THE SHADOWED ONYX: A DIAMOND ESTATES NOVEL (6 page)

Why hadn’t she just let go of Austin in that instant? Melanie could have had him if that’s what it would have taken. If they were in love, Joy would have stepped aside. She was prepared to, once she’d thought it through. They didn’t have to sneak around. The cost of betrayal had been too great. Too final. But would she have realized that then? Or would she still have raged against them?

What’s done can’t always be undone.

Well, look at that. Even holding the bedroom door closed with all of her weight did nothing to keep her pain from following her inside. Joy slid to the floor and wrapped her arms around her legs. What was she going to do? What could she do? She couldn’t outrun the past. Eventually she’d have to face it.

Maybe that’s where Raven would come in.

Speaking of Raven … Joy sloughed off the weight of the past and crawled across her shaggy area rug to the desk near the window. Slipping onto the pink-and-purple polka dotted chair pad, Joy tapped the touch pad, bringing her hand-me-down HP laptop to life and went directly to Google.

Is it possible to talk to dead people?

Joy chewed on her thumbnail while the search engine churned out its results. A flake of pink polish chipped onto her tongue. She spit it over her right shoulder.

Over one hundred million results. Well, she could start with the first one. “How to talk to the dead.” Nah. She didn’t need a play-by-play after what she’d experienced.

Was it real? That’s all she wanted to know. Because it sure seemed real.

Reading down the list of search results, Joy found that countless others had the same question. Click after click, she discovered that for as many people that asked the questions, three had a different answer, and everyone thought they were right. Hah. Sounded exactly like every other religion that existed. A bunch of beliefs backed up by nothing but opinion and emotion.

Except this time Joy had some proof. She’d seen it with her own eyes, yet she was having such a hard time believing.

Joy rocked back in her chair. What made this facet of the spirit world so difficult to accept? The Bible said there were all sorts of spirits. But it also said it was bad to consult any other than God. But what if
that
were wrong? The Bible had been written by people. What if they just didn’t get how it all worked?

Is it dangerous to reach out to the dead?

Things like Occultism, Satanism, Wiccans, and other scary words popped up before Joy’s eyes like the ticker tapes on Times Square. But none of that had anything to do with what she and Raven had been doing. At all. Joy wasn’t following Satan. She had simply seen her friend’s name spelled out from the beyond. Had Melanie reached out to her, or was it someone or
something
else? Had she sort of communicated with her best friend somehow? That couldn’t be wrong. Not on any level.

Maybe it wasn’t wrong at all. Maybe Joy had finally found something right for a change.

A knock jerked Joy from her thoughts. Mom cracked the door open and stuck her perfectly coiffed head into the room. “We’re leaving, honey. Dad and I will be back in a few hours. This dinner shouldn’t take too long.”

Joy nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

The door clicked shut. Hmm. Mom and Dad off partying with the Realtors of America, or whatever it was called, meant she had the house to herself. Perfect. Joy scrolled through Netflix and selected three movies. She’d watch them all. It was time to find out if Hollywood depicted the supposed dark side the way she’d been experiencing it to really be.

Joy stuck a bag of popcorn into the microwave and poured a huge Coke while she waited. When the timer dinged, she reached in and pinched the corner of the bag, shaking it to spread the salt and butter evenly. She pulled on the seams to open the bag, careful to keep her face out of the steam. After dumping the whole thing into a red plastic bowl, she was ready.

Here goes nothing. Joy pressed P
LAY
on the first movie and settled down on the couch with her blanket and a pillow. She lifted a few pieces of popcorn to her mouth.

Hmm. The actors—if she could call them that—recorded supposed spirit activity while they slept. First of all, if that were real, why did they stay in the house? Secondly, why couldn’t the guy get the woman to listen to him? One good conversation, a letter, a recording, something would have gotten her attention.

Yeah. That one had to be totally fake.

On to movie number two. A classic, the reviews had said.

She munched on the popcorn. Okay, this one was pure Hollywood entertainment—vomit, heads spinning in circles, bodies thrown against the ceiling. Really funny stuff.

Bang!

Joy squealed and slid to the floor, popcorn flying everywhere. What was that noise? She flew to her feet and spun in a full circle, searching for the source. She tiptoed toward the kitchen. Ridiculous because if someone, or something, were in there, it already knew she was in the house.

Oh. Her heart slowed, and she tried to rein in her breathing. Oreo lay in a heap on the floor by the refrigerator. The ancient cat must have climbed onto the counter and fell off again. The only cat on earth that never landed on her feet.

Joy strode to the kitchen and scooped her up. “You okay, Oreo?” She soothed the trembling kitty as she surveyed the room.

Well, so much for Hollywood entertainment. She wasn’t quite as brave as she’d thought, obviously.

Didn’t matter. It would have taken a crazy person to laugh off a bang like that. She hadn’t completely lost her sense of reality. Yet.

I
t’s Tuesday. You in for hanging out at the park tonight?” Raven sidled up next to Joy in the lunch line.

“I don’t know about that.” Joy glanced down at Raven’s tray. “You seriously going to eat all of that?” Hamburger, fries, apple, and a candy bar? “Where do you put it?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Raven rolled her eyes at Joy’s side salad and water.

“I’m not really hungry.” Joy shrugged. She probably wouldn’t even eat the salad. Everything sat like lead in the pit of her stomach. The more she faced the possibility that Melanie actually reached out to her from the great beyond, the more she didn’t like it and the more difficulty she had doing normal things. Like eating. Why couldn’t she go back to just before it happened? To the time when Joy just believed. Before she’d felt the need to put everything under a microscope. Or even better, to the moments before Melanie’s death … or before the kiss.

Raven nodded and swung her leg over the bench and set her tray down. “I get it. But take it from a girl who’s had her share of parental intervention”—she did air quotes with her fingers—” ‘for my own good.’ You don’t want to raise any red flags.”

Joy slid her tray onto an empty table. With Melanie gone, she hadn’t cared where she ate every day. Or if she ever ate at all. “Red flags?”

“The more weight you lose, the more sunken your eyes get, the more strange stuff you do—you’ll make everyone nervous. When parental-types get nervous, they come at you with doctor visits, counseling, medication even. Trust me. Life is much better when they leave you alone.”

Oh right. Joy had forgotten that about Raven. “You had to go away to that place freshman year. Where did you go?”

Raven nodded, her mouth full. “Yeah. Colorado. Diamond Estates. ‘Where the finest gems are pulled from the deepest rough.’” She rolled her eyes.

“What was that about?”

“Oh, you know. I raised too many red flags. Dad got a little nervous and sent me away to find God.” Raven shrugged. “At least that had been the plan.”

“What happened?” Joy poked at her salad.

“I got into some trouble over there. Was asked to either make a commitment or move out. I picked move out.” Raven jabbed a ketchup-laden french fry at Joy. “That’s why I said what I did about avoiding parental intervention. It can get pretty intense.”

Raven made a lot of sense. Joy wanted to fly under the radar and get through as best and as privately as she could. “Point taken.” She snatched Raven’s candy bar, ripped the wrapper off, and shoved half of it in her mouth.

“Hey! That was uncalled for.” Raven’s eyes sparkled as she laughed.

“Just following orders.” Joy bit off another hunk.

“You learn well, young student.”

Joy laughed. “Very funny.”

“So anyway, back to the point. Tonight? We on?”

Joy wondered what Raven had in mind. Not that it mattered anymore. “Sure. It’ll have to be somewhat early though. Coach gave us a big lecture yesterday. Made us promise to get lots of sleep this week.”

Raven made a talky hand in the air. “Blah, blah. Fine. Whatever. Meet me at the lake at six o’clock sharp. We’ll hang out. I’ll invite some people.”

“It’ll have to be six thirty for me. Practice doesn’t get out until six.” Joy forked a hunk of lettuce into her mouth.

“That’s fine.”

“Just no funny business, okay?” Hanging out didn’t always have to mean some great big spiritual awakening.

Raven laughed. “What are you, thirty years old? What do you mean, ‘Funny business’?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” Joy sighed. “Let’s just keep tonight’s guest list to the living.”

Joy flopped in her bed, the covers tangling around her feet. So much for a good night’s sleep. She would drift off if she could only manage to turn off her mind. But if she slept, she’d dream. If she dreamed, she’d remember.

Still, her body ached for rest. That hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach warned she was running on fumes. She needed to shut out the day. Raven had been cool that night. Nothing scary or weird. That’s what Joy wanted, right? Then why did she feel so empty?

Joy pulled the covers up and buried her head deep into the puffy pillow. Think of good things. Think happy thoughts.

What defined happy anymore? The only happy thoughts Joy could conjure were memories of the past. She could force thoughts of lazy summer days and busy vacations, but they all involved Melanie. Or Austin.

Well, that wasn’t working. She could empty her mind. Try thinking of nothing. Joy stared at the ceiling fan as the blades circulated the stale air in her room.

She and Mel used to lay on the grass and find shapes in the clouds….

No. Don’t go there. Count the blades. Watch them go around and around….

No memories, no dreams….

Was it excusable to kill a best friend for stealing your boyfriend?

Joy sat in her car, idling in Melanie’s driveway as little trick-or-treaters passed by. Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, and the whole gang, with bundled-up parents in tow, crossed the driveway. With one look at Joy’s face, the dad grabbed Buzz’s hand and pulled the group on to the next house
.

Tinker Bell and Captain America were a little more gutsy as they marched right by her and rang the doorbell. No answer
.

Next came a hobo with dirt smudged on his face, his daddy’s shirt down past his knees, and a sack tied to a stick over his shoulder. Poor little boy’s parents couldn’t buy him a real costume?

One by one, kids approached the door and rang the bell, but the door never opened. What would Joy do if Mel came out to give the kids their candy and saw her sitting there? That would be awkward. Maybe it was time to face her demons. Not that she could expect Melanie to answer the door for her when she’d been blowing off the kids
.

Joy’s shoulders slumped as she plodded across the U-shaped driveway. Batman stepped from around the side of the house through the bushes and hopped on the porch. He looked Joy over. “Where’s your costume?”

“What you see here?” Joy gestured to her body. “Trust me. It’s not the real me at all. Not today.”

Batman scowled. Unconvinced
.

She pressed the doorbell
.

Batman waited just behind Joy. After a moment, he stepped forward a few inches and looked her over one more time. He shook his head. He wasn’t buying it at all. No way he would let her uncostumed body get to the candy first. He stepped in front of her and held his bag up to the door
.

A minute passed. Two?

He lowered his bag. “I don’t think they’re home.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think so either. Better move on.” She leaned back to let him pass. Time is candy, kid
.

Batman stared. “Well? You going to go?”

“Yeah. In a minute.”

He shrugged and jumped off the stoop, cape flying behind. He darted off through the bushes toward the next-door neighbor. Cute little boy. Someday he’d break someone’s heart, too. They all did
.

Joy shook her head, attempting to clear the only three-hour-old vision of Melanie kissing Austin … or Austin kissing Melanie … in Joy’s family room. Not that it mattered who kissed whom. Neither looked to be trying to put a stop to it
.

Joy shuddered at the sight of Austin’s hands on Melanie’s body. His body pressed up close against Melanie’s as though they’d been in that embrace before. Would Joy ever be able to sit in that room, her own family room, again without hearing the kissing sounds coming from the two people she’d trusted most?