Who Killed Sarah Foster?

3. And No One Knows It Yet?

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"Don't let go Lee." The old man said. "Embrace it."

"Don't let go." "Embrace it."

"Don't let go." "Embrace it."

"Leah?"

"Don't let go." "Embrace it."

"Don't let go." "Embrace it."

"Don't let go." "Embrace it."

"LEAH!"

Leah started awake from her vivid dream.

"Are you okay?" She pursed her lips and turned to look at Stella. She looked concerned.

"It's just my migraine and lack of sleep," Leah replied, looking around to realize they were at the front of her house. Stella had dropped her off at her home on multiple occasions. "Thanks for helping me out back at school and dropping me off here," Leah said sincerely.

Stella just nodded. "But what were you doing there after class in the first place?"

Leah paused, thinking up a plausible excuse. "I was looking for you only, actually. My head was killing me so I was hoping you could drop me off. My parents are at my grandmother's and I was not in a condition to book a cab."

Stella nodded slowly, not completely convinced by her explanation but she decided not to push it as Leah seemed awfully distressed. Stella had come to terms with the fact that this nice girl would always be weird. She understood why the students treated her so differently... Because Leah acted really differently.

But that did not mean that Stella approved or tolerated the way these pig-headed teenagers treated one another.

Leah said goodbye, getting out of the car. She stayed there on the driveway until she watched the car take the turn at the end of the road.

The neighborhood black cat grabbed her attention as she rubbed herself against her legs. "Hey, Blacky!"

Leah bent down to scratch the back of her ear. She pushed her hand into her pocket and realized she hadn't gotten any food for her. Nor had she fed her in the morning. "I am hoping Mike fed you something." She said sheepishly.

Leah had lectured her brother and had proclaimed that she fed the cat every day and then had managed to completely forget about it.

Well, that sounded just like her. Lifeless and spaced-out.

The cat meowed in protest. She had gotten used to the daily treats.

"Well, your morning meal is still up in my room. Go up there; I will be over in a while." She scratched her ear again and got back up on her feet, making her way back to the house.

"I am home!" Leah called out as she entered the house. Michael was halfway up the stairs when she did. "I will feed the cat." He said all excited.

"You really need to stop being a peeping Tom!" Leah exclaimed as she too raced upward trying to beat him to her room.

"Let me feed her for one day!" Michael whined as they both reached the room. The cat had already made herself comfortable on Leah's bed.

"You fed her all the milk in the morning that I got yesterday, because of which I will have to go to the store again today." Leah pointed out, opening her study desk drawer to get the can of cat food out. "So now, it's my turn!"

"But-"

"You are twenty-seven years old for god's sake Mike! Act your age!" Leah rolled her eyes as she pulled out the food bowl she had hidden away under her bed. Her mother would be really pissed if she got to know a cat has been visiting her home.

"Exactly, I am eleven years older than you. Let your big brother do it!" By the time he finished, she had transferred the food to the bowl and had placed it down on the carpet and Blacky wasted no time in digging into it while Leah seated herself on the floor, rubbing her furry back.

"So unfair!" Michael pouted like the man-child he was as he sat there watching the two on the floor.

"Why did Stella drop you off anyway?" He asked, remembering what he had seen from the window which had actually caught his attention. "Is Paul overwhelming you again?"

Leah looked up at her brother, sighing. "It's someone else."

"Someone else is dead?" He asked, intrigued. He quickly got down on the floor and sat next to her, crossing his legs as he did, all set to listen to this new ghost story.

And Leah told him all that had transpired that day.

That Sarah Foster was dead.

"And no one knows it yet?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

Leah shook her head. She was itching to go find out what had happened. Sarah Foster had died around lunch time so she should have heard an announcement right? There was none so she had reckoned that it was not someone from the school. But then the ghost finally took form and now she knew who it was and that made her wonder why there was no news about it.

Maybe she died in her home and no one was there then. Maybe Calum Foster will walk into his house after his football practice, yelling for his sister who had taken the day off and upon receiving no response, he will barge into her room like Michael always does, and will find her limp body on the floor or hanging from a rope. Or she will be found by the cops in some deserted area. Anything was possible.

"Check the news or the school website?" Michael suggested, feeling sorry for the deceased and her family.

Leah nodded and took out her phone, surfing through it. She didn't have any social media handles, for obvious reasons. There was a time when the school website was filled with gossips about her, of her being possessed and being into witchcraft. They were right about the possession part though, though Leah liked to call it 'hosting the ghost' more than 'being possessed'. Half of her first year was spent on hosting Paul in her body, helping him regain his identity, and trying to make him see some sense.

"There's nothing on the local news or the website." She pursed her lips as she put her phone back into her pocket and looked up at her brother. "I guess nobody knows yet."

"How do you think she died?" He asked, leaning back on the bed frame while Leah picked up the empty can and food bowl, tossing the can into the bin on her way to the bathroom to wash the bowl, which she filled with some water for Blacky to drink.

"I don't know." She sighed as she sat back down on the floor and placed the bowl back on its spot for Blacky. "Suicide? Murder? Accident? It's not of natural causes because she looked really distressed."

"Shouldn't you tell someone?"

"Why? So that I can end up first on the suspect list? Besides, who is going to believe me? Nobody ever did! They think I am a freak even without knowing what I can do!"

Leah's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket to see their mother's face flash across the screen. She sighed and picked up the call.

"Hey, Mom." She said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Hey baby, so I know we said we will be back tonight but grandma was hoping we would stay and you come over." Linda Wayne said from the other side.

"Why?" Leah asked and added to not sound rude. "Is she alright?"

"She is fine darling. She was just hoping we all could go to the early morning mass tomorrow." Linda said, her voice sounding weak and sad.

"It is your brother's seventh death anniversary after all."

Leah looked up at her brother, who returned her stare with equal pain and sadness. Events of that night flashed through her mind. "Yeah, I will be there Mom." She said in a daze but Michael shook his head frantically.

"Lee, I don't want to be alone tomorrow." He begged.

Leah hung up and nodded. "I know. I will be back as soon as the mass is over. And I promise I won't go to school tomorrow. I will spend the whole day with you." She promised and looked down at the cat. "I am sure Blacky will be more than happy to keep you company till then."

Leah made a trip to the grocery store to get cat food and milk before she packed an overnight bag and booked a cab to her grandmother's house, an hour away from hers.

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