Isaac looked down at Zac, confused. "Did you just coo?" Zac was laying with his head on Carter's thigh. Carter was running her hand through his hair, giving him a scalp massage. He had recently cut 4 or 5 inches off of his hair, leaving it at his chin. His plan was to cut it all off into an average guy's short haircut. (To the best of my knowledge, this is true. But don't hold me to it.)
Zac looked up at Isaac and smiled. "Yes. Yes I did." Carter, Zac, Taylor, Melissa, Isaac, Nique, and Tanis and Todd were all gathered in Isaac's bedroom, watching a movie. It was a strange gathering, but somehow it seemed to be working.
Tanis decided that she wanted to come over and spend some time with people other than Justine. Ever since Gabi had died, the two girls had been inseperable and Tanis' parents were afraid that Tanis wasn't getting past the tragedy.
Nique had come over because Jade was driving her crazy. She'd invented a new game. Since Nique hated everything that Jade did, said, or smelled like, Jade had given up on trying to please her. Now she was walking around the house singing annoying songs whenever Nique was in her presence. Now Nique was at Zac's house... staring and glaring at Melissa everytime she'd smile at Taylor. She had the eyes of somebody who was planning something. Something bad.
As for Todd... nobody knew why he was there. Carter had her own opinions that he had a thing for Tanis. After all, they had known eachother for quite some time. Gabi and Todd were always together and Tanis and Gabi were always together. Todd and Tanis had never really became friends though.
Carter's eyes widened suddenly and she stopped petting Zac's hair. "OH I GET IT!"
"What?" Everybody turned around and looked at her.
"I just figured out why they call this movie, 'Clerks'."
"You're kidding right?" Todd asked, slightly impressed by her humor.
"Uhm no."
"How many times have you seen this?"
"Six or seven."
"And you just figured it out?"
Carter stuck out her tongue and thumped her fists together, mimicking the motion she'd copied from "Friends".
Todd rolled his eyes.
"We should make our own movie." Carter continued, paying no more attention to Todd.
Zac smiled. "And what would this movie be about?"
"I'm not sure. But I think there should be creamed corn and rubber chickens. Possibly a flying trapeze. OH! And seven angry gynocologists." She nodded and everybody laughed. *****
"And an orgy." Melissa nodded along with her. "Orgies are always good."
Carter laughed for a while and then looked down at the floor to where Tanis was staring off into space. "Hey Angel? Are you ok?" People had begun referring to Tanis as Angel, her middle name.
Tanis continued to stare, wide eyed. Her eyes were beginning to burn.
"Hey. Tanis." Carter tapped her on the shoulder and Tanis jumped.
"What?" She asked, looking around, confused.
"Are you ok? You were in lala land for a minute."
Tanis nodded. "I'm fine. I'm just gonna go down to the bathroom. I'll be back." Tanis stood up and straighened her pants. She was wearing a pair of red pleather pants that reminded Carter of something Taylor would wear, and a black tanktop.
Todd watched Tanis leave the room. He turned to everybody else. "Do you guys think she's acting weird?"
Taylor shrugged. "She is weird."
"Not that weird." Todd stood up. "I'm gonna see if she's ok."
Zac nodded. "Good idea. But you should knock first cause girls don't like it when you come in the bathroom when they're peeing."
Todd rolled his eyes again. "I'll keep that in mind." He went down the stairs to the second floor and knocked on the bathroom door. There was no answer, so he knocked again. When the door pushed open by itself, he stepped inside to see Tanis sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking back and forth. "Angel... are you... ok?" He asked, kneeling down next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.
Tanis flinched and looked up at him. Her eyes were intense and she seemed to stare right past him.
"Tanis, you're freaking me out. What's wrong?"
"I've been thinking a lot. About Gabi."
"What about her?" Sometimes it still hurt Todd to talk about her.
"You know when you lose somebody really close and then you start seeing them in other people's faces?"
Todd shrugged. "I guess so."
"Have you ever seen Gabi?"
"No."
Tanis sighed and looked away.
"What is it? You can tell me."
"Todd, I keep seeing her."
"What?"
She stared at him, almost frightened. "It started the day she died. At her funeral... I saw her in a crowd of people but she was dressed different then usual. She was wearing black to fit in. Remember the funeral that was going on at the same time, across the cemetery?"
"Uh huh."
"She was over there. But it just looked like her and she wasn't looking over here. I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me."
"So, that happens all the time when you really care about somebody."
"But it's gotten worse. I started seeing her in stores wearing really weird clothes that she never would have worn before and she'd be doing stuff... and then... A couple of weeks ago I started seeing her in more familiar places. I'd be looking out my window in my room and I'd see her in the woods behind my house, staring back at me. But she'd run away. Then last night I was in the bathroom and I was looking in the mirror and I could see the reflection of out the window in the mirror and she was staring at me with this angry look on her face. Then when I turned around, she wasn't really there." She sighed and shook her head. "At first I thought I was just going crazy but..."
Todd stood up, a little freaked out. "So you're saying Gabi is haunting you?"
Tanis stood up and shook her head. She stared at him. "No. I don't. Todd... I think she's alive."
Todd laughed and stepped out of the bathroom. "Don't be crazy, Tanis. Gabi is dead. You were at the funeral. We saw the body."
Tanis followed him and grabbed his arm to stop him. "You're wrong. Listen to me. You're the only person I can tell this. Justine doesn't even know this."
"Know what?"
"A week before Gabi died, her parents starting talking about sending her away. She was really depressed remember?" She paused. "Then she started hurting herself, like burning legs and cutting her arms. So her parents got this idea... You know how weird her parents are. They were talking about it one day and I thought they were just kidding. They said how they could fake Gabi's death and send her away. That way people would forget about her and Gabi could forget about the people that were driving her crazy."
"Tanis, you're insane. Nobody would ever do that. It only happens in soap operas."
"Todd, I'm serious. What if they DID do it. Are you telling me that as weird as her parents are, they wouldn't fake her death and send her to Europe to get better or put her in a home or something?"
"I..."
"And say they did and now she's come back and she's pissed. Are you telling me there's not a slight possibility that that's what happened?"
"I guess it could... but that's just crazy."
"You've said that a million times now. I'm not fucking crazy." She yelled, glaring into his eyes. "I've seen Gabi, dammit, and she didn't look happy!"
Todd stared past Tanis and shushed her.
Tanis, confused, turned around to see Justine staring at her. "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"Zac's mom let me in. What the hell are you talking about?"
"Justine... Please, you have to tell me the truth. Is Gabi really dead?"
Justine nodded slowly.
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"
She shook her head.
"There's no chance that your parents would have sent her away to help her?"
Justine grew angry. "She's my sister! Why are you talking about her like this?!" Justine's eyes filled with tears.
"Look, I'm sorry. I just..." Tanis shook her head. "I guess I haven't been getting enough sleep and my mind is getting the best of me."
Justine sniffled. "Yeah. I'm going to go upstairs and say 'hi' to Zac."
Tanis nodded. "I'll be up in a minute."
"You sure?" Todd asked, with his hand still on her shoulder.
She nodded and went back into the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face to cool herself off. But once again, when she looked into the mirror, she saw the reflection of Gabi, standing next to the pool. When she turned to look out the window, she was still there, staring at Tanis and motioning to her to come outside. Tanis screamed and stepped back but Gabi made a motion with her hand, telling Tanis to be quiet. Tanis nodded and left the bathroom to find her.
One minute after they heard her scream, everybody ran down the stairs. Todd went into the bathroom but Tanis was no longer there. And when he looked out the window, there was nobody in the backyard either. Tanis was gone.
***** Thanks to my buddy Sara for this idea. hehe.