Dead Dreams

Thirty two

Jenny struggles to get the words out. In between her sobs and horse voice, I can't tell exactly what she's trying to say to me. I just know it's something I might not be ready to deal with. Each passing minute that I'm forced to wait in silence is like another needle added into my skin. I wait though, because I know this is a big deal to her. Finally, when she calms down enough, she starts talking.

"She ki-"

"What are you doing?" We both flinch at the sharp voice of Ashlyn. I don't know where she's been until now, but having her come back at this time is terrible. She openly glares at us, like she knows everything we've been saying. There's something else there too, though I can't exactly tell what it is, because it's gone in a second.

I try and come up with something to calm her down. "We were just talking. Jenny was worried about some stuff and just wanted to get it off her chest." As reasonable and vague as I try to be, both girls tense. Jenny looks like a deer caught in headlights. Ashlyn glares at us all the harder. I don't understand what is going on.

"Like what?" She asks, insistently. I think over everything, but only come to one possible excuse.

"The fog, yo-" I can't even finish my sentence before Ashlyn snaps her head towards Jenny, a disgusted look on her face.

"What the F—?! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone! How could you do this to me?!" She's screaming, and angry.

Jenny scrambles for words, backing away with her head down. "I didn't te-"

"I told you I didn't mean to! It wasn't my fault! If you were really so concerned you should have talked to me, not her! She doesn't even have anything to do with this! Now she's gonna go tell her boyfriend about us and we'll be left to fend for ourselves! Do you really think we can do that here? DO YOU?!" Ashlyn is screaming so loud my ears are ringing. She's waving her hands around, making me think she's going to hit Jenny. I get up from my seat.

Now Jenny tears up. I think she's going to keep quiet, but I am taken aback when she starts screaming too. "I know we can't! But with all that's happened do you really think they won't find out eventually, like I did? You weren't even going to tell anybody! Guess what?! I'm not like that! I know you're not a bad person and I know what you did was only an accident! Your guilt proves that! You need to tell someone to get rid of it!" Jenny does not sound angry, only desperate, tears slipping down her face. She stands her ground now, looking right at Ashlyn.

"I don't have to tell any of these people s—-! They wouldn't ever support me after I-" Ashlyn hesitates, only for a moment.

"You didn't kill Eli!" Jenny shouts, and everything is silent.

An incredible, stone cold washes over me. I'm stiff, but my brain is still going. I'm not quite processing what I say as I say it.

"You killed Eli?"

That's not- that's impossible. She couldn't have killed him when he was already dead. The puppet slit his throat. Unless...unless he lived through that. No one had said that he came back...so she must have went back. Or maybe they were searching for me when she found him. What did she do when she found him? What shape was he in? Nausea sets in as I imagine all the possible scenarios. My mind only concentrates on making more to torture me.

Slap.

My focus finally comes back when I feel the harsh sting on my cheek. My head lolled to the side when she hit me. I have to blink a few times to register it even happened.

"Don't you dare look at me like that! You were the first one to abandon him even though he wasn't even dead in the first place!"

So many...so many emotions hit me all at once. I don't know how to begin the peel them apart, or accept them. I don't know what to do, either.