Whispers in the Dark by Chase J. Jackson Page B

system,” Denise told me.
    â€œI have to go to their house,” I said. “You have the address, right?”
    â€œI do, but, Adrian, what’s going on?” Denise asked.
    â€œMrs. Ramsey thinks I did something to Dorian,” I explained. “I have to go see them
so Dorian can explain to his mom what happened.”
    â€œWhat happened?” Denise asked.
    I looked around to make sure Mrs. Ramsey wasn’t nearby, then told her. “Remember
what we saw on the surveillance tape with Dorian? Well, there was something in the
classroom the other day. Dorian and I were in the classroom, and there was some kind
of figure, a shadow, in there with us. It had to be a bad spirit, and I think it
was there because of Robin.”
    Denise looked shocked and terrified at what I had just told her.
    â€œMrs. Ramsey thinks I did something to him,” I explained.
    â€œMaybe we could show her the tape,” Denise suggested.
    â€œNo, I have to talk to Dorian first and have him explain to his mother what happened,”
I told her. “I have to help him, and he has to help me clear my name.”
    â€œAdrian, I don’t think it’s a good idea if you show up at his house,” Denise said.
“I mean, think about it. If she’s accusing you, then you could get in trouble for
showing up, and I could get in trouble for giving out Dorian’s information.”
    â€œDenise, this could be our only chance of getting to the bottom of things,” I explained.
“If we can get Dorian to talk about what he experienced and show what happened on
the surveillance tape, then maybe that’s our first step to finding an answer. You
know I don’t have an answer, and you don’t have one either. Maybe my whole purpose
for being here is to find an answer to what’s been happening and to get help for
Robin. I really need you right now to help me with this. Please?”
    Denise nodded her head and agreed. “Okay. You’re right. We do need to get to the
bottom of things. We’ll go at lunch, okay?”
    â€œOkay.”
    At lunch, we left in Denise’s car and headed to Dorian’s house. So many thoughts
were running through my mind that I didn’t know where to start. Christy!
    â€œHey, do you remember a girl named Christy?” I asked Denise.
    â€œChristy Barkley?” Denise asked.
    â€œI don’t remember her last name,” I admitted. “You graduated in 2010, so she had
to be in your class.”
    â€œThe only other Christy I knew was Christy Messner,” Denise said. “Dark hair, short,
wore glasses?”
    â€œYeah, her! What do you remember about her?”
    â€œWell, she was one of my closest friends up until freshman year,” Denise told me.
“We used to hang out a lot, then we stopped.”
    Whoa! What a coincidence. If I would have known that I could have come to Denise
earlier about Christy!
    â€œWhy did y’all stop hanging out?”
    â€œI noticed she was turning into a whole different person. She started getting more
into boys, and I remember she had a sleepover at her house, and we watched that movie The Craft . She thought it was cool that you could put spells and stuff on people,
and I’m a Christian, so I wasn’t into that. Plus, I was getting more involved with
my church, and I didn’t want to be around someone who would want to hurt people like
that.”
    Putting spells on people? So that’s what Christy did! That must be how I tore my
ACL.
    â€œYou heard what happened to her, right?” I asked.
    â€œYeah, I did,” Denise said. “I was at the funeral. I figured that’s what happens
when you tap into something that’s not of the Lord.”
    â€œIt was because of me,” I told Denise.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œChristy and I had sex, and I did her dirty by not talking to her afterward,” I explained.
“I ignored her and acted like she