Heartless Read online

  “It was cold,” said Eli. He shrugged. “Besides, I don’t remember you being in charge of me. I don’t have to listen to you.”

  Anger flashed, dark and heady, across Strong’s face. His hands balled into fists. But then, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by something calm and tranquil. Like the eye of a hurricane, I thought.

  “This badge says otherwise,” he said, mildly reaching into his pocket and pulling it out like a cop in an old TV show. “Next time I tell you something, you better listen.”

  Eli only shrugged again.

  Adam made a yuck-face. “It stinks in here. Open the window, would you?”

  As Eli stalked to the window, I propped myself against my desk, trying to keep weight off my bent and broken ankle. I crossed my arms in front of my body, preparing to hold myself together through whatever news Strong was about to deliver. “Please,” I said, barely able to get the words out. An image of Lucy, dead beneath a white sheet on a gurney, sliding across black ice, flashed in my mind. I couldn’t take it. “How’s Lucy? Is she all right?”

  They stopped facing off, alpha males staking a claim on my room, and as one, they turned to me. It hurt to see them both wince.

  His attention fully on me, Adam nodded, but his face stayed grave. “I told you, she’s fine. They’re pretty sure she’s out of the woods. The doctors warmed her up first thing, and now they’ve got her on fluids. That will help with the arsenic. I guess Eli told you?” I looked down at the floor instead of responding. “Okay. He did. So she should be fine pretty soon. When I left, she was sound asleep in her hospital bed.”

  Eli nodded. “Great news,” he said, although he, too, was still solemn.

  Adam continued. “I’ve come to tell you, though. You’re not safe here anymore. You need to come with me now. You both need to come with me. As soon as you’ve, um, cleaned yourself up a little more. Can’t have you in the car smelling like you do. I’ll wait here.” He settled into the chair, chin on his arms.

  “No!”

  I jumped. Adam jumped. We both turned to Eli, confused.

  “What?” I said.

  Eli took a deep breath before he spoke to me, as though it was just the two of us in the room. “I said no. We’re not leaving here. We’re not going with Adam. We’re not going anywhere. It’s the middle of the night, and this has been the worst couple days in my little stupid life.” He turned to Strong. “I haven’t heard or seen you do anything that makes me think Jo is any safer with you than she is with me, and I can take care of the both of us. Plus, you’re the only cop we’ve spoken to. Where the hell are your friends? Why the hell haven’t you ever called for, oh, I don’t know, reinforcements or something? There’s no one outside our building, no one offering us any explanation about what the hell happened to my girlfriend! Or all those other girls, either. Yeah, Jo told me about the others. There are people dying out there, and we have only you to deal with, and frankly, I don’t trust you. So until you can tell me why you felt the need to come here at two o’clock in the damn morning, then no. We are absolutely, one hundred percent, not going with you.”

  I sat down on the bed, hard. Something in my back crunched like a bag of potato chips. Even though I knew it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, I couldn’t help but think, He called me his girlfriend. Maybe that happy ending…. Even the thought trailed off. I wasn’t blind.

  The storm of Strong’s anger flashed, but once again he forced that eerie calm over his face and body. Tranquility in a sea of calamity was certainly a skill I’d never mastered. Maybe something they teach in the police academy, I wondered, watching with an almost detached curiosity. Lucy was going to live; that was all I cared to know.

  “Calm down, buddy,” Strong said to Eli. “I don’t think she’s safe anywhere. And I’ve been purposely not calling this in until Jo tells me she’s ready. Look, I like Lucy, I do. And Jo? I’m sure I’d have liked her if I met her before, you know? That’s kept me quiet so far. But I am a cop. And it’s my duty to do my best to help solve this case. When my colleagues get involved, well, Jo’s right. She’ll be at a hospital within minutes, and probably dead within the hour. So I’m trying to help you in a less orthodox way. I can’t do that here, though. Not anymore. There are too many people.”

  “This is a public place,” said Eli. “They can’t exactly come grab Jo from the dorms, at least not without causing a ruckus. This is the safest place for her!”

  Eli and Adam faced off, standing nose to nose like two cocks in a henhouse. If I didn’t do something, someone was going to throw the first punch, and, from the look of things, Eli would wind up in the hospital beside Lucy.

  I had an idea. I walked to my desk chair, sat down, and plugged myself back in. I looked at Lucy’s phone in my hand and flipped through the pictures of the girls who, moments after getting photographed, had awoken and tried to kill me. I thought about the email from “my creator.” Screw that, I thought. And screw you. My parents created me. You destroyed me. You bastard.

  I slammed my fist down on the desk.

  Microscopic pieces of me sprayed up, creating a cloud of toxic dust that wafted quickly through the breezy room.

  Eli sneezed.

  “What?” said Adam, staring at me.

  “You two need to knock this off. You’re being ridiculous,” I said. “My safety doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is catching these bastards, keeping them from hurting anyone else. I want to do anything I can to make it happen. So use me as bait. Leave me here, or put me somewhere else, I don’t care. Let them take me, and then you can catch them.”

  “No way, Jo. Are you crazy?” Eli’s face turned purple.

  Adam sighed. “Forget it.”

  “Are you crazy?” I said. “It’s the only way.”

  Adam shook his head. No.

  I shrugged. Frankly, it didn’t matter to me what they said. It was my decision. “Look, it’s my body. My life. I’m dead no matter what I do. There’s no coming back from…from this.” I paused, looked in the mirror, and shuddered. I was hideous. “I’m a monster,” I said. “And there’s no changing that now. So let me use what will probably be my last few days on this earth to do something good. Let me help you catch these bastards.”

  Adam nodded silently and placed a hand on my shoulder. I pushed it away. “Arsenic.”

  “Yeah,” he said, and he stepped away again. “We need masks. Gloves.” He looked out the window. “The thing is,” he said, speaking to the darkness. “The thing is, that’s the most unethical thing I as a police officer can do. But it’s also probably the best plan we have. At least, it’s the only plan we have. We can get you out of here, contact them. Let them come to you.”

  “You can’t be serious.” Eli looked furious. “You’ll kill her. She can’t fight back. She can barely walk. She doesn’t even have a nose anymore, for God’s sake. This will kill her. You will kill her.” His voice sounded choked, but his eyes were dry. “I won’t take part in this.”

  “Yes, you will. Because you know Jo’s right.”

  “No. She’s not going to die. Someone can fix this.”

  They’d started shouting somewhere in the argument, and I rushed to the window and slammed it shut. Might as well keep the neighborhood noise pollution to a minimum, I thought. I felt detached from them, as though I watched a play or TV show playing especially for my benefit, about some other girl in some other place with some other monstrous event. Though I knew they argued over me, I no longer felt like me, so it was easy to sit back and watch.

  Eli once again pushed his face into Adam’s, puffing out his chest and trying to look tough. I’d only ever seen him do that once, at a bar, with a ton of alcohol in his belly, and moments later he’d thrown a punch. A knock sounded at the door. “Everything okay in there, Jo?” It was my RA.

  “Yeah,” I called out, not opening the door. I shoved my way between the two guys to separate them, and they jumped away as though they’d been shocked. “Sorry, I’ll t
urn the TV down.”

  “You sure? Can I come in?”

  “No, I’m fine, I promise. And…um…I’m naked. Yeah. So no, you can’t come in. Thanks for checking.” I paused, and whispered, “Now please go away, thanks.”

  We held our collective breath. Well, I tried, anyway, and was remarkably successful. No surprise there, of course. Finally, the sound of footsteps leaving my door echoed down the hallway.

  I didn’t give them a chance to start fighting again. “Now you two listen to me,” I hissed. “Either we are in this together, or I give up. Adam, you can call your friends. I’m done. But if we’re in this together, we’re doing it my way. You two assholes, about to start a fight in my room, get out. Now. I’m done with being guarded. Let me be. I want one more night in this room. You two just…watch. Wait. Someone’s coming for me. I know it. Even here, they’re not going to leave me alone much longer. So when they get me, catch them. It’s really that simple. And now, it’s the middle of the night. It’s time. You two….get out.” I walked to my door and opened it.

  “Are you…” Eli started to protest.

  “Out,” I said.

  “But…” It was Adam’s turn to object.

  “No. Get out. Leave me alone. Now.”

  They looked at each other and shrugged, on the same team for a moment. Adam picked up his coat on the way out. Then he looked back over his shoulder at me as he walked out the door. “Thank you,” he said. “This is a very brave thing you’re doing. My number’s in Lucy’s phone, if you need it. Tomorrow, we put your plan in action. I’ll be here early. Be ready.”

  Bravery, I thought as I closed the door behind them. I listened to the murmur of their voices in the hall, planning and scheming. Then I heard Lucy’s door open and close, very quietly. I walked to my bathroom door and locked it from my side. Bravery. That’s when you have a choice, and you take the harder road. I have no choice. I’m dead already. My only choice is how to die. And I choose to get the bastards.

  I sat at my desk and plugged in again, then flipped open my laptop.

  Dear “Creator,”

  Please notice I used quotes around the word “creator,” because I think we both know that calling you a creator is the joke of the century. You don’t create; you destroy. You destroyed the lives of all those girls. Their lives, and the lives of their families.

  But what you didn’t take into account, what you didn’t realize, is that with me you really did create something special. You don’t know yet how strong I am. How tough. How impenetrable is my will to survive.

  Do you know why you don’t know this? Because you don’t know ME.

  I was strong before you. Now that we’ve met, I’m the strongest person on this earth. I feel no pain, no fear. I am nothing but strength.

  And I am coming for you.

  So you better run.

  But don’t think you can outrun me. You may be fast, but I promise you. I am faster. And I am coming. Those eyes you feel on the back of your neck? The ones making the little hairs there stand on end? Yeah, those are me. I’m right behind you.

  And I say screw you, and your idea of creation.

  Yours truly,

  Dead Girl Jo

  Jo1995: And THAT, my friends, is how you stir up some shit. Stir stir stir.

  EliPete21: @Jo1995 Double bubble toil and trouble…extra helping of trouble…

  Jo1995: @EliPete21 Aren’t you supposed to be resting somewhere else?

  EliPete21: @Jo1995 Yeah, I’m not leaving you. Not for a million bucks.

  Jo1995: @EliPete21 Le sigh.

  Jolene,

  You dare defy me? After all I’ve done for you? You threaten my very existence? I am shocked and appalled. I am only trying to SAVE you.

  Know that I am not afraid of you. You are ours for the creating, and ours for the destroying. We will never stop, until the end has passed. Each iteration of girls has been better than the last. You will not be the last of our girls to awaken, but you will be the last to cause such trouble.

  And you will not be around much longer.

  Your battery? It has a half-life of less than a week. I planned to switch it out next week.

  So go ahead and threaten. I only laugh. From you, we are learning much, much more than you know.

  Your parents will bow down before us. They will beg for our help, when the end comes.

  So think about that while you write up your empty threats, dear Jolene, and know we are not afraid. And we won’t rest until I succeed beyond your wildest expectations.

  Your creator

  P.S. Don’t mock me. You won’t like what happens.

  I snapped my laptop shut with a bang. Then I smiled my gruesome, skeletal smile. My work here is done. Hell, they’re even threatening my family now. Screw them. My parents are in Colorado. They’re fine.

  I reached for Lucy’s phone, which sat on the desk beside me. I was finally ready to call my parents. I needed them to know what was going on, and I needed to hear my mother’s voice.

  My fingers were barely a centimeter away when it started to vibrate. A picture of Officer Strong flashed on the screen.

  I hit the green button. “Hello? Officer Strong?”

  The sun was just beginning to rise, and the windows in my room were brightening. Strong panted into the phone for a second, like a lewd prankster, before clearing his throat.

  “Jo?” he said. He was hoarse, and I wondered if he’d slept.

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “I’m on my way to your dorm. I don’t know how to tell you…they…they got her. They took Lucy.”

  It was early September. We’d only been on campus a few weeks, Lucy and I continued to feel each other out, circling one another like boxers before a fight. We wanted desperately to be friends, but the dynamic of sharing a bathroom with a complete stranger was difficult to negotiate. We tiptoed, knocked gently on doors, played music quietly, took short showers, and only went to the bathroom if we were sure the other room was unoccupied.

  Then one night, Joe-from-down-the-hall showed up at my door with a bottle of Southern Comfort he’d sneaked past the front desk of Calvin Hall. He held it up like a peace offering, or his ticket to a private party with a couple of girls. “Do you and Lucy want to get drunk?” he asked.

  I played it cool. “Don’t know,” I said. “Let me check with Lucy.”

  I closed the door in his face.

  I ran to the bathroom and burst in, not bothering to knock. It was empty. My heart raced; I’d not done much drinking in high school, had never had Southern Comfort, and didn’t want to look like an ass by myself in front of a cute boy.

  I banged on Lucy’s door. “Lucy? Luce? Can I come in?”

  She pulled her door open. She wore tattered sweat shorts and an old tank top. No bra. For a fleeting second I felt like a prude in my ever-present underwire, but I quashed the thought as I searched for the right words. Cute boy…brown liquor…

  She eyed me with confusion. “What’s up? Are you okay?”

  I grinned, all discomfort vanished in the face of my roommate. My friend. “Joe’s outside my door. He has some…whiskey? Bourbon? I don’t know, but it’s brown. He wants to drink it with us. You in?” Please be in, please be in, please be in, I thought.

  Her lips curled up at the corners. Her eyebrows dropped to a crease in the center, and the beginnings of a flush blossomed in her cheeks. It was a face I’d come to love in the following months. Mischief and mayhem, all rolled up in a Cheshire smile, camouflaged by the most innocent looking freckles you’d ever imagine.

  “Sure,” she said. “I’ll try anything once.”

  We took the first shot together, Lucy and I, from little white Dixie cups with blue and white daisies. The liquor burned as it went down, and we breathed simultaneous fire as Joe doubled over in laughter, and we doubled over in shared agony.

  We took the second shot together from the same cups. And then the third.

  The following morning, Joe was long gone.
The Southern Comfort bottle lay empty on its side. Lucy and I had slept, side by side, tangled up in a heap, and when we awoke, we shared headaches and violently ill stomachs. Our cell phone photo galleries were littered with pictures of us together. Two girls, so different, and yet so beautiful and alive. And ridiculous. Jo sits on Lucy’s lap, drunk. Lucy grabs Jo’s butt, drunk. Lucy and Jo hug while simultaneously flipping off the anonymous photographer, drunk.

  After that, we had no choice but to be best friends. Once you share a night like that, you’re attached for life.

  Attached for life. Lucy and I were attached for life. We were supposed to grow old together, the old college friends, showing up for weddings and births, parties and divorces. That was how it was supposed to be.

  But suddenly I was (mostly) dead, and Lucy was missing. And life had turned upside down and backwards, inside out and topsy-turvy.

  I wanted to hyperventilate. I tried to make myself hyperventilate. I wanted to feel something physical. But I couldn’t. So instead, I just said to Adam, as calmly as if he hadn’t just signed my best friend’s death certificate, “So what do we do next?”

  “We find them. And we get Lucy back. Go wake up Eli. I’ll pick you guys up in ten minutes. Meet me out front.”

  Eli helped me dress. There was no need for modesty anymore. He pulled a clean shirt over my head, clean pants up around my hips, a coat over my stiff shoulders. Then he wrapped my whole face in one of the beautiful silk scarves I had no further energy or desire to protect.