Shadows of Dusk

Lies

Chapter Seven

-Grace-

Even though it was only twelve fifteen, I figured I could drive over to Cas's place. I sent her a quick text saying I was on my way, then grabbed the things I needed and drove towards her house. I just honestly didn't see the point in waiting any longer when I could go over now and stay for awhile.

I pull into her driveway, then walked up to her door, knocking politely.

I wasn't expecting Mrs.Johnson to answer, but she did. "Oh, hello Grace! Come in!" she warmly greets me. "I was just making some cookies for my work's office party this Monday. Would you like some of the batter?"

"Sure," I reply. Who would turn down cookie batter?

Mrs.Johnson handed me one of the beaters. "Cas has been in her room all day, except for the one instance when she came down to grab two bags of chips and some single packaged cheese slices. She told me she was building a fort in her room, and that it would be hard to get in and out," she told me.

That didn't seem like Cas. She usually made sure it was easy to get into her room for all her kitties. "Oh? I'll uh go up and see her, I have some things to drop off for her," I say, turning to go upstairs.

"Oh, Grace, dear?"

"Yes, Mrs.Johnson?"

"Cas's father said that she got home quite late and the car who dropped her off wasn't yours, I didn't know if I should be concerned or not since Cas hasn't told me anything,"

"Oh, don't worry," I say. Did Cas lie to me? She said she ran so I assumed she ran home, so why did she show up last night in someone else's car? "It's just a friend of ours, my car ran out of gas last night and we needed another ride," I tell her. I mean, it would have to be a friend if Cas went home with them and my car did actually run out of gas, but that was when I had gotten home. Cas really had some explaining to do.

"Thank you dear," she smiled, turning back to her baking.

"No problem," I mumble, heading for the stairs.

At the end of the hall, Cas's door was closed, and Marshmallow was screaming at the door. This was highly unusual, as Cas usually immediately let her cats in when they yelled. I squatted down, tapping the floor to get Marshmallow's attention.

She turned her head to look at me, but the refocused on the door. She even got on her hind legs to scratch at it, all the while continuing to scream loudly at the door.

I got up, and walked over to her, picking her up in my arms. She squirmed a bit, the hopped down, running off. I sigh, but then tried the handle to Cas's room. Locked. This was weird. I knocked on the door instead.

There was a loud 'clunk', some unintelligible words, another sound like something fell but was cushioned, an angry groan, and then the door unlocked and opened.

Cas did her very best at keeping the door as closed as possible as she slipped into the hallway. "Hey," she said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

I cross my arms over my chest. "What's going on?"

"I'm building a fort, hey I thought you weren't coming until one,"

"Did you not get my text?"

"Oh, I guess not,"

"Huh, well your mom mentioned something about a fort. Can I see?"

"No!" she put her hands out, then quickly dropped them back to her sides.

Something was definitely up.

"Sorry, it's just, it's really hard to get in and let the door open and close frequently, and some things collapsed when we- er I, heard you knocking and we, I'M, using the door handle to keep things up.

I tilted my head a little bit. "We?"

"I have no idea why I said 'we', I meant 'I'," she lied, trying to pass off a fake smile.

I sigh, a little upset she was blatantly lying to me. "Seriously Cas, what's up? You're acting really weird today, and what happened last night? And please, don't lie, you're absolutely terrible at it. Also your mom said something about a different car dropping you off, what was that about?"

Her eyes widened. "What?"

I didn't say anything.

"Again, I'm sorry, I'm really out of it today, and stuff happened last night, and I know I promised to tell you today, but now is really not the best time. I promise to you I'll explain at school on Monday,"

"Cas, be completely honest with me, nothing bad happened to you last night?" I ask, very concerned for my friend. I lowered my voice, "You weren't raped or anything?"

"What?! No, no, no, no, no," she said. "I wasn't, don't worry about it,"

"Okay, and if you were, know that I'm here for you," I tell her. "Also, here's the stuff for the shop my brother works at. I know you hate him and all, but honestly he's going to be the only person who won't rob your money,"

"Thanks, Grace. And again, I'm sorry, and I promise to explain everything later,"

"Okay, I believe you," I say.

She gives me a quick hug, "Bye, see you at school,"

"Bye," I give her a small smile, before turning to leave. What was she hiding from me, and why was she lying about it?