Chapter Three
I screamed loudly as the fiend laid its hand on my shoulder. I jerked around to find Jamie, standing there, hands up in defense with a look of shock across her face.
"Woah! Don't kill me, I'm no creeper! Cool it!" She yelled, still in a defensive position.
"Jamie you jerk! Don't scare me like that!" I yelled back, smacking her on the arm.
"What? I didn't mean to scare you, I just got here!" she said, lowering her arms once she realized I wasn't going to attack her.
"Yeah right! You walked into this room and were laughing at me! you said, come and find me or whatever!" I said.
She looked at me, clearly not knowing what I was talking about. "Um, no, I just got here from cleaning my room. Remember? Mom texted me, I left and said I'd be back in a minute?"
I could feel my face turn hot as I remembered her leaving. She couldn't have possibly come back and been here that entire time...
"B-But....how did you get in?" I asked her, still quivering.
"You left the door open. I just figured you'd be in the basement, getting your stuff." She said with a shrug.
I felt faint. I leaned against the wall to keep myself from falling over.
"Bree are you okay? You just turned like, 12 shades paler." Jamie asked, looking concerned. "Here, let's just go upstairs, we can figure this out. Also, Sam is here. I saw his car pulling down the street on my way back." She said, putting her arm protectively around my shoulder and leading me away from the basement door. I thought I heard a faint giggle as we climbed the stairs.
Bing bong! Bing bong! Bing bong! Bing bong! The doorbell rang incessantly and we ran to the front door. I whipped it open and stared at Sam, who held his jacket over his head, protecting him from the drizzle that had started. His finger slightly above the button, as if to ring again.
"My god man, HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU RING THE DOORBELL?!" I asked, laughing.
"Well if you had let me in the FIRST time, I wouldn't have had to ring again." He said, letting himself in and shaking his long, shaggy hair, spraying us all with tiny droplets of water. Jamie and I shrieked and stepped out of range.
"Great, now I'm all wet!" Jamie said, furrowing her brow.
"In more ways than one." Sam said, eyeing me and grinning.
"Oh shut up!" Jamie said, also grinning. "So Bree, what'd you call us over here for? You;'re not pregnant are you?" She added, looking suspiciously at my stomach.
"No! No, I'm not pregnant. Where did you even get that idea? Who says that? Seriously." I said. They both looked at each other slowly, and then back at me, faces blank. Suddenly, they both burst out laughing, and I was forced to join in. That's the thing with having friends like Jamie and Sam, you could be completely depressed or angry, and they would FORCE you to lighten up. It's like a disease they carried with them, and it was EXTREMELY contagious.
After I explained to them that I just invited them over to "hang" we headed to my room. We all slumped down on my bed and stared at the changing colored star lights on my walls and ceiling.
I casually glanced around my bedroom and stopped curtly when I spotted something on my dresser. I sat up to get a better look and nearly fell back by what I saw. It was the photograph of the young girl! Set up neatly as if it had been there the entire time. I grabbed the picture and held it tightly in my hands, staring at her yellowed face. I thought I heard a faint giggle, and I turned to my two best friends.
"What's wrong Bree? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Sam kidded.
I felt my face whiten even more. Taking a shaky breath, I stared at him. "I think I just did."
