VANISHED (#1 in the VANISHED series) #NaNoWriMo2019 ✔

s e v e n ✔

Love.

Arielle had never been in love, not once. She'd had a few boyfriends, a couple of torrid affairs in college, many crushes... but never love. Never. Nor had she ever had the craving to go through such emotions. Not after witnessing her friends experiencing heartbreaks, being cheated on, falling out of love.

Leave it to me to fall, and for someone who has died. And... a girl?

That was unexpected. She'd always drooled over guys, melted for soft green eyes and chiseled torsos and muscular arms. She enjoyed the flirting and the kisses and the sex.

But... a girl? A woman? And of all women—her best friend?

She shivered, returning to Stella's rant about the lack of thickness of the milkshake she'd ordered. "... and I mean, why? What's the point of a liquidy, slushy mess like this, huh?"

"So true, Stel, so true."

Her thoughts didn't subside as they left the diner. Jade jimmied about in her mind as she drove to the hotel. She heard her honeyed voice as they checked in, smelled her Chanel as they settled in their room, felt her arms wrapped around her as she showered off the remnants of their eerie day.

And as they slipped into their beds, the visions only grew worse. Jade's beautiful, bouncy curls, and how she twirled them around her fingers. Her contagious laugh when Arielle failed at telling a joke. The way her hips swayed while wearing her drunk-girl stilettos, dancing to the rhythm of some outdated techno song. And the curve of her figure when she glimpsed her reflection and complained.

Arielle always believed she had nothing to complain about. She was perfect.

I thought I admired her, envied her... but was it more?

She tossed and turned, thankful her subconscious pictured Jade alive, for once. Not as a specter swooshing down hallways and leaving bloody scratch marks on the walls.

***

"But Mom—"

"—I mean it, love, you should be paying attention." Mrs. Sullivan's unctuous voice buzzed out of the phone.

"—Mom! Seriously, listen to me—"

Arielle shot up, panting, freezing. The balcony door was open, letting in a cool breeze as Stella stood in the threshold, speaking in a loud whisper to her mom—who was on speaker.

"You should listen, Stella!"

"Mom, enough!"

Rubbing her arms, Arielle peeked at the flickering light sweeping across the tiny patio, then checked the time—two in the morning.

Splendid job on the discretion, Stel.

"Sweetheart, it's a sign."

"A sign of what? Food poisoning? I swear that cream cheese tasted funky—"

"—no, of power! People in tune to their spiritual selves don't get nauseous, but those who refuse their gift and shove it down do!" The woman's usually airy, in-another-world tone laced with a firmness Arielle didn't recognize.

She rubbed her eyes, bracing to yell at Stella to pipe down.

"But people who ate something bad become nauseous, too! That was not the point of my text! I asked for a remedy so I can quit taking stupid Tums, not for this late night call!"

Arielle slithered further into her covers, pulling them up to her chin, closing her eyes and pretending to sleep.

She's still sick? I thought she was okay... she ate normally at the diner.