Page 54 of No, For An Answer
That she was the most important thing in my life, and I would spend every night dreaming about how she would taste against my lips. I’d spend my days sitting behind her in class, waiting for her to turn around, just to smile at me. The strawberry smell herhair gave off when she would flick her hair over her shoulders is why I love the taste and smell of the fruit.
Tears trace my cheeks and I hate that I’m crying. I hate that memories are all I have left of her. She knew I would avenge her when she left me the diary. She knew exactly what I would do. It’s why she left the last page for me. It’s why, when I read her declaration of love, my mind, body, and soul cracked into a million pieces. I don’t know when I decided to go on a killing spree, I just knew the moment it came into my mind I had to do it.
“We did it Maisy,” I smile to myself. Taking in a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. Tears weren’t going to help her now. She was already dead.
“I knew you would.” Her voice fills the air and I freeze.
This can’t be my mind playing tricks on me.
“Never doubted you for a second.”
Maisy?
Slowly, I look up. The sun shining so bright within my eyes, I have to squint. Holding my hand up to my forehead, I create a shield for my eyes so I’m able to see more clearly. When they finally adjust to the light and relax, I’m able to look upon the face of my angel. My Maisy.
“M-Maisy?” I stutter.
There’s no way she could be here.
No way I’m looking into her beautiful honey-coloured eyes again. She giggles and it’s a sound I never knew I missed until right now. “How are you…” I scramble back. “What is-”
“Come here.” She holds her hand out and smiles down at me. Her smile is just as perfect as the day I first received one. Sliding my hand in hers the radio host continues behind me.
“Police are wheeling out two stretchers as we speak. The bodies of Nathan Danvers and Jesse Richmond were found within the first-floor bedroom of the residence…”
Standing up, I look down at my girl. My Maisy. She looks just as perfect as the last day I saw her. Her long, poker straight, brown hair flows behind her as the wind slices through it like beautiful ribbons. Her beautiful eyes glisten as the light hits the right angle and shows the different shades in her irises.
“B-but I don’t understand, you’re s-supposed to be…” I stutter, the words caught in my throat as she lifts a single hand, tucking strands of my blonde hair back behind my ear. “What’s happening right now?”
“I came to get you, Ash,” she smiles. I always had a few inches of height on Maisy. She was perfect and compact, and I wished most days she was small enough for me to stick her in my pocket and carry her everywhere. “Can’t leave you here alone,” she shrugs gently. Searching her face, I realise I don’t care if this is real or not. She’s here and I don’t care.
Latching my arms around her waist, I pull her against me. She mirrors me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck as we stand there for the longest time. Just holding each other. Dipping my face into the crook of her neck, I breathe her in. The smell of flowers, the smell I’ve missed. “I’ve missed you,” I mumble against her soft skin.
“I’ve missed you too.”
“Wait a moment, I… I understand that a third body has been found inside the house. It seems that the Danvers residence is now the scene of a murder-suicide according to sources at the scene.”
Turning my head and stiffening, I stand straighter, looking at the radio. “A third body? There wasn’t anyone else there after-”
“Ashley,” she whispers. “Ashley, I need you to listen to me.”
“The body of nineteen-year-old, Ashley Jane Porter. Sources claim she was found with her wrists cut in the bathroom, clutching the diary of Maisy Anne Lee. The young woman that committed suicide at Brown University last year.”
I stop breathing. My lungs frozen on the exhale as her soft fingertips graze my chin. “Ashley, look at me.” Everything is frozen in time as the light shines brighter around the both of us. Drowning everything out. I look down at her and she smiles, sadly this time. “I need you to remember.”
“Remember what?” I’m so confused, I don’t understand what the fuck is going on. “I’m not… I’m not…”
“Baby.” The word stills me, and I focus on her and nothing but her.
“Did he, did he kill me?”
“Ashley, baby, he didn’t… there was nohim...” She holds me closer. “Please remember.”
“I… I don’t.” In an instant the memories come flooding back into my mind as they all cram in one after the other. Forcing their way back into each thought. “When you died, I… Fuck.”
She looks up at me, caressing my face. “You had a-”
“Psychological break.” I finish for her. I slowly start to piece everything together. Remembering the screaming when my mom told me what happened. I was such a danger to myself; I tried suicide twice. The feel of the padded walls against my fingers as the memory of me in solitary pushes to the forefront of my mind.
