A True Friend

“I didn’t kill her!”

I was panting when I opened my eyes and saw worried faces of people surrounding me.

“Believe me. I didn’t kill, Chloe,” I said, pleading. I hastily touched Flora’s arm. “It was an accident.”

She stared at me, looking confused. I saw the confusion at other people’s faces too. I started recognizing them, the school nurse, my class adviser, Ms. Torres and Jane, our class president.

“Denise, of course, you didn’t kill her. You weren’t even near her when the accident happened,” Flora pacified me and it was my turn to be confused.

“And luckily, she wasn’t dead. Just badly hurt. I heard, she won’t be able to walk again. It was tragic.”

I was speechless.

“Take a good rest, Denise,” Ms. Torres told me. “I think you were just shocked with what happened to Chloe. We already called your parents and they’ll be here soon.”

I nodded.

“Thank you,” I said and tried to smile. I wasn’t sure if it reflected.

Everyone left after telling me to take it easy, except for Flora who said that she would keep me company until my parents arrive, which I was extremely grateful of.

“Denise, you were telling something about not killing Chloe. You were in the school ground when she fell from the building. How could you assumed that you have something to do with what happened to her?” Flora broke the silence. I knew she’d been dying to ask this question but waited until everyone’s gone.

“She was wrongly accused,” I said, softly almost to myself.

Flora gave me a puzzled look.

“Helen,” I continued. “The girl who died a long time ago in Cypress hill. She was accused of pushing her step sister, Audrey in the same spot where Chloe fell. Audrey is here for revenge. I could sense it. She wanted me to have the same tragic life like Helen.”

“Why would she want that?” Flora asked, obviously horrified by the mention of Helen.

“I’m Helen’s reincarnation. She lured me back to Cypress Hill to punish for something Helen did. She was blaming Helen for her early death. Her soul hasn’t rest in peace all these years.”

“Denise,” Flora’s voice trembled a little, “before Chloe’s accident, I saw something strange with her. She always see her going to that acacia tree and talking to herself. She was being extra mean but weird at the same time. Do you think Audrey has something to do with it?”

I shrugged. Chloe has always been a brat in my opinion.

“Do you want to see Chloe? She’s in the room next door.”

I nodded.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Flora whispered as we reached Chloe’s room. I knew she didn’t want to see Chloe, afraid that Audrey might have possesed her.

Chloe looked frightened seeing me.

“She hates you,” she didn’t wait for me to take a seat. She haphazardly grabbed my arm.

I felt a sudden chill.

“I-is she here?” I asked, softly.

Chloe shook her head, “No. She’s scared of hospitals.”

“W-what happened to you?” I asked. “Why did you jump?”

Chloe sobbed, “I didn’t want to challenge you. I didn’t want to jump over the edge. I thought it was stupid. But she forced me to. At first, she told me to do it if I’m a real friend then she threatened to kill me. She’s horrible but-” she stammered.

“Sh-she’s scary. When I saw her real face, i-it...it was badly damaged.”

I almost jumped up when the doctor came in. The face of Audrey as described by Chloe suddenly flashed in my mind.

We waited for her to finish checking up on Chloe before speaking again.

“How did you even become friends with her?” I remembered asking.

“I saw her sitting under the acacia tree. I didn’t know she was a ghost. She seemed lonely so I approached her. She said that she didn’t have any friends because someone took them away from her. I felt bad for her and thought that we could be friends since my only friend had left me for you,” she hesitated on the last part.

“Did you really think it was my intention to steal Flora? You were mean to her that’s why she prefers to hang out with me,” I tried to stay calm because of her condition but somehow, I couldn’t help not raising my voice.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized even if I knew it wasn’t my intention to offend her. Obviously, she was being selfish and didn’t want to admit that she was at fault.

“You’re right. I was a mean girl,” Chloe’s voice started to crumble again. “I wish I was nicer to both of you. Maybe, this won’t happen.”

“Audrey needed someone to do evil things for her. She will still use you whether you’re good or bad.”

“We can still be friends, right?” Chloe asked. “Even if I won’t be able to walk again?”

I gave her a sincere smile, “Of course. We’ll visit you all the time.”

I saw my parents happily chatting with Flora and apologized for keeping them late. Before I left the hospital, I looked back at Chloe’s room. I was a little afraid that Audrey would go there to haunt her, but I got at ease when we passed by a couple, about my parent’s age, talking to Chloe’s doctor. It must be her parents.

I spent my time in the library, looking for a clue on what happened to Helen’s family,scanning old newspaper that were kept neatly and organized in the ancient filing cabinet by the past librarians.

My heart was thumping when I saw a familiar photo in the front page of a very old newspaper I wasn’t familiar with the name of the publisher they probably do not operate anymore. I quickly turned the pages and read the article. It was about the malaria break out.

Poor Children Died in Malaria Outbreak at Cypress Hill.

Then a photo in one corner caught my eyes.

Family Tragedy

Headline: One family who was supposed to start a new life outside Cypress Hill met their fateful end due to a road mishap.

It was a family photo of six people but only three were mentioned in the article.

Fernando, Carmen and Laura.

Where was Lorenzo?

If he wasn’t the car with his family, he probably didnt leave Cypress Hill.

I went to librarian, Mrs. Contada, who was busy covering a bunch newly arrived books with plastic cover. It took sometime for her to notice me standing beside the librarian desk.

“Can I help you?” she asked, putting down a book that is half finished from covering.

“Yes,” I replied, took a quick glance to the books on top of her table and looked at her again. “I’m wondering if you have some old newspaper about the malaria breakout at Cypress Hill.”

“Cypress Hill,” she thoughtfully tried to recall, “I’ll be right back.”

She came back with a handful of old newspapers.

“These are everything the library has.”

“It will do,” I replied. “Thank you so much.”

As she left, I got busy reading every news article I found.

Then my heart stopped when I saw an old photograph.