Page 72 of Dead Man's Hollow
“I know you remember.”
Her fear turns to anger and she stops walking. She plants her feet, balls her hands into fists, and screams at him, “I don’t remember anything!”
He lunges at her, grabs her shoulders, and shakes her hard. “You shouldn’t have come back here. Not after what you did.”
Whatshedid? Chloe’s so surprised she almost asks if he’s joking, but one look at Rich’s red, angry face makes it clear he’s very much serious. Chloe stares down at her feet, scouring her brain for some way to de-escalate this situation, diffuse this man’s anger, and get out of the woods safely. She scuffs the dirt with her toe.
This desperate, fearful feeling, this desolate spot, Rich’s anger, it’s all so familiar. And then a rush of images comes at her. Chloe remembers.
She’s dancing. A boy hands her a drink and introduces himself. Andre. They start talking. Amy’s there, but she walks away with a tight frown of disapproval. Heather doesn’t care. She turns back to Andre.
After a few more beers, she suggests they go deeper into the woods. He’s game. He gives her a wide smile and an easy laugh as she pulls him away from the group. They stop at his friends’ fire and he grabs two more beers.
She hangs back, pretending not to hear the gross comments his friends make. They’re no different from the guys at her school.
Brett’s cousin nods at her. “Hey, Heather.”
“Hey, Stacey.”
And then Andre’s back. He hands her one of the beers. The can’s already sweating in the humid night. He takes her by the hand, and they follow an overgrown trail up a hill and deeper into the woods. They find a large, flat rock to sit on, and crack open the beers. As she takes a lukewarm sip, she presses closer to him and he wraps an arm around her. They’re knee to knee, hip to hip, when he turns his head and kisses her. His mouth tastes of beer and salt and something minty. Gum, she thinks.
“Why are you just standing there?” Rich’s angry voice interrupts her memories.
Chloe risks a look up at him. “I don’t know what you expect me to say, Rich. I’ve already explained I have dissociative amnesia, probably from something that happened that night. It’s so traumatic that my brain is trying to protect me by not letting me remember it.”
He scoffs, his face a thundercloud. “Something thathappenedto you that night? More like something youdid.”
Her eyes widen. “Something I did? I didn’t do anything.”
“How do you know, if you can’t remember?”
He has a point there, so she falls silent again.
“Rich, why don’t you tell me what you think I did?”
It can’t be that he knows she was fooling around in the woods with a boy. That’s hardly the sort of transgression that would make a grown man this furious. Heck, it’s not even a transgression, is it?
“You know what you did, Heather.” His voice is a warning.
Instinctively, she takes a step back, away from him. She stumbles, falls, and lands hard on her butt. He comes toward her with his hand outstretched.
“Don’t touch me!” she screams, and another flood of memories washes over her.
May 27, 1994
They’re kissing,really kissing. Hot and heavy, as her friends would say. Her tongue is in his mouth, and his hands roam down her back and across her waist. She leans into the feeling, happy to be with someone other than Rich, who’s been so whiny and clingy lately.
Which is doubly annoying since he has a girlfriend. But he’s possessive and jealous when she talks to other guys, even though they’re a secret and she can’t tell anyone. The whole thing is a mess. She can’t wait till school ends. Just a few more weeks and then Rich graduates. It’ll be easy then to freeze him out and move on. She’s tired of him. She’s even thought about sending an anonymous note to Julia to let her know Rich is cheating.
But if she does that, she might end up stuck with him. If Julia breaks up with him, he’ll expect Heather to step into the role of girlfriend. She did this to herself, she knows. At first, she liked being with Rich. She liked the secrecy and the thrill of getting a page out of nowhere and making an excuse to go find him. She likedhim.But it’s getting old, and she doesn’t have the patience to be a side piece.
She shakes her head.Stop thinking about Rich, she thinks.Enjoy this.
Andre pulls back. “You shook your head. Was that a no? I’m sorry.”
“What? No! I was thinking of something. You’re good.”
He tips her chin with his finger. “You sure?”
