Castles Burning Part One by Nicole Ryan Page A

evening before going out on a date with a man that their father didn’t approve of. He had followed Erica to the Centennial trail and drove alongside her, yelling at her to get into the car. When she didn’t listen, he’d jumped from the car and tackled her to the ground, intending to take her to the car, but on the way down Erica’s head had struck one of the wooden rail road ties along the trail, and then landed on the concrete; she was later pronounced dead at the scene.
    During the trial Christie had confided in me that her father had been jealous from the moment Erica started to date. It was as if he wanted Erica all to himself, and Christie suspected that he had molested her sister as a child. On the weekends when they stayed at his place, Erica would go to Christie’s room and sleep in her bed. Christie tried to ask her what was happening, but her sister never confided anything to her, and would shut her down if she ever asked directly.
    “I asked her one ni ght when she snuck into my room.” Christie once told me over a bottle of wine, a week or so after Erica’s death. “She crawled into my bed, we were about fourteen. I asked her what had happened but she just shook her head no, and went to sleep. She would never tell me why she came to my room; she never did it when we were at mom’s house... not since we were maybe nine or ten. I think he was touching her.”
    Christie had been asked to speak about this during the trial, but the evidence was still not substantial to put him away for more than three years , they didn’t have proof that Erica’s death was intentional.
    Aden looked at me; removing me from my memories, and I looked at Christie who was clenching her sleeves in her fists, her shoulders were hunched up, and she was shifting her weight from foot to foot. I went to her and put my arm around her, trying to give her some sense of comfort.
    “It’s ok Christie.” I said, squeezing her shoulder.
    She nodded as her eyes remained locked in front of her, not focused on anything. As we stood there for a moment, the lights suddenly all cut off. When I glanced at the digital clock above the stove it was out too. We’d lost power. There was a strange scuffling noise and I heard both Aden and Alex hurry in the direction of the sound, both fumbling in the dark to stay close to one another. I grasped Christie’s hand in mine.
    ***
                  “Aden!” I called in the darkness after moments of silence. No response. The storm was howling outside, rain was falling in sheets; the sky was an ominous gray.
                  “What’s happening?” Christie whispered next to me before starting to sob. I searched the shadows in front of me desperately, looking for signs of movement but found nothing.
    “Christie it’s ok! ” I whispered harshly. “You have to stop. I can’t think when you freak out, I know you’re scared but so am I!” I hollered at her. “I have to go find Aden.”
    As I walked from the room Christie’s sobs began to dissipate and I heard her heaving deep breaths into her lungs to calm herself. I held my hand out in front of me, my eyes started to adjust to the darkness as I made my way to Aden and my room. My heart was pounding as if it would come through my ribs, I was frightened.
    “Aden?” I called , my voice came out shaky, it sounded unfamiliar to me. My bottom lip began to quiver. Taking a deep breath and holding it for a second, I collected my thoughts. It was just a storm, I told myself, just a storm. But I knew it wasn’t. Someone was here.
    Christie was still in the same spot I’d left her, I took her hand again and we went to her and Alex’s room. The wind howled outside as we walked down the hall.
    “What’s happening?” She asked me.
    “I don’t know.” I breathed as we came to the door of the room.
    I held my fingers an inch from it, afraid of what I might find if I opened it. I pressed them to the hard wood, and shoved it open.