Brighter, a supernatural thriller Page 11

  He smiled. Waved back. If only, all that time ago, Ramona hadn't seen him, none of this would be happening. Things would be normal. Well. As normal as they ever got in Elston, anyway.

  * * *

  As far as Maxine was concerned, Ramona had made next to no progress on the brochure project, and even though she'd been out sick the previous day, Ramona caught hell from Maxine about it. To appease her, Ramona compiled a list of historical facts she'd gathered about Elston and turned them in to Maxine. Maxine seemed a little less upset with that in her hands. But she also gave Ramona a deadline on that little project and ordered her to help with application sorting in addition to brochure research. Ramona actually felt like she worked hard that day. She hadn't felt like that in quite some time.

  She went home feeling a little mentally drained. Garrett called her while she was in the middle of dinner. He'd called last night, but Ramona had been asleep. She'd gone to bed early because being locked in a basement all night had apparently finally caught up with her. She'd picked up her phone but hadn't been very coherent. Ramona was pleasantly surprised that he’d called. Perhaps she'd misjudged the Garrett situation. Even though he'd left her house without a note, he was calling her pretty frequently. And usually guys didn't call frequently if they weren't interested. Of course, there was this whole weird Blair thing going on. So he might have been calling just to compare notes on that whole thing.

  And actually, it was all well and good for Ramona to be as sure as she'd been on the phone with Heather. But in all honesty, Ramona wasn't sure. She hoped she wasn't nuts. She hoped Garrett wasn't nuts. She also hoped he wasn't a rapist.

  She invited him over, because Garrett lived with his parents. (Definite minus.) He showed up with beer, even though Ramona was not really in the mood to go to work the next day hung over. And they tried to talk about what weird stuff they were certain was going on in Elston. Ramona told him about the website she'd found with a picture of Dawn who'd been missing for fifteen years. They threw out a couple theories as to why that could be. Obviously, it meant that there were people that looked like Dawn who'd been alive for a pretty long time. It didn't really fit well with Ramona's new body snatchers theory, and it went more with Garrett's original clone theory. Ramona told Garrett what Heather had said about clones having to grow up like regular people. Garrett decided that meant that they must have cloned Dawn in the forties or something and been gestating clones of her every ten years or so. Ramona wanted to know why they would do that, and who "they" were anyway. Besides, the clone theory only explained Dawn. It didn't really explain much of anything else. Like how Garrett had seen Blair die when she was still alive or anything like that.

  And all this time, they were sitting close to each other, with their knees touching. Which was really distracting. Because just that little part of their bodies touching was sort of electric. Ramona couldn’t think about much except the place where they were touching. She couldn't help but wonder if he didn't want their knees to touch. But she figured he did, because if he wanted to, he could always move his leg away. She kept watching his mouth move as he talked, and she kept wanting to kiss him. But she wasn't going to make the first move, so she just kept tilting her head back and putting her face in the position to be kissed. And waiting. But he seemed oblivious.

  Finally, their conversation began to wind down, mostly because Ramona wasn't saying much, since she was so distracted. There were several long moments of silence, during which Ramona and Garrett just gazed deeply into each other's eyes. Then Garrett would say something else, and Ramona would fume inside. Was she insane? Was she reading all the signs wrong? Did Garrett like her or not, dammit? But then, after he finished speaking, and he was looking at her, he leaned forward slowly and softly pressed his lips against her own.

  If they'd never had sex before, maybe they would have kissed for longer. But, Ramona didn't know exactly why, once two people had had sex, they couldn't seem to go back to the make-out stage. Sometimes it made her sad, because she felt like the older she got, the more she skipped the make-out stage all together. And once it was gone, you could never go back. You just had to go all the way. Which was what she and Garrett did. Maybe because she wasn't drunk, it wasn't nearly as magical as the first time. But it was very, very nice.

  Later, curled up on Ramona's bed, with her head buried in his chest, she ventured to ask, "So what's going on? Is this like a two-night stand or what?"

  Garrett laughed. "That is absolutely what it is. I am never going to call you again. I got what I wanted. Twice. And that was enough for me."

  She shoved him playfully.

  "Seriously," said Garrett. "I don't think that I'm a very good...boyfriend."

  Ooh. Even better sign. He'd said "boyfriend" before her. Of course, he'd said it in a negative context, but... "What do you mean?" she asked. "Are you bad with plans? Do you forget to call? Do you ditch your girlfriend for your friends all the time?" In Ramona's experience, these were typical boyfriend sins.

  "No," said Garrett. "I'm the opposite, really. I get sort of...consumed by the relationship. I get...clingy."

  Ramona laughed. "I don't think that's a fault," she said. "I think that's called..." Being in love, she thought. "...actually liking someone."

  "You won't like it," said Garrett.

  "Let me try it first," said Ramona. "It sounds kind of refreshing, honestly."

  "So then we're dating?"

  "Sure," said Ramona. "As soon as you take me on a date."

  * * *

  Heather had been looking for a book on ghost sightings for several years now. It was a really awesome book, and people on websites she frequented were always talking about it. Heather had been wanting to read it for a long time. Several times, she'd almost bit the bullet and bought it on Amazon, but it was an expensive hardcover book, with all these pictures in it, and she knew that an expenditure like that would just cause an argument with Rick. He humored her when she talked about ghosts, but he didn't believe in them himself. When they'd first started dating, he'd seemed to think her hobby (as he called it) was cute, but after they'd gotten married, he'd realized how serious she was about it. Suddenly, it was no longer cute, and it had sparked all kinds of heated discussions.

  Sometimes, Heather wished she hadn't gotten married in such a hurry. It had just seemed so romantic at the time. Rick had seemed so perfect. She'd known she was in love. That was what people did when they were in love, right? And honestly, all couples had problems. If she hadn't married Rick right away, that didn't necessarily mean that they would have broken up by now. Even if she'd married someone else who liked ghosts and horoscopes too, it wouldn't make much difference, because they'd have problems somewhere else in their relationship. Life was just like that. It was best to just make the best of what you had and keep going.

  Anyway, an internet search of libraries the other day had shown her that, miracle of miracles, the library in Elston had her book. She still had an Elston library card, so she'd called the library immediately and put the book on hold for herself. Then, as soon as she was off work at a time when the library was open, she got in her car and drove to Elston. She hadn't been to Elston since the Halloween party, like nine months ago. It hadn't changed. At all. Elston never did. It was the town that time forgot. She had the regular struggle to find a parking space. The college was woefully low on parking spaces for all its students, and so some kid who was late for class always took the last space in Elston.

  When she finally found a parking space, after about twenty minutes of driving around Elston, it was about as far from the library as Siberia was. Heather parked anyway and fed the meter. She still thought twenty-five cents for fifteen minutes was a little stiff, but there was no arguing with the money-making machine that was parking in Elston. God. If she could have only come in the evening. When college wasn't in session, there was always plenty of parking in Elston.

  It was only as she was walking up the street to the library that she remembered that
Ramona had told her that Garrett worked in the library. Wow. She'd completely forgotten that. She wondered if he'd be working. She had to admit that she was kind of curious about this guy. He was an alleged rapist who'd managed to make her best friend crazy. What was he like?

  When she entered the library (after almost tripping on the roots of the tree outside), there was no librarian in sight, so Heather went hunting for one. Her book was behind the counter, and she needed someone to retrieve it and check it out for her. Upstairs, in the children's section, she discovered a guy shelving books. He looked up at her and then went back to shelving.

  Heather felt uncomfortable. She didn't want to stop this guy from doing his job, but helping her was also part of his job. She'd worked enough customer service jobs to know that the way this guy was behaving wasn't the way to treat a customer. Of course, this was the library. They didn't actually make any money here. How were libraries paid for anyway? Taxes? She thought they were public institutions. Yeah. They had to be. Otherwise, they wouldn't be called public libraries.

  She cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said.

  The guy's head snapped up. "Oh," he said. "I'm sorry. Is there something you need help with?"

  "Yeah," said Heather. "I have a book on hold behind the counter."

  "Sure," said the guy. "Why don't you go ahead downstairs, and I'll be with you in just a moment?"

  Heather went down the stairs, feeling a little angry. The guy was shelving books for God's sake. He could do that once she was gone. There was no reason for her to wait for him to be done. That was not the way things worked in a restaurant. If she told a customer who was trying to flag her down while she was bringing out someone's drink order to wait, there would be hell to pay. If this was Garrett, and Heather was pretty sure it was, she already didn't like him.

  Finally, Garrett appeared at the counter and got her book for her. As he was checking out her book, he looked at her library card. "Hey," he said. "Are you Ramona's friend, Heather?"

  "Yes," she said. So Ramona had mentioned Heather to Garrett. "Are you Garrett?" It came out pretty clipped and disapproving, but Garrett didn't seem to notice.

  "Yeah," he said. "She, um, talks about you a lot."

  Heather smiled. "Yeah, she won't shut up about you either."

  "You live with your husband in Freeburg, right?" said Garrett. Heather nodded. "Maybe we should all do something, sometime. Together. The four of us. Ramona says for us to be officially dating, we actually have to go on dates." He grinned.

  Heather knew that was a joke. She made a half-hearted attempt at laughter. This guy was just sort of weird. Socially awkward or something. She didn't like him. "Sure," she said. "Sometime."

  "Enjoy your book," said Garrett.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ramona hadn't predicted that dating Garrett would be such a big deal to everyone in Elston. She was used to the way the small town worked, and she knew that many people complained about what they called Elston drama. In a small town of any kind, people knew too much about each other, and they inevitably talked about people behind their backs. Ramona had talked to other people about this and had commiserated with them. What she hadn't realized was that she hadn't exactly ever experienced Elston drama before.

  Ramona knew that she was what most people called a townie. In other words, she hung out in front of The Holy Grind in the morning and in The Brass Frog at night. She was part of a fairly tight-knit community of people who hung out in Elston. She also felt like she'd had to work her way into the community. That was the other thing about small towns. People weren't accepting of new people right away. They regarded them with suspicion. So it had taken several years for Ramona to get to the point where she was now.

  Still, much of the time, Ramona still really felt like an outsider. And because she wasn't the most "popular" townie in Elston, she suddenly realized no one had ever spread rumors about her life before. Her first thought was one of pure elation. People had been talking about her when she wasn't even there! They knew she existed! But as time wore on, the elation began to fade. No one liked Garrett. Blair and her friends had done their work well. Garrett was a rapist and an all around terrible person as far as the Elston community was concerned. And apparently, Ramona's dating him was the most exciting thing that had happened in a really long time in Elston.

  When Ramona walked into The Holy Grind, the people gathered outside got quiet, as if they'd been talking about her. When she walked into the bar, people steered clear of her. When they did talk to her, they were all trying to "warn" her for her own good, to stay away from Garrett.

  What made Ramona angry was that no one had taken the time to get to know Garrett. They had no idea what he was like. They had just decided that because everyone else was ignoring him, they were going to be sheep and do whatever it was everyone else was doing. She was disgusted. For a town full of free thinkers, this town was pretty crummy when it came to social interaction. Finally, she could hardly handle it anymore, so she decided if she were going to the bar, she wasn't going alone anymore. Her last two trips to the bar alone hadn't been any fun. She took Garrett with her, even though he said he didn't particularly want to show his face in The Brass Frog, especially on a Friday night. "Blair will definitely be there," he'd said. "And besides, no one will talk to us anyway. Why don't we just stay home and drink? It'll be cheaper."

  But Ramona was sick of staying home and drinking with Garrett. She wanted a night out to socialize. But she wanted Garrett there too.

  After some cajoling, he had come with her to the bar. Things had started out okay. Ramona had dragged Garrett to a table full of people she knew and sat down with them. She'd introduced them to Garrett as if they didn't know who he was. And at first, anyway, they'd been forced to be polite to Garrett. They didn't seem to be capable of being rude to his face. The table was in the midst of a heated discussion on the probability of a polar shift. Several of the guys, Tom and Mark, were convinced that it was going to happen within the next year, but that they were hiding it from the world. One of the more shrewd girls at the table, Olivia, was trying to get them pin down what vested interest they'd have in hiding a polar shift from the world. "It's not money," she said. "Disasters are good for the economy."

  Ramona had to take Olivia's side. The conversation was indeed enjoyable. It was why Ramona loved to live in Elston. Try to walk into a bar in Freeburg at eleven o'clock on a Friday night and engage someone in conversation about a polar shift. It would never happen. People in bars in the rest of the world talked about boring things.

  However, as it got a little later, the night stopped going so well. First of all, people kept disappearing from their table. They'd go up to get another drink and never come back. Soon, Ramona, Garrett, and Olivia were the only people at the table. One of the things Ramona liked about Olivia was her frankness. She was a pretty honest person, but she didn't worry too much about sparing people's feelings sometimes. That was okay with Ramona. It was kind of refreshing actually. But left alone with the two of them, Olivia started talking to Garrett.

  "So I bet you told my friend Ramona here that you didn't rape Blair?" she said.

  Garrett looked startled. "Um..."

  "She's not being rude, that's just the way she is," Ramona said to Garrett.

  Olivia laughed.

  "Well," said Garrett. "I didn't rape her."

  "So why does she say you did?" Olivia said.

  "I don't know," said Garrett. "I've never even had sex with her."

  Olivia shrugged. "That just doesn't really add up, does it? Sorry Ramona, but I can't believe Blair's making this up. Do you really think that?"

  "There are a lot of things about Blair that I don't think anybody really knows," said Ramona. "For instance, last week, she locked me in the basement of the library all night."

  Olivia almost choked on the sip of beer she was taking. "You're kidding."

  "No, I'm not. And she said she did it because she was angry that I was making Garrett
happy when he doesn't deserve it."

  "Well..." said Olivia. "I mean, with what she's been through..."

  "Why didn't she go to the police if Garrett raped her?" said Ramona.

  "There are lots of reasons why girls don't want to go to the police after they're raped," said Olivia. "Rape is one of the most underreported crimes."

  "Generally, that's because women are ashamed," Garrett said quietly. "Blair didn't seem to have any problem telling everybody except the police about it. All her friends beat the shit out of me that night, and I didn't even know why."

  "Look, Blair's my friend—" started Olivia.

  "I thought I was your friend too," said Ramona.

  "I need another beer," said Olivia. Her beer was half-full.

  Ramona sighed heavily as she watched Olivia head back to the bar.

  "I told you we should stay home," said Garrett.

  "That just means they win," said Ramona. "They aren't chasing me out of my bar. This place is just as much mine as it is theirs." She paused. "Besides, it's good. Olivia will tell other people what we said. At least your side of the story is going to get into the mix now."

  Garrett shook his head. "I hate this town."

  "Yeah," Ramona said. She needed to move away. Really. She should apply to grad schools or something. Except. All the deadlines for fall were in January or February. It was late spring. She was too late again. Did that mean she was stuck in Elston for another whole year?

  She and Garrett finished their drinks in near silence. Ramona couldn’t think of anything to say. "I'll buy us another round?" she said, when they were done.

  "You sure you wanna stay?"

  "It's still early. Maybe the night will improve."

  Garrett snorted, but he let her go.

  Once she got to the front of the bar, Ramona realized that Blair and Owen had arrived. That sucked. As badly as the night had gone so far, it was going to get even worse now. Ramona tried to keep out of sight of Blair, but wasn't sure if she was successful. She bought two more drinks, one for herself and one for Garrett. When she returned to his table, she was surprised to see that someone was sitting with Garrett. It was Hayden, one of the older gay men who lived in town. Elston had a reputation for attracting the homosexual community. Hayden was an interesting guy. He was flaming, but he also had a nervous tick to his speech. He didn't stutter exactly, but it sometimes took him a long time to get out what he was saying. And he muttered a lot. Still, Ramona liked him okay. He was cool to talk to for a while, anyway. It looked as if she might be right. Maybe their evening was looking up.