The New Girl Who Found A Dead Body Part 18

Emma smiled, teeth showing, "I like bathtubs. After I saw Ted Kelly hanging in the bathtub I really got an affinity for them."

"Did you kill Ted too?" Chloe felt like she couldn't take any more horrific news.

Emma shook her head, almost sad, "I didn't, but I was the one that found him first. I left before anyone knew, but it was the most prolific moment in my life. It was the moment I knew Lora Kelly had to die."

"You found him?" Chloe was dumbfounded.

Emma nodded, "He texted me right before he did it. Even though Lora had made me a pariah, Ted and I were still secretly best friends. Lora wouldn't let him come out. He wanted to date Mike Donahue, not Kate. Lora was afraid he would ruin her reputation. Lora killed him."

Chloe was shocked. No wonder Kate had major trust issues with guys. Her first major boyfriend was gay and not out of the closet. Lora had ruined a lot of lives.

Chloe didn't have time to think about the past. She needed to figure out how to get away from Emma and her chilling confessions. Chloe struggled with the ropes around her feet and wrists, but her limbs were so numb now that her attempts had no effect on loosening her bonds.

"I think it's time," Emma said, looking down at Chloe.

Chloe tried to move away from her, but there was nothing to do. Emma reached onto the bathroom counter and Chloe saw that she was holding one of the large knives that had been in the knife block in the kitchen. Her blood suddenly ran as cold as the water she was sitting in.

Emma reached down to cut her with the knife and Chloe bit her as hard as she could, just above the elbow.

Emma screamed, "You b.i.t.c.h!"

Emma threw down the knife in a rage and leapt at Chloe, shoving her body and head completely under the water. Chloe panicked. She couldn't breathe. She didn't dare breathe. There wasn't enough air. Her mind flashed back to a week before when she had almost drowned in the ocean. Her lungs were burning. She was struggling against Emma with all her might and losing. Emma's weight was easily holding her underneath the water, with the bonds around her wrists and feet a.s.sisting. Chloe could see Emma's rage filled face through the water above her. Was this really the last sight she was going to see? How could Emma get away with this insanity?

Suddenly Chloe felt herself floating to the surface. Emma wasn't on top of her anymore. She gulped in the cold air gratefully. Where was Emma? Why had she released her before killing her? Chloe was still slumped in the tub, head just above water. She frantically struggled with her bonds, but they stayed just as tight. She had to get out of the bathtub. She wouldn't get another chance to get free. There had to be something that she could do to save herself.

A face suddenly appeared above her. It was Grey. He looked as frantic as she felt. He lifted her out of the water, soaking himself in the process.

"Chloe? Are you okay? Are you okay?" Grey was holding her to his chest, clutching her as if he never wanted to let her go.

"Emma!" Chloe managed to croak. "She's crazy. You have to get out of here. She's trying to kill me. She..."

"I know. I know," Grey said, stroking Chloe's hair. "I just locked her in the hallway closet. You're okay."

Chloe could now hear the banging and screaming coming from the hallway. Chills shot up her spine.

"Are you sure? We have to get out of here," Chloe felt unsafe. She struggled with the ropes on her wrists.

"She's not going to get out," Grey said, confidently, moving to help Chloe untie the ropes binding her hands.

Chloe felt herself tremble anyway as she heard Emma slam herself into the closet door, "But how did you get here? How did you know?"

"I didn't. I was just coming over to talk to you," Grey said, struggling with the knots.

And then, her hands were free and Grey was reaching for the ropes binding her feet. Chloe tried to move her hands and found them completely week and useless. Her feet were the same. She was freezing. Chloe sat on the bathroom floor s.h.i.+vering. Grey finished untying the ropes, as her teeth started chattering.

"You're so cold," Grey said, reaching for some towels hanging on a rack nearby.

"You need to call the police. Emma is totally nuts. She could still kill us both," Chloe felt herself saying. The world felt so surreal.

Grey came back, wrapping Chloe in a towel, "You're in shock, Chloe. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine," Chloe said, although she was barely able to move her almost frozen body.

She wanted nothing more than to lie on the bathroom floor and sleep, preferably with a heated blanket, for a long, long time. Grey was rubbing her shoulders rapidly, trying to restore the heat in her limbs.

"You need to call the police and an ambulance," Chloe said again, thinking of Jake and Kate in the other room, hoping that they would be all right too. Her mind was slowly starting to grasp the situation as she started to warm up, and it was almost too horrible to comprehend.

"I called as soon as I saw Jake. They should be here any second. I didn't know what to think when I saw Jake and Kate lying on the floor like that. I didn't know if I was wrong and you were the one that had gone insane and then I heard Emma talking to you and I followed the sound. I couldn't believe it. It's like something you'd see in a movie or on television, but never in real life. And, I dated her," Grey said.

Chloe could finally feel her fingers and her toes again. They hurt. Her head was still throbbing and she was having slight trouble focusing on Grey's face, but she was just happy to be alive. "I'm so glad you didn't just try calling me."

"I did and I sent you a text. I wanted to see you. Without a third wheel. We never got to be alone tonight. So, I decided to stop by your house. I got you flowers and I thought I'd try a grand gesture to show you that I was serious about dating you. When I came to the door, it was open, and that's when I saw Jake and knew something was definitely wrong," Grey said, looking into Chloe's eyes.

"Thank you for finding me," Chloe said, looking back at him and leaning toward him.

Their lips touched and his kiss warmed her mouth. It was another moment she wished would last forever.

"Nooooooo!" a primal scream echoed across the bathroom.

Grey spun away from Chloe just in time for both of them to see Emma lunging at them with the knife in her hands, outstretched, aiming to kill. There was a gunshot and Emma fell off to the side in front of them, a hole through her back.

Chloe and Grey looked blankly at the police officer, who was standing on the other side of the bathroom door, holding a gun. They stared back at him in complete shock. Another officer joined him in the hallway and bent over Emma. She was dead. Grey moved back to Chloe and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. She buried her face in his chest and let herself feel safe in his arms.

Chapter 21: The California Girl.

Chloe was enjoying the sun s.h.i.+ning on her face and the breeze blowing across her body from the ocean. After the craziness with Emma, her close call with the ocean was a distant memory. Besides, it was another perfect California day. She wanted to enjoy them while they lasted. Grey was lying next to her, holding her hand as he slept on his towel, using the sand as a mattress.

The night Emma went on her rampage, Chloe, Jake, and Kate had been admitted to the hospital. Grey had spent the night in her hospital room. Jeanette had wanted to stay with Jake and Grey had promised to be vigilant at Chloe's bedside. Kate's parents had come to stay with her. Jake had suffered a concussion and numerous cuts and bruises, including a long gash down the side of his face. The doctors told him that plastic surgery was the only way to minimize the scar that was probably going to form.

Kate had been in the hospital for observation of the b.u.mp on her head, but she was released the next morning into the custody of her parents. She had stopped into Chloe's room to apologize for everything, including ripping apart Teddy and following her and Emma that night in the car, her older brother's car. She had just wanted to see where they went. She hadn't been trying to run them off the road and kill them. Chloe believed her. Kate did seem really sorry about everything. Still, Kate claimed no knowledge of the note stolen from Chloe's backpack. Chloe wondered again what had happened to it. Had she dropped it at the coffee shop? She would probably never know for sure. It didn't matter now anyway. It was all over.

Kate promised to get counseling. Chloe wished her well and secretly wondered if she had been in to apologize to Jake as well. Chloe was released later the same day. The doctors had been concerned about hypothermia and a concussion, but she was finally deemed well enough to go home.

The nightmares had started immediately after that night and going back to school had been almost as terrifying as her dreams. Chloe was glad that they had all missed the dance, as much as she had originally wanted to go. She, Jake, Kate, and Grey were treated as mini celebrities. They had survived a ma.s.s murderer. It was her first day of school all over again, with the whispering and Chloe couldn't stand the surge in her morbid popularity. Thank goodness, it was starting to slowly die down again now that things were getting back to normal and boring.

Chloe looked up from Grey out to the water where Jake was swimming in the ocean. It really was a perfect weekend. Jake saw her looking at him and waved. Chloe waved back. He was okay with her and Grey now, although every once in a while she almost thought Jake might be a little jealous that he wasn't in Grey's place. Chloe was sure he'd find another girlfriend soon enough, if he and Kate didn't eventually get back together.

Chloe turned her attention back to Grey and squeezed his hand.

"What's up?" he asked, shading his eyes to look up at her.

"Nothing," Chloe said, smiling down at him, "It's just a really perfect day."

Chloe leaned down and kissed Grey on the lips. After finding a dead body, being stalked, and almost being murdered, her life in California was finally starting for the better. Chloe was happy. Finally.

Connected Excerpt

Read an excerpt from Milda Harris' next book - available August 2011!

The only thing I remember about my life, is the moment of my death. The doctors were hovering above me. I saw their faces, unfamiliar faces, twisted with the task at hand a saving me. They didn't know me, but it was their job to help me. There was no concern in their eyes, just logistics. Could I be saved? I saw them toiling over me, through the waves of pain, shooting through my body. I hurt everywhere. I couldn't even figure out the source of my pain. My chest? My head? The shooting pains through my arms and legs? It hurt so much.

I saw a nurse a.s.sisting. There was worry in her eyes. She hadn't steeled herself against concern for her patients, like the doctors had. I didn't look good. I could tell she didn't think I was going to make it.

"Drew? Drew? Can you hear me Drew?" I heard someone saying, over and over again.

There was a lot of blood. It must have been mine. The doctors were covered in it. What had happened to me? Why couldn't I remember? I didn't want to die. I was too young. I hadn't done anything yet. I hadn't made my mark. I felt regret.

Still, I wasn't scared. Perhaps I should have been, but I wasn't. Death started to seem right. My life as I had known it was slipping away. It was time for my life to change. I needed to embrace death. I felt calm. Then the pain stopped. Relief swept through me as the pain left my body. I was at peace. Then I was above myself and not in my body anymore. I stared at the doctors working on me. That gangly boy with the blood matted brown hair lying on the table was me and yet it wasn't me anymore. The doctors were still trying desperately to keep me alive. They weren't going to be able to, but the process of saving my life didn't seem so important to me anymore. They were frantic and it didn't matter.

It was time. I decided to leave the room and my body behind. As I left, I heard a buzzing sound. The alarms on the medical machines went suddenly haywire. The doctors and nurses moved faster. I kept walking. This was the moment I died and left the living world behind. It all seemed very logical and normal at the time to walk away from my life. My memories of that living world were gone. I was moving on.

I went out into the hallway. It was a typical hospital corridor. The walls were white and doctors and nurses were all rus.h.i.+ng around in their uniforms and bright white Jackson Community Hospital nameplates trying to save other people. There were regular people in the hallway too, hospital visitors waiting to hear about friends and family members, but I didn't really pay attention to them. I had somewhere to go.

I pa.s.sed a waiting room and saw a group of people huddled together crying. They seemed almost familiar. My family? Friends? A girlfriend? I felt like they could be any or all of those things and yet they were now like strangers to me. I'm sure I had loved them. I'm sure they had been important to me. I would have stopped to see and explore who was there, but I needed to keep walking. It was a forceful pull, more than a choice. I could not linger and watch them. I needed to go. It was as if I was being pulled away from my old life by a force that I couldn't see. I had no urge to resist. I only felt peace and serenity and the pull.

n.o.body noticed me as I walked down the hallway. I don't even know if walked is the right word, maybe floated is better. I felt lighter than air and I don't think I touched the ground as I walked, even though I felt my legs move.

Finally, I came to a wall and stopped. I knew I was supposed to be there, something almost instinctive had led me to this exact spot. I carefully put my hands on the surface of the wall. Amazed, I watched my hands pa.s.s through it into an unseen place. After a moment's hesitation and a twinge of fear, I walked right into the wall and through it. It was what I was supposed to do. The force was pulling me forward.

The place beyond the wall is difficult to describe. Words don't seem to have enough meaning, but I'll try anyway. It was dark there. I couldn't see even an inch in front of me. I seemed to be alone, yet I sensed that others were there with me in the darkness. Occasionally, there were distant flashes of light, that disappeared as quickly as they appeared. They were almost like shooting stars flying across the night sky.

I sensed I was moving, but I didn't seem to be going anywhere at all. There was no sound, no smell. Yet, it was tranquil. I wasn't scared. I felt comforted. For a few seconds, I actually found myself at peace. It was a pure sort of peace with no worries or fears or hurting. I felt overwhelming freedom and safety. I was free, truly free, for the first time in my life. It was amazing in its perfection. Was this heaven? A waiting place that would take me to heaven? I couldn't imagine feeling anything more wondrous and perfect than I felt at that moment. There were infinite amazing possibilities in this fantastically serene place.

And, then that perfection was gone, shattered by a shrill cry from behind me, where I thought the wall I had just pa.s.sed through had been. I couldn't stay in this place anymore. I needed to follow the sound of the cry. Whatever caused it seemed to be calling out to me. It was a calling that struck me as so innate that I couldn't help but follow it. I was drawn to it despite my overwhelming want to stay in the wondrous world I had only been in for moments, but wanted to stay in forever. Suddenly nothing mattered more than that cry. So, without a moment's hesitation, I turned toward the crying, and pa.s.sed through another wall.

I found myself in the same hospital, only it looked a little bit different. I know it was the same hospital because the nurses I saw rus.h.i.+ng around all wore the same Jackson Community Hospital nameplates. It was different, though, because this place had light blue and pink walls and when I pa.s.sed the nurses' station, as I moved toward the increasingly ear-shattering wail, I saw a smiling woman in a hospital gown holding a baby and showing it off to some of the nurses. They were all smiling and talking. They didn't seem to be bothered by the piercing scream and n.o.body seemed to notice my presence. Then the bawling stopped, and with the silence, I felt a growing sense of urgency to find its source. It was very important that I hurry. Timing was imperative. I looked around, seeing a series of doorways that I could pa.s.s through. I felt suddenly unsure. Which door? I felt a pull and immediately followed it, entering the room where I thought I would find the origin of the wailing.

As I stepped inside, I found myself in a birthing room. A doctor and a few nurses surrounded a blonde woman, who looked exhausted. A man, most likely her husband, stood by her bed holding her hand.

"One more push," The doctor said.

The woman pushed, sweat pouring down her face. A baby was being born. I could see the head of the baby, followed by the body, as the doctor caught it in his arms. It was amazing. The baby started wailing as the doctor moved to tend to the child. Was the baby the source of the urgent cry I had heard? I couldn't look away from the child. I followed the doctor as he looked the baby over. I quickly saw it was a girl. She was perfect. Her blue eyes seemed to stare into mine and she stopped crying. I couldn't stop looking at her, from her porcelain skin to her pet.i.te nose to her perfect tiny fingers and toes, to the tuft of wet blonde hair on the top of her head. She was mesmerizing.

A moment later, satisfied that the baby was clean and well, the doctor brought the baby over to the woman and the anxious man standing next to her. I followed, drawn to the girl, not wanting to even lose sight of her.

The doctor smiled at the new parents, "Congratulations, you have a beautiful, healthy baby girl."

The couple smiled at each other, a moment of pure bliss as they met their new daughter. It was bizarre. As the doctor handed the mother her baby and the new parents looked happily and lovingly down at their new daughter, I felt the most profound sense of loss.

About the Author.

Milda Harris is a Chicago girl who is pursuing her screenwriting dreams in Hollywood. She likes silly sports like Dodgeball and Kickball and loves John Hughes teen movies. Between working in production on television shows like That's So Raven and Hannah Montana and playing with her super cute dog Licorice, she writes young adult and chick lit novels.

This book started as a NaNoWriMo novel. In August 2011, watch for the young adult paranormal romance novel, Connected. And, be sure to check out the young adult chick lit murder mystery Adventures in Funeral Cras.h.i.+ng (Funeral Cras.h.i.+ng #1).

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