Page 6 of Half Truths (Secret Society 1)
“I guess I shouldn’t make fun of you about the roommate thing,” Celia said. “Before this, I had the same roommate since freshman year, but she transferred out after what happened last year. Lana lived in the building right next to ours.”
“I expected vigils and posters everywhere, but so far you’re the second person to talk to me about it. Where’s the outrage? The concern? The nightly searches?” I asked. “I looked online and the last one I found happened like two months ago.”
“Yeah.” Celia walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch. I sat across from her, knee bouncing as I waited for her to give me the inside scoop. Normally students talked more than staff, so I was sure she had her own take on what happened. “Honestly, people are still looking, but it’s more on the downlow now. I think we’re all scared, you know? Like, maybe if we don’t talk about it, it never actually happened?”
“But it did happen. And a missing student isn’t really something people should forget.”
A missing rich, beautiful, female student that the news talked about on loop was even less likely to forget, so why try? Why not look for her?
“The media is saying she ran away. It’s happened before, from this very campus. Girls have run off with bad-boy boyfriends, some pregnant, some not. Guys have run off with boyfriends because they knew they wouldn’t be accepted by their families. It’s not uncommon.”
“That’s not Lana though.” I shook my head.
Celia frowned. “Did you know her?”
“Sort of. She and I went to the same high school. She was a year ahead, but we had shared interests, worked for the paper together before she graduated.”
She stared at me for a beat. “Will you be okay when I move out? Do you want me to help you find another roommate?”
“I’ll be fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. I’m terrified of living alone after what happened.”
“Do you think it would happen again?”
“It could. If you listen to the conspiracy theories around here.” She gave me a grave look. “Personally, I think she was being followed and targeted.”
“What conspiracy theories? And why? I heard they didn’t even ask for ransom.”
“I heard they never even called after they took her.”
“Did the building have a camera?” My stomach twisted. “Don’t they have video surveillance somewhere?”
“Nope. Not according to the police anyway. The entire thing is very sad and worrying,” she said. “Anyway, this entire thing is creeping me out and I already know I’m going to have nightmares, so let’s change the subject. What are you majoring in?”
“Business and English. Double major.”
“What are you going to do with that?”
“Hopefully work for an online journal or newspaper.”
“That sounds cool. I’m a psych major, but I think I want to work in career services.”
“For a university?”
“Yup. Hopefully this one. Right now, I work at the career services office shuffling papers. My boyfriend got me the position to help pay for my books, so being there has made me realize that I want to help college graduates find jobs.”
“It’ll look good on your resume,” I pointed out. “Maybe they’ll hire you once you graduate.”
“Maybe. That’s the goal.” She smiled.
We talked for a little while longer about our schedules during weekdays and weekends. I liked to sleep in. Celia liked to get up at the crack of dawn, no matter what day of the week it was. As far as first days went, we seemed to be a good fit. When we went our separate ways, she went to call her boyfriend, whom she’d been dating for three years and also attended school here. According to what she told me, when they weren’t together, they always called each other at seven thirty. I went to my bedroom to unpack the few things I had on hand, showered, and changed into my silk pajamas.
I was putting my hair into a braid as I walked past the bay window in my bedroom when I saw four figures walking to the other side of the street.
Two had lit cigarettes dangling from their hands. The other two were looking straight ahead. They were all dressed in dark clothes and had stopped just at the edge of the park, near one of the oak trees that had surely seen and heard a lot more than we ever would. I watched as they stood there talking. It seemed like an odd place for four men to be at this time of night. I sat on the bench beside the window and tried to get a closer look. I was on the fourth floor, and they were far enough away from the street light that I couldn’t make out their faces. My curiosity got the best of me, and I squinted, pressing as close as I could to the window, until my forehead touched it. One head glanced up toward me, as if sensing me sitting there. Him. The rude guy I’d bumped into earlier. I was only four stories up, and the light of my nightstand was on, but I was sure he couldn’t see me, not really anyway, but it felt like he was looking right at me, into me. The sound of the front door of my apartment slamming made my heart thump into my chest, pulling me from my trance. I looked away for a second to listen for Celia, and when I looked back outside, they were all gone. I blinked. I wasn’t crazy, but was it possible I’d imagined them there?
