Devils Roses 05 - Death

shakes, her hands tremble. Blood coats them. "He tried to kiss me and I said no and then he shoved me down on the grass." She sobs. I can see her torn shirt and skirt.
    "He kept saying he needed to teach me a lesson." She gasps and sobs.
    I drop to my knees and struggle with the stabbing pain and fire in my belly. I reach for his pulse. Warm wetness coats my fingertips. "What happened? He has no pulse."
    I wipe my hands on his back.
    She shakes. "I don’t know? I don’t know? He shoved my face in the dirt. Then everything got really hot and I reached back grabbed him. I just felt so strong and crazy. Aimes, I put my face up to his and sucked him out I think." She put her hands over her eyes. "I don’t know why. I just did."
    I have no response. I nod and wrap my arms around her. "It's self defense. You didn’t mean to kill him." I feel sick. Mr. Mac tried to hurt her, my favorite teacher, tried to hurt her.
    "No, I sucked him out."
    I pet her head. "It's okay. You're just not feeling well. You didn’t mean it."
    She lifts her face and in the muted light, I can see the dark red blood coating her face where her hands have touched it, after touching his bloody dead body.
    "There's blood on your face and hands."
    She wipes at it like she has gone mad.
    "It's okay. I got it. Let me get it."
    I wipe and she cries, "I did this. I meant to. I wanted it. I wanted to kiss him and suck. Aimes, shit is wrong."
    I grimace. "Okay ewww. No. Stop. We need to call the police." My hands tremble.
    She collapses into me. My guts stab me again. My fingers buzz and hum with the current running through them, but I hug her. Desperate to hang on.
    She shivers into me. "I don’t know why. I don’t know Aimee. I don’t know. They'll think I did it on purpose."
    I hold her tight and shout, "HELP! HELP US PLEASE!"
    Shane comes running down the darkening lawn. "Aimee?" He shouts. I can hear panic in his vice. Tears are streaming down my cheeks. I never noticed them before. "Here," I cry.
    He is on me, touching me, holding me. He kisses the top of my head. "Someone call nine one one," he yells back at the house.
    I close my eyes and grip tightly to the sobbing mess Giselle is. Something about holding her feels right. Like my soul knows it's right.

Chapter Eight

    Her hair is raven silk, I never noticed before how shiny it really is. I reach a hand forward and stroke it slightly.
    Her silver eyes narrow. "What are you doing loser?"
    My palms are burning. I shiver and tingle and imagine what it will feel like to just brush my fingers against her skin.
    "Ugh, god Aimee you are so weird sometimes." She climbs off the couch and walks into the kitchen. It makes me snap out of the daydream I'm having. I frown. Something is wrong with me. I get up and leave the house. I look around the small town as I walk. Something is missing.
    I look into the windows as dusk hits and people start to turn on their lights. The insides of their homes look cozy. Something about it makes me sad. I don’t know why.
    My stomachache is killing me.
    I hear a horn and turn to see Shane driving up. "You okay?" He leans out the window.
    I nod. "Yeah. Just weirded out. Not feeling well yet either. Did the police say anything?"
    He shakes his head. "Not a lot. They gave me a flyer to become a cop though. Ha. They did say they found an ass ton of drugs in his house. I guess he gave Giselle some lemonade. She never drank it though. It had the drugs in it. She could have died. It was poorly made. He had some weird shit it in, date rape drugs. She is lucky that he fell and landed on those sticks. They said he died instantly."
    I cross my arms and shiver. "Friggen weird. Blake sent me a text a couple hours ago. He's crushed. Mr. Mac was his mentor."
    He nods. "Get in the truck. We can go for a drive." I don’t think. I run across the street and hop in. I put my hands up to the heater. The spring is cold on the coast.
    I glance at him as he turns onto the old beach road. "I haven’t been here in years."
    "I like it here." He drives past the old trail that leads to the secret beach. Only our small town knows about. He drives up to the viewpoint and I force my stomachache away.
    "So, I wonder who will replace him as the Chem teacher?"
    I almost smirk. Nerves rattle inside of me. "Blake said he's been asked to do it."
    "Wow. Really?"
    I glance at him and try not to stare at his lips. Or lick mine.
    He parks the truck at the cliffs and turns it off.
    "Wanna walk?" His voice is