This conversation isn’t over until I say it’s over! I think we have loads to say to each other, maybe not tonight but soon Amber Jones, you and I will have a serious conversation!”, Nathan said and Amber turned her attention towards the road. Nathan slowly removed his foot on the brake and the car started to move again. They both glanced at each other at the same time and Amber was the first to look away and folded her arms on her chest.

“ Looks like you’ve lost your tongue”, Nathan sarcastically said as he glanced over at her.

Amber glanced at him, their gaze met and a smirk appeared on his lips, she quickly turned her attention to the road.

“ Nathan watch out !”, she screamed as her heart skipped a beat and a shiver ran down her spine.

Nathan quickly swerved the car to avoid hitting this person who was standing in the middle of the road. He managed to stop the car right before it hit a tree.

“ Are you ok?”, he anxiously asked Amber and she nodded yes as she tried to catch her breath.

“ Who was that? At this time of the night standing there in the middle of the road!”, Nathan asked and then added, “ it was a woman!”, he said as he glanced back to where he had spotted that woman.

Amber’s heart started to beat fast, she couldn't bring herself to take a glance in the rearview mirror.

“ She’s still there, with her back turned to us ”, Nathan whispered.

“ Let’s go! Please let’s go”, Amber pleaded with him.

“ We have to check if she’s fine”, Nathan said and Amber anxiously shook her head telling him no.

“ Nathan, let’s go”, she pleaded as she gathered the courage to look in the rearview mirror and at the same time the woman turned and looked in their direction.

“ F***, she’s walking towards us!”, Amber anxiously said and Nathan could see fear written all over her face. He glanced at the woman whose long hair had covered her face and she reminded him of that woman who was standing outside Logan’s house earlier. He wondered if he should tell Amber, but he chose to remain quiet. He quickly started the car and for some reason, the start button wasn’t working. Amber anxiously glanced at Nathan and then at the woman who was slowly approaching the car.

“ What’s wrong ?!”, she anxiously asked.

“ I don’t know!”, Nathan said as he kept pressing the start button and shifting the gear into drive. Amber silently prayed that the car would start and as she turned to check on the woman she seemed to have disappeared. She anxiously glanced around trying to find her, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. The car finally started and Amber breathed a sigh of relief and as the lights came on she screamed at the sight of the woman standing on her side of the car staring at her.