Page 24 of A Curse On Black Lake
“Were you able to think of an alibi?” the man asks.
Interesting.
“Why?” Killian asks.
“We’re going to have to take another look at the land we found the body on,” he says, ignoring my question.
My eyes widen. What I’m supposed to help him with might have already begun. I heard about a dead woman again, but wasshe found on Killian’s land? I don’t know what this is about, but my gut tugs.
There is no such thing as coincidence in Black Lake.
It’s all connected, you know that.
“Absolutely not. If you want to be on my land, you need a warrant,” Killian says.
“You do know that looks suspicious.”
“Or it just means that I know my rights,” Killian snaps.
Getting my shoes back on, I keep my head down, pushing past Killian and … Sheriff Wyatt Sawyer down the stairs.
They pause their conversation, and I can see the hard set of Killian’s jaw and his hand squeezing the door jamb.
I notice my basket is back on the front of my bike and hop on. My leg twinges a little, but I’ll be alright to get home. Before kicking off, I stare at Killian, and he shifts on his feet with a flash of guilt on his face.
“Bye, Killian. Thanks for fixing my bike and my leg.” Then, I start pedaling down the gravel driveway.
You should have stayed. You should have told him what we said to you.
“What y’all don’t seem to understand is, I did that … sort of. It freaked him out. And now I’m starting to put together that maybe what you told me to tell him scared him too much because he found a dead woman on his land. I don’t believe he did anything, but he has no reason to trust me, and what I said certainly didn’t help,” I snap at the Spirits.
Yes, but rumors are everywhere. As they are about you.
“I am well aware of the rumors,” I grumble.
My chest twists, and I force deep breaths into my lungs. Grief steals your breath and leaves you gasping for air. Grams would know what to do. I need to see her.
It’s almost an hour to get from Killian’s to the graveyard across town, but I don’t care how long it takes.
By the time I get there, it’s late afternoon, and sweat drips down my back. I’m behind on all of my chores, and I can barely keep up. My goal is to prep things to open the apothecary again because I have to be able to keep the lights on and feed the animals, but for now, it all can wait.
I walk through the aboveground burial sites to Gram’s and plop down next to it.
“Grams, I miss you, and I don’t know what to do anymore.”
The Spirits whisper to me, and I ignore them, hoping and praying that Grams will send me some kind of sign or encouragement. What I wouldn’t do for one of her hugs right now.
“I understand now that you were talking about Killian. I don’t know how I knew it was him, but he feels right. Something about the way he looked at me is familiar, other than having an awareness of each other. But how do I convince a practical stranger to listen to me? I sound insane. People don’t talk like this.” I pause and think about that.
“I lied. People talk like that in Black Lake. But even then, why would he believe I saw him in a dream? He doesn’t strike me as a man who knows there’s much more going on in this world than what can be seen. How do I explain that to him?”
I take a breath and lean against the stone. My eyes burn, and I blink up at the sky. I’m so tired of crying. My skin is dry and raw because of it. I was crying earlier today, simply feeding her favorite goat. How am I supposed to get through this?
‘All will be well when you find it within each other.’
What was she thinking about? What isit? Maybe answers? I groan, and instead of trying not to cry, I let the tears flow. What’s the point of holding them in? I learned the hard way that if I hold in my emotions for too long, the Spirits get mad. It’s like I become a human powder keg, and then when I reach my breaking point, everyone gets hit.
The only friend I ever had got hit. Edward was the only one aside from Grams who cared about me. He didn’t care that I had white hair and weird eyes. He didn’t care that I had Spirits in my head who talked to me and told me things no one would know.
