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11
FOSTER
“I…” Raina stared at me as if I were talking in a foreign language. Then, she began to shake her head. “No. That’s—Are you sure? How do you know?”
“My friends told me this morning,” I said, wincing in apology. “I guess you were at their party last night.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she’d been with her sister, but then I’d probably have to tell her that her sister had died along with her, and I just couldn’t do that yet. “From what I was told, you learnedIwas at Javonte Witt’s place, so you left to go to Javonte’s. My buddy Parker paid for your ride.”
Snapping her fingers, she pointed at me, murmuring, “Yes. Parker. I remember Parker.” Pausing to tip her head thoughtfully, she added, “I think he wanted to sleep with me.”
“Yes, he did,” I acknowledged. “But you wanted to meetme, so he sent you to where I was. Except you got into an accident on the way.” Swallowing roughly, I glanced away and admitted, “You never made it to Javonte’s. I was told this morning that you were still fighting for your life, but if you’re here—like this—you must not have made it.” Turning back to her, I choked out, “And it’s my fault. You were in that car because of me, and I—I’mso sorry, Raina. You’d still be alive right now if it weren’t for me.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said, shaking her head. “I’mthe one who made the decision to try to go meet you. You—you didn’t even know what was happening.”
“But—”
“And besides, are we completely sure I’m dead?”
“Well…” I motioned to her body that Reed hadn’t seen at all.
“But you said your friend told you thismorningthat I was still alive, right?”
I nodded, not catching on. “Right.”
“Then how coulddead-me appear to you on the roof of that house last night—after my accident—if I was still alive then?”
“I—Huh.” She made a good point. Picking up my phone, I admitted, “I don’t know.”
Raina bounced on the mattress beside me and began to clap excitedly. “So it’s possible I’m still alive.”
“It’sverypossible,” I murmured, logging into my phone and beginning to search for news updates about her accident.
The first subject line to pop up started withFatal Car Crash Takes the Lives of…
“Fatal?” Raina echoed in doom as she read over my shoulder, and I quickly pressed the phone to my chest to hide the screen.
Wincing, I said, “Maybe I should read this first.”
“But—” She blinked at me as if I were insane. “It’smylife.”
“What if there are gory details that traumatize you into becoming one of those angry, violent ghosts who terrorize whole cities and?—”
“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “I would never. But…” With a cringe, she rolled her hand, urging me to go ahead and read the article without her. “I guess I don’t particularly want to hear painful details about my own death—I mean, if I did die, which I’m fairly certain I didn’t. I really don’t feel dead.”
“Alright.” I nodded, relieved that she was going to let me read this alone.
As I started to skim, she slid off the bed and paced my room, chewing on her fingernails.
“So, I guess the drivers of both vehicles died,” I murmured with a regretful flinch as I refrained from mentioning the death of her sister yet again.
“Oh, man.” Raina pressed a palm to her head and shuddered. “This was bad, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I nodded as I finished the article. “And… As of five hours ago, you were the only survivor of the wreck.”
“Fivehoursago?” She turned to blink at me. “But what about now?”
I shook my head. “Nothing’s been mentioned more recently than that.”
I would’ve texted my friends and asked, but it was too late to bother them.
