Page 59 of The Devil We Crave
It’s the same cherry-red.
Same handwriting.
Dread pools in my core as I swallow heavily, trying not to shake.
“Someone knows about those panties I yoinked for you,” Damiano growls. “Have you said anything to anybody?”
I quickly shake my head. “No! Honestly, no one.”
It's true. I didn’t even tell my friends, because that would prompt questions I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay answering.
He nods. “Okay, I believe you.” He frowns and glances around my room again. “If they didn’t do shit to you, that’s good. I'm okay being on the radar of whoever this is, but I don’t wantyouinvolved.” His jaw tightens. “Anything weird happen to you today?”
Images of the locker room mirror flicker through my head, making me shiver.
“No,” I say quickly. “Nothing.”
Damiano insists on checking in my closet, under my bed, behind my dresser and in the shared bathroom. Then he inspects Wren’s room. She asks him if he’s looking for ghosts.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he says. I laugh, but out of nerves, not humor.
After Damiano leaves, my phone dings with a text from the gymnasium management.
KU - Montclair Gymnasium Front Desk
Hello Ms. De Luca. Did you take a photo of the vandalism you saw in the women’s locker room earlier today? Our staff was unable to find anything when we went to clean it up. Thank you! - Rachel
My stomach knots as I re-read the message.
How thehellcould they miss it? I immediately told the front desk after I ran out of the locker room andwatched the girlget up from the desk and walk back in their direction.
…Did someone really wipe it off in a matter of seconds?
Maybe it wasn't there in the first place.
Maybe you're seeing things.
I swallow.
…Maybe things are seeingyou.
Haunting me. Hunting me. Cursing me.
I’m not superstitious. But later, as I’m sinking into my pillow and pulling the blankets up to my chin, an uncomfortable thought slides into my head.
AmI being haunted?
I had Damiano steal a dead girl’s panties, and used them to try to frame my abuser for murder.
Yes, sometimes bad things must be done to stop bad people.
But maybe doing those bad things comes at a price.
And maybe that price is an angry, lost ghost…
11
ACHILLES
