Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

to have some sort of a relationship, I didn’t know about.
    “ Coffee guys?” Shane asked, breaking the sorrow hanging in the air.
    “ Yes, please.” The young police officer chimed in. His name was Constable Bindley.
    “ Aimee, Corporal Williams here, was with your mom at the end,” my dad said quietly as he held his hand out to the tall, older-looking man.
    I felt my throat get thick, as his eyes looked at me, full of emotion. I nodded dropping my vision to the counter top.
    “ I’m sorry for your loss.” His words hung in the air with the rest of the tension, along with the scent of the coffees Shane handed out.
    Constable Bindley sipped his. “I guess all we need here is a statement. Shane, were you here when it happened?”
    Shane shook his head. “I was walking home from school ‘cause Aimee had my truck.”
    I smiled at the hint of bitterness in his voice.
    “ So Aimee, you tell it exactly the way it happened, and if no one else could talk while we have the tape recorder going, that would be great. Ready?” the corporal asked.
    I nodded taking a deep breath and began at the start, ghosts and all.
    The three-and-half-hour drive gave me more than enough time to consider the essence of life. My dad didn’t need to talk, which was nice. We could ride in quiet contemplation, instead of trying desperately to fill the air. My dad wasn’t a talker on a good day, so his version of small talk always ended up feeling more like a guessing game.
    The only thing he wanted to know, was about the mystery man in my hazy memories. I told him it was more like a dream than reality.
    Fifteen minutes away from the hospital, I was excited and scared. I had to tell Giselle the worst news. Not only had some psycho tried to kill us, but also now he was hunting us. I dreaded telling her, but the hospital needed to know every possibility. The police from home had called the hospital and put them on high alert, but it didn’t change things—Giselle needed the full story. It sickened me to have to stress her out, more than she already was.
    Dad dropped me off at the entrance and went to the hotel to check us in for the night.
    The Children’s Hospital was like an amusement park of doom. Pictures and paintings lined the walls with murals of the sunny days and beaches the children might not ever see. I swallowed a huge lump to ensure I wasn’t weepy, before I even saw her.
    I looked at my text from her and pushed the right floor button on the elevator. I stepped off and walked down the hall. Giselle’s room was the last door before the hall took a corner. I knocked lightly, hoping she was awake.
    “ Giselle, you here?” I asked poking my head in.
    “ Oh my God, Aimee. What took so long? It’s been like three weeks and I am dying in here. It’s so boring.” She nearly squealed as I entered smiling. She was lying on her bed with a light on, but the curtains were closed making it dim.
    I walked up and hugged her, she smelled funny, like sickness. She gripped me so tightly I could barely breathe. I held her and closed my eyes and pretended so many things all at once.
    She let go finally and smiled brightly, but I could see through the façade, she was still very sick. Her eyes were yellowish and her skin looked tanned. Giselle was going into liver failure. I didn’t know what to say. I ignored it and decided she would tell me if she wanted to.
    “ So did you hear?” I asked.
    Giselle nodded. “Yeah, it’s all over Facebook already. So he followed you into the woods? What the hell were you doing in the woods alone, tard?”
    I laughed, “Easy with words like that. It’s really rude.”
    She frowned, “I didn’t mean it like that.”
    I rolled my eyes, “I realize you don’t know it’s origin but older people take offense to younger people lingo. Just say hamtard, it’s a word I made up for Alise, she says the other one all the time too. Anyway, I went to the woods because I wanted to find the guy from the party. I know ghosts aren’t real, but I just couldn’t find him anywhere. The only place I’ve ever seen him was at Shane’s house…”
    She cut me off, “What is going on with you and Shane?”
    I sighed. “Giselle, you’re focusing on the wrong part of the story. Nothing is going on. He’s just a friend. Besides, he dated Alise.”
    Giselle made a face, I laughed at her.
    I continued, “As I was saying, I can’t stop thinking about this guy, and I wanted to find him so bad, I went to