The phone in my room rings and I grab it. “Hey, it’s Kelly. I have a walk in with no requests are you free?”
“Yep, I’ll be out in a minute.” I check my phone and let Jake know everything is okay. He must have sent me four or five different texts since he left. I love that he is so protective of me.
I walk up to the desk letting Kelly know I’m ready. “Camden,” she calls.
Camden? It can’t be him. I look up stunned to see the last person I ever thought I would. He looks just as shocked to see me.
“Nina? You work here?” Camden is my stepbrother. I haven’t seen him since I left home.
“Um, yeah.” I have no idea how to act. This is like the epitome of awkward.
“If this is weird I can just…” He motions to the door.
“No, it’s okay.” I start walking toward the back and he follows me. I ask him all the normal questions as I would any other customer. When I leave him in the room, I try to regain my composure. This is so weird. We were never close and I have no idea what to say to him.
Just another thing to make this day super awesome.
Chapter Sixteen
Nina
I head back into the room where Camden is now lying face down on the massage table. What do I even say to him? Anything new happen in the six years since I’ve been gone? I left him and my parents without warning and without explanation. My mom spent months trying to convince me I wasn’t to blame for what happened with Carly. I was though, she was my sister I should have seen it coming. She needed me and I wasn’t there for her.
“You should stop by the house.” His voice is calm, thank God he isn’t looking at me. My facial expression is not one that I would have wanted him to see. I have no intentions of going back to that house. There is nothing for me there except pain and regret. I miss my parents but every time my mom looks at me I feel like she sees Carly. I used to see the pain in her eyes, and the way most of the time she would avoid looking at me.
My mood has been so differently lately, I’ve been happy. I haven’t really been happy since I lost her. Now that Camden has popped up it just reminds me of how much I lost. I feel guilty for being so happy, for living my life when hers ended.
“My neck has really been bothering me lately if you could pay a little more attention to it.”
“Sure.” He breaks me out of my loathing. Let’s get this shit over with. Once he leaves, I ask Kelly if they need me to stay or if I can leave. Two of the other girls are here and free so she lets me go. Between this morning and Camden showing up I need a break. Jake had texted me telling me to come over when I was done, but right now all I want to do is sleep. I need to work this shit out in my head and I’m not ready to tell him anything yet.
I head to my apartment going straight to my room and face planting on the bed. I pray that I can dream of Carly, that I can see her face, that somehow she can help me figure my shit out. “I really need my angel right now, sis.”
I walk through the woods. Carly is always so good at hiding. “I give up!” I’ve been searching for her for way too long. “Carly!” I hear laughing and spin around trying to catch sight of her. I walk toward the sound.
“Nina, no!” I hear my sister scream from the opposite direction. “Come this way!”
I follow the voice. “Carly?” I feel a hand touch me and I scream.
“Shh, you have to be quiet. They’ll hear you.” She tugs me down and I follow her as she crawls inside a hollowed out tree.
My arms wrap around her hugging her as tight as I can. “I’ve missed you so much. Who will hear me? What is going on?” I whisper my heartbeat speeding up as I see how nervous she is.
“I don’t have long, Nina, you have to listen to me. You need to trust Jake.”
“Carly, I don’t want to talk about him right now. I need you to tell me why you’ve come to me now. I’ve never been able to dream about you unless it’s a memory.” I’ve always had nightmares of that night, and lately I’ve been dreaming of old memories.
“No, you have to listen. Jake can save you. Trust him.” Her hands rest on my shoulders. Her eyes are pleading with me.
“Save me from what? I don’t—” her hand clamps down over my mouth as we watch a pair of feet walk past our tree. Carly’s hand is shaking and she is so tense. She’s scared of whoever that is. I try to lower my head to look but she starts shaking her head as tears well in her eyes.
“I have to go and so do you. Trust Jake. One more thing, you need to stay away from—”
“Nina!” I jolt awake, sitting straight up in my bed.
“No, Carly!” I look around for her. Shit. Stay away from who?
My door swings open and Jake is standing there. “Jesus, are you okay?”
His arms wrap around me. I start to shake and cry. I can’t believe I talked to her. Was it real? She was trying to warn me to stay away from someone, but I woke up. I cling to Jake no longer afraid to trust him. I asked my sister for help and she delivered. She said I could trust him, that he would save me. The only thing is that I don’t know what I need saving from.
“Hey.” He pulls away, his hands cupping my face wiping away the tears that are falling. “What’s going on?”
“I just need you right now.” He nods, his arms tightening around me once more. He lies down pulling me next to him. I can’t believe I just admitted that to him. I never admit to needing anyone. I bury my face in his chest, letting him envelop and surround me. I need his comfort, I need to feel safe. Whoever Carly was scared of, it was for good reason. Could it be the person who sent me the notes? We stayed there for the longest time, neither of us moving or speaking. I hear the door open and close knowing that Tina must be home from work. I can’t stay in bed all day hiding from the unknown.
I lift my head up and look at Jake. “Thank you for being here.”
He leans his head down and kisses me. “Anytime you need me I’ll be here, babe. You scared me. I tried calling you and I didn’t get an answer. I called the spa and they said you left early. You know you really need to start locking your door.”
I nod, I have always been horrible with that. Tina yells at me all the time. “I think I have some stuff I need to tell you.” My body begins to shake and Jake looks at me with worry in my eyes. “It’s about who I was visiting at the cemetery. She was my sister.” I tell him about the way Carly had been acting and then about the night I found her. I have to stop multiple times through the story just to be able to finish it. “After I lost her…” My voice breaks once more, as tears continue to fall. “…I lost myself. I didn’t go back to school, I just did all my assignments from home. I didn’t go to graduation because of the memorial they were planning. I couldn’t bear to accept that she was gone. Whenever anyone tried to talk to me about it, I shut down. My mom tried to get me to talk to someone I refused to go. I felt like I deserved to live in pain, because I was to blame for her being gone.”
“Why would you think you were the reason? Nina, it sounds like Carly was just really unhappy for some reason. That isn’t your fault.” His hand is sliding up and down my arm giving me the courage I need to continue.
“It was my fault, Jake. I should have been there for her, I could have stopped her. She always listened to me. I was self-centered, and oblivious to the amount of pain my sister was in. I might as well have just killed her myself.” I sob loudly completely breaking down.