Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Fireweed

I wipe the leftover tears from my face and motion for Jamie to come inside as I sneak a glance at Aurora who's not even bothering to hold her breath and I wonder if one day I'll have that kind of will power.

"Help yourselves to anything in the fridge, girls," Aurora says from the living room. She's already reclaimed her place on the sofa, seemingly lost in her book as if she weren't guiding me through mental collapse before Jamie knocked on the door.

I thank Aurora and start toward the backyard with Jamie in tow. The fresh air should help get Jamie's scent out of my head.

"So, what's up?" I ask once we're seated in the wicker furniture around Aurora's garden.

Jamie tucks her hands into her sweatshirt pocket and shakes her head. "I don't really know, to be honest. I um... I thought you were going to die today because of me."

I chuckle. "I thought I was going to die too."

Her eyes snap to my face, brimming with tears.

"It's not your fault. I decided to jump."

She sits forward. "Because I was hyperventilating over a stupid bag."

"Don't do that." I keep my tone calm but stern as I shake my head. "The bag matters to you. It was worth the dive."

"It wouldn't be worth it if you died, Gwen."

I open my mouth to protest, but I don't know what to say. I can't tell her she would be better off if I died in that ocean today; that my sole purpose is to find enough proof to execute her.

Jamie takes my moment of silence to lean forward so her knee is pressed against mine. "I'm not trying to fight you." She lets out a frustrated laugh. "You know, it seems like every time I try to get to know you, someone or something gets in the way." I don't know what it is, the way she's looking at me, the warmth of her knee pressed against mine, or the way she strings words together, but I can't keep my cheeks from flushing. There's a dangerous look in her eyes as she smiles. "Do you want to go on an adventure with me? Just you and me and no one around to ruin it?"

I nod and feel pathetic for not being able to find the words to say yes. It's like I'm back in high school, sitting with all the nerds at lunch and the popular girl just asked me to hang out with her. I wipe the sweat from my palms and stand.

Aurora flashes me a skeptical look as I grab my jacket from the coatrack by the door. "You girls be careful."

I smile, withhold a laugh. Aurora was fighting with John about leaving me here before and now she's basically my legal guardian.

"Have you done any more research on your skin walker theory?" I ask once we're in the pale-yellow Volkswagen Bug. Jamie's holding her hands in front of the air vent waiting for her heater to kick on.

She flashes me a playful look. "I thought we weren't supposed to say that word."

"I think I could take a skin walker. Depending on the day." More like, depending on if it is daylight or not.

Jamie raises her eyebrows at me. "I didn't take you for the cocky type."

I smile. "I watch a lot of horror movies and from what I've learned, as long as I don't try to hide in the basement of the killer's house and can run more than three feet without tripping, I can be a final girl."

Jamie bursts into laughter. "Can I make a confession?" she asks as she puts the car in drive. "I don't actually watch horror movies."

I press a hand to my chest and pretend to be wounded. "Oh, God. Our friendship. It's deteriorating."

"What?" she laughs. "I'm sorry! They don't scare me in the moment but when everyone goes home, and I have to use the restroom at two in the morning I'm too scared to walk down the hallway."

I'm laughing with her now, imagining Jamie running down the hall from imaginary monsters. "You just have to tell yourself it's not real."

"Or maybe I just need someone to spend the night with me after so I can drag them to the bathroom with me," she suggests. Before I can respond, she adds, "Besides, I'm not so sure it's all fake."

I nod and lean forward in my seat to get a better chance at catching some of the lukewarm air blowing from the car's air vents. "How about... we plan a movie date sometime? I'll stand guard outside your door for the night so nothing can sneak in."

Jamie smiles at me. "That sounds great. I'll just have to make sure my mom won't be home when you visit." She continues when I flash her a confused look. "She's just...kind of weird, I guess." She shrugs. "Very skeptical of people and I wouldn't want her to interrogate my new friend the entire night."

"Sounds like a riot," I say and then double back to her comment earlier. "You still think something supernatural killed your friends?"

Jamie's muscles go tense. It's quiet for a long moment until she nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Gwen... It was all so weird. Sometimes, I'll have these nightmares about that night. The more I think about it, the more I know it couldn't have been humans who killed my friends. It was too quiet, like—like they didn't even have a chance to fight back. And I know we weren't the most athletic group, but I think they could have held their own if they tried." She shakes her head. "I know I sound crazy, but—"

"You don't."

She pauses and looks at me, her eyebrows pulling together. "You mean that?"

I smile at her. "I do." She doesn't speak. "What's your most recent theory?"

She clears her throat, shakes her head. "I'm not sure."

"I won't judge you. Lay it on me."

She lets out a long breath. "I've been doing a deep dive on local mythology ever since it happened." She shudders. "I'm stuck between a few different options, skin walkers being one of them. Obviously."

"Okay. Maybe we should expand on that," I suggest. I try not to sound too eager, but I can't help but feel the pressure lifting as she focuses on skin walkers instead of vampires. Maybe I'll be able to let her live after all.

"I don't want to narrow it down before I'm sure."

"How are you going to know for certain?" I ask.

"I'm going to gather evidence." She puts the car in park, and I realize for the first time where we are. I hadn't been paying attention as she drove the winding mountain road. I was too focused on her proximity, on the way the heat makes her smell different, more like warm vanilla and coconut and less like the ocean. I was lost in thought, thinking about the way her blood would taste against my tongue if I just finished her off right now. I let my guard down and now we're parked on the side of the highway less than twenty feet from the campgrounds where I murdered her friends.

"Jamie." My tone is urgent as I grab her arm to keep her from opening her door the rest of the way. "You can't just—" No. I don't know where her friends were murdered. Rephrase. I pause, clear my throat. "Is this where your friends died?"

My heart stops beating as she stares at me. I'm trying to figure out if she heard me slip up as she nods. "I know you didn't sign up for this so if you want to wait in the car that's totally cool with me."

"I'm not... I'm not scared. I just don't think returning to the scene of the crime is a good idea for your mental health. Or for the investigation. What if we accidentally mess up some evidence or something?"

I'm rambling through excuses, trying anything to get her to give up on this plan before she accidentally stumbles across a piece of evidence that proves what we are.

"The police think I'm the one who murdered my friends. They think I'm getting my parents to cover the whole thing up. They're not investigating anymore, Gwen."

I let out a long breath. If I push too hard, she won't trust me anymore. I need her to think I'm on her side, so I nod.

John buried the bodies too deep, we don't use weapons, and the cabin is miles away. She won't find anything. Or, at least, that's what I tell myself as I say, "Okay, let's go," and climb from the safety of the car.

Before we can even start toward the campgrounds, a swarm of red and blue lights flash from behind us.