1
My stomach churned with fear. I leaned over and began expelling all of the ice cream that had been in my system. I could taste bile on my lips when I started to hear the sirens. Joy started rubbing my back and said calming words. I wondered if she was going into some sort of maternal mode, sometimes people did that in order to cope.
The police arrived and split us up for questioning as they loaded her body into a bag in the back of an ambulance. “Do you know who she is?” I asked officers as they passed by me. They said it was private information and that they couldn't release it until the family had identified ‘the body’. She was so young and beautiful, she had her whole life ahead of her and now she was gone. I couldn't imagine being the officer who would have to contact her family. It was tough enough seeing her there and not even knowing her.
“What were you doing when you found the victim?” A young officer was asking me questions and taking notes. He seemed calm enough, but I guess you had to be in his profession.
I stuttered as I answered, “We were walking home. We... we had just gotten ice cream. That was it. We weren't doing anything wrong I swear.” My tears began again, still seeing her mangled body imprinted in my mind.
He smiled at me sweetly, “I'm sure you weren't Paige, we just have to know all the facts.” He could tell how shaken up I was. “Listen, why don’t you go home and get some rest? I’ll visit tomorrow to further discuss the situation. Good night.” He tipped his hat at me before walking away. Honestly, it made me feel good to know that a police officer would be stopping by my house after this horrible evening. Like someone would be watching over me.
I invited Joy to Gran’s for the night. I was pretty sure she lived alone, as she had never mentioned a roommate or much family and I didn’t think it wise for her to be by herself. We had the space for her to stay and it made me feel better to have my only friend with us, close by.
By the time we got home and explained everything to Gran I was exhausted. My plan was to crawl into bed and wake up in a few days, when this would all be over. Unfortunately, this wasn’t my first time being attached to such a serious situation. I knew that soon the media animals would start knocking on the door, just as they had when Nick disappeared. That was one of the reasons I moved back in with my parents, once newspapers found my address, they wouldn’t leave me alone. They thought I was involved somehow or that I knew where he was. He was big news because his parents had loads of money. Some assumed he was doing drugs or something and was in rehab somewhere. Nothing like a painful rehab story to sell their paper. Others asked me about cults, serial killers, or just the runaway boy who didn’t want to be in the limelight anymore. Everything hurt. Their questions stung like bees and it was all too much to bear. Once the grief had overtaken me I couldn’t hold a job or maintain my schooling. I couldn’t even hold myself together. After I moved back in with my parents things seemed to calm down for a bit. I even started getting out of bed on a regular basis, but it took a week until I showered and another month after that to kind of care how I looked. I only wanted to look good for him and when he wasn’t there anymore, what was the point? Finally, things improved and I re-enrolled in college. I was only taking general classes because I didn’t think I could continue to paint. I couldn’t be alone anymore and my parents insisted I stay living with them. Until this opportunity arose I had plans to be there until I was thirty.
Who knew if that would start all over again? I might even have to leave Salem just so I wouldn’t be tied to this girl as well. I could see the headlines playing out in my head, ‘New in town and out for revenge, the story of a deranged lover.’ They would make up anything so they could sell the story. I shut my eyes tight so I wouldn’t cry when I heard a soft knock at the door.
“Paige? Are you awake?” Joy popped her head around the door, her eyes still wide with fear.
“Yeah,” I whispered, “you okay?” I sat up in bed so she would know that I was still coherent. Then I quickly rubbed my eyes to remove what remained of my salty tears.
“Not really. I know this is a little weird, but do you mind if I stay in here with you tonight? This house is huge and I don’t really want to be alone after everything that happened tonight.”
I scooted over and motioned for her to come sit. She tiptoed across my room and snuggled into bed with me. I threw the cover over both of us, but she was still shaking. Not from the chill of the night but from the frightening experience we just had together.
She had just laid her head down on the pillow when I asked her, “Joy, what did you mean when you said not again?”
She looked up at me with sad swollen eyes. “I didn’t mean anything… it was just something to say, I guess.”
I squinted at her, “Joy, be straight with me. What did you mean?”
She took a deep breath and sat up. She was rubbing the corner of the blanket between her thumb and her forefingers, bunching it slowly as she worked up the nerve to explain herself.
“Two years ago a girl went missing from town. It was the middle of the day and she was going to meet a friend for lunch and never showed up. No one ever heard from her again. When I said ‘Not again’ I meant that I was afraid that the sicko who took her was back. They never found her body so there wasn’t enough evidence to find the culprit. I’m wondering if this girl put up a fight and that’s how she lost her arm. I can’t be sure Paige, but I think it’s happening again. I’m afraid more girls will go missing, girls like us.”
I understood her fear. Looking at that girl on the grass and realizing that she looked just like me could mean only one thing, whoever the psycho was had a type and I fit it. I didn’t think Joy should have anything to fear with her pretty blonde hair and blue eyes, she clearly wasn’t his type. But she was in the age range, which was scary enough. And if this had happened before, in her town, a repeat was not something she wanted to see. I nodded my head to make sure she understood that I felt her same emotions before I wrapped my arm around her and we snuggled into bed. I hadn’t had anyone sleepover since I was a child, but it was comforting to have someone there next to me to scare away the nightmares.
The police arrived the next day, just as I expected they would. Gran tried to stave them off for as long as she could, but they demanded to see the both of us so they could continue to ask questions about the night before. We explained to them, just as we had the night before, about what we had seen. I was surprised but they seemed content with our explanation. They even mentioned how they had seen the vomit and the milkshake on the ground. I guess that added to the credibility of our story, but it was still a lot to handle. They split us up in separate rooms to make sure that our stories were the same, and it was terrifying. It was like reliving the day after Nick had disappeared all over again. But at least this time they had a body, there was closure for the girl’s family. Right before the officers left I got up the nerve to ask, “What happened to her arm?” It was a morbid question, but one that had been racking my mind since our discovery.
The older officer, a portly man, responded first. “We believe it may have been taken by an animal. The marks were not consistent with any type of tool.”
His rookie partner added, “Neither of you saw a blood trail?”
We both shook our heads, crust still in our eyes from lack of sleep from the night before. We hadn’t even bothered to get dressed. We both stood in the doorway looking innocent in an unmatched set of pajamas. I had let Joy borrow whatever she could find the night before.
The older officer nodded and tipped his hat to Gran before saying, “Thank you ladies, we appreciate your cooperation in all this mess.”
“You're welcome, I'm sure.” Gran wrapped her robe tighter around her she closed the door and looked back to us. “Well, I guess some breakfast is in order isn't it?”
She put an arm around both of us and led us into the kitchen to sit down at the table. She must've been cooking while they were talking with us as there was a stack of pancakes on each of our plates and eggs and bacon sitting on the cook-top. Joy smiled as she took in a deep whiff of the amazing aromas in the room.
“Now this is cooking! Geez... I wish I had somebody in my house to cook like this. Most of the time I eat by myself, this is great!”
She hadn’t meant her comment to be depressing, but I felt sorry for her for a moment, before digging in. I always took it for granted, eating with my parents or Gran. I had never thought about being alone all the time. I had to wonder where Joy's parents were, but I didn't ask. I knew it would be rude.
We were just finishing up breakfast and I was contemplating a shower when we heard a knock at the door. I sighed, “I thought they had all the information they needed.” As I shuffled over to the large wooden doors I prayed it wasn’t the press. But when I opened the door only a crack I was surprised to see Ultan standing there, hands in his pockets looking disheveled.
“Hi,” I said, opening the door further.
“Hey, I… I saw the news. Ya alright?”
“Yeah,” I stepped out onto the porch, my hair was still in a messy bun on top of my head and my pjs didn’t match, but Ultan didn’t seem to notice. “It was really terrifying.” My body started to shake again. “But how… how did you know where I lived?”
He ran his hand through his messy hair. “I know yer Gran. Real nice lady. I do housework for her sometimes. Reminds me, I saw the front stones need work. Tell her I’ll take care of it this week.”
“Sure.”
“Yer sure yer okay then lass?”
“Yeah, thanks for stopping by though.”
“It’s no problem. If ya ever want me to walk ya to work or anything, just let me know. I don’t want ya to be scared.”
“Thanks, I might take you up on that.”
He smiled slightly, “Okay, bye then.”
“Bye Ultan.”
I watched as he left, looking this way and that. I couldn’t believe someone I knew so little about cared enough to check in on me. It also didn’t hurt that he was freakin delicious. If I hadn’t been so shaken, I would have been considering what he looked like under those clothes.
Over the next few days the residents of Salem were more vigilant. I assumed many did not want to repeat the terror of the years prior. Newspapers however, were less concerned. Perhaps it was because the victim had turned out to be just a regular girl, but no one seemed particularly interested in the story. Maybe they had more respect around here then the papers in New York. Joy had only been approached one time by the local Tribune and when she had declined to comment no one else seemed to bother us.
But for Joy and I, the murder was very real and continued to follow us through every moment of every day. It hurt my heart to think of the poor girl whose family had to get that phone call. And I couldn’t imagine what type of person would steal another’s arm. It plagued my dreams every time I shut my eyes.
In town people were moving quicker and I didn’t see as many young women walking around alone. I noticed that more parents surrounded their teenage children. In addition to that, one other change had been made in the town. Salem had instituted a nine p.m. curfew for anyone under the age of twenty-five. It was for our own protection, of course, and most people abided by it, including myself and Joy. There wasn’t much to do past eight o’clock anyway, so it wasn’t really that big of a deal. For the most part, Joy had been staying in the mansion with Gran and me, staying up late watching movies and enjoying some girl time. Gran and I had even set up a bedroom for her and she was given a key. I think she appreciated not being alone so much and home-cooked meals were doing her good. They were good for Gran too. Her hip healed up and she enjoyed providing for the two of us. She commented a few times that it made her happy to have a house full again.