“Hey. I need to come talk to you about something,” I replied.
“Come on by. You Ok? I’ve been trying to call you for the past three days. Karl said he hasn’t heard from AJ either. You guys just disappeared right in the middle of the dance.”
“I’ll explain everything when I get there. I’m on my way.” I hung up and grabbed my purse and keys. I’d have to tell Angel about this later. Mom was shocked to see me breeze past her and rush to my car. I fumbled with trying to get the car door open, but got in quickly and sped off toward Deanna’s house.
I was in shock. Not even once had it crossed my mind that Leila could be the one behind this whole thing. She had been away for so long that I actually didn’t even realize that she was a threat anymore. If she was there that night in December, then that meant that she must’ve been watching my house when Antonio came to pick me up. She’d followed us to the restaurant and we presented her with a golden opportunity to finally end my relationship with AJ. It was a genius move, saving the picture until halfway through prom – I couldn’t have planned that better myself. She wanted to ruin the evening……..and my life.
It felt like I was becoming angrier and angrier as I drove toward the more congested part of town where Deanna lived. Some reckless driver cut me off and I was forced to slam on the brakes. I looked up into the rearview mirror to make sure that I hadn’t pissed off the driver in back of me and my breath ceased. Behind me, with her hair blowing like the very fires of hell……was Leila. Her expression was blank as she seemingly stared right into my eyes through the reflection in the mirror.
I pulled out my phone to call Deanna. My eyes were only off the road for two seconds while I dialed, but when I looked back up she was gone.
“You here already?” Deanna asked.
“No, I’m on my way, but I just saw Leila. I think she’s following me. Well, she was anyway. I don’t see her anymore.” I looked at each car around me, but couldn’t spot her.
“Did you see which way she went?”
“No, I looked down to call you and when I checked again she was already gone.” I started to think that I’d imagined the whole thing. “Maybe I’m losing it. Forget I called. Be there soon.”
When I hung up, my head whipped wildly from left to right several times as I approached the red light. Confusion mounted. Where’d she go? As my pulse raced and fear gripped my throat, I considered the possibility that seeing her was nothing more than a hallucination. That had to be it. It made sense. I laughed at myself, shook off the paranoia, and pulled out into the intersection when the light changed. My heart settled to a steady pace again and I took a deep breath as I eased my hands down the steering wheel.