Who Killed Sarah Foster?

9. I am So Sorry

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"Let's go." Calum breathed out and turned to his friends. "We are going somewhere. I will meet you guys tomorrow."

His entire squad looked at him like he was crazy but he didn't give them any more time to react as he motioned Leah to get in the passenger's side while he got into the driver's.

"Where are you guys going?" Tristan Brown, Calum's best friend since kindergarten approached his side of the jeep.

"I will tell you once I figure out what's going on." Calum replied, starting the engine.

"Is this about Sarah?" It was the only possible reason Tristan could think of that would have Calum mingling with someone like Leah Wayne.

"Yeah." The word came out breezy from his lips as he drove off the parking lot.

He glanced over at Leah, who looked faint and pale. "Do you want to go to the hospital or something first?"

He convinced himself that he was just extremely worried about the girl beside him, who looked like she had woken up from her grave, but the truth was that he was trying to put it off. Because the longer Leah's words played in his brain, the surer he became that he will indeed find his sister's dead body in that tree house.

"How do you know about the tree house?" He asked, his hands shaking. "Even I had forgotten about it. And I built it."

Leah shook her head and said, "Just hurry. I need to go home!"

Calum was frustrated with the character next to him. She didn't make sense. Was that why she didn't interact with others? Because she knew others wouldn't understand what she was trying to say? Was she some sort of a psychic?

"Are you some sort of psychic?" He asked out loud, his curiosity getting the better of him, though he wished she would just say it was a wild guess from a rare conversation she had with his sister, in the school rooftop away from the eyes of others, maybe. Maybe his sister told her she used to hide in the blue tree house her older brother built when she was angry?

But she stopped doing that since she was twelve. Maybe their big fight had her doing that yet again? But it had been weeks! Was she sneaking into the house and getting all necessary items when it was empty?

He took a sharp turn and entered the gates of the huge estate he called home. He stopped on the driveway before they reached the entrance of the house and got down, and so did Leah.

He quickly grabbed her by the arm, shocked at how cold her skin was.

"I asked you something: are you a psychic or something?"

She looked over at the woods that circled the estate, staring straight ahead at where the tree house should be.

"I am a freak." She replied and walked into the woods, followed by a very confused and frightened Calum who was shocked to see how well she knew the path that led to the tree house, though he was positive that this girl had never set foot in this property.

They came to the clearing and they looked up at the tree house, the rope ladder no where in sight.

"I don't think she is in there. The ladder is missing." Calum said, looking up. Young Calum had used his skills to make a rope ladder which was pulled up with a peddle and it was empty. She couldn't have gotten in without the ladder and she couldn't have taken it off either. "You were wrong."

Calum finally looked down to face Leah but she was standing up ahead, directly below the tree house, rooted to her spot and frozen, her face contorted in pure terror.

Calum felt his heart beat quicken and his hands turn cold as he joined her and looked up at what she was staring at. Through a hole in the wooden floor of the treehouse, he could see a bluish-green foot swaying, flies swarming around it, and the stench hit him directly in the face, making him stumble back and fall on the ground. He shook violently as sobs erupted from his chest. It hurt. It hurt so much that he forgot how to breathe. He punched at his chest to make the pain go away but it wouldn't. It sucked out the oxygen in his lungs as he struggled to let even his screams out.

"Call... Call... 911...please!!" He wheezed out but Leah just stood there, looking up, not moving an inch and barely breathing. "LEAH!"

Leah turned around slowly, looking him dead in the eye. Her eyes held no more emotion. It was like a ghostly peace settled over her. "I am sorry." She said. "I am so sorry."

"How did you know?" Calum forced himself to ask. How did she f*****g know though his heart told him she had nothing to do with it? How could she know when she didn't even know his sister? "Just tell me, how did you know?"

Leah inhaled a deep quick breath, clutching her chest. And she collapsed to the floor.

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"Lee, baby wake up."

Leah winced as the bright light hit her eyes.

"Hey baby..."

Leah looked up at her mother who was stroking her hair.

"What happened?"

"You collapsed baby." She said in a calm voice. "Honey, I am sorry about what happened to your friend. The sight must have shocked you that you fainted but the doctor was saying your heart beat increased to an extremely high rate. And that it was uncommon for it to happen from shock."

Tachycardia. It was one of the conditions that could occur due to hosting, but her mother didn't know that. She didn't need to know that.

"I am fine now." She whispered as she sat up.

"Of course you are honey." She smiled. "A good night's rest did you good."

Leah was confused. She had slept through the night?

"And I have let your school know that you won't be coming in till next Monday. The funeral is on Sunday by the way." She whispered out the last sentence.

Leah nodded and looked down at her hands as flashes of Sarah struggling came into her mind. Strong hands wrapped around her neck, dragging her through the rotten floor of the tree house. She was murdered. Leah wondered what was the conclusion the cops had come to.

Leah was too weak. She decided to relax herself and not think too much into it. She wanted to help. She was going to help, but for that she had to regain her strength. She had to stay as far away from paranormality as possible for the time being.

"Mom, I want to go stay with Grandma Nelly." Vanessa Claire was her mother's mother who lived in a cabin by the lakeside, and she had the most beautiful place devoid of any deceased soul or inhuman spirit. As much as she loved Paul and Michael, she really didn't have the energy to be around them right now.

"Anything you want darling. We will go right home and pack and take you there."

Leah shook her head. "No, you go get my stuff for me. I want to go to hers straight from here."

Linda was taken aback by her daughter's sudden change in speech. She never raised her voice or got angry. But then again, her friend had died and she had to see the horrible sight so Linda could understand how traumatized she was.

Linda nodded and kissed her child's forehead before leaving her alone, driving back to the house to get the bags packed.

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