Chapter Eighteen: Fallen Angel Meets the Good Girl:

I remember the exact day I met Joe. It was on the playground at my old school. Bear with me here, the details are a bit hazy. I met him on a Friday. Joe was mean to me that day. To be fair, there were other kids being mean to him before that moment we met. The story to the best that I could remember goes like this:

My class was let out for recess since we were so good that week. Even the class clown, Billy, was chilled out that week too. (Some of us wondered if he was sick or not.) At the time, I wasn’t focused on anything other than Joe. Ever since I first saw him, I had more questions than answers. Who was he really? Why was he “bad news”?

I was talking to Miranda that afternoon. Addie went home early because she had a dental appointment.

“I like when it’s just you and me,” Miranda said.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “It’s always you and me.” She shook her head.

“I just want it to be us!” she said.

“What’s wrong with Addie?” I asked. Miranda shrugged and shook her head.

“Nothing, it’s just…” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Miranda said. I was about to say something else when I heard someone calling me. I turned my head and my cheeks turned bright red. Joe stood over me with an odd look on his face. Even though his head blocked out the sun, I could still see how pretty he was. His black hair was slicked back that went with his messy black shirt and jean shorts. Was it possible for a boy to have blue eyes that beautiful?

“What?” I asked.

“You the weird girl who’s always talking to herself around town?” he asked.

“I’m not talking to myself,” I said. “I’m talking to my friend, Miranda.”

“Huh? Where is she now?” Joe asked.

“Right here,” I said, pointing next to me. He wrinkled his nose.

“I don’t see anyone here,” he said.

“She’s right here,” I insisted. “Only I can see her.” This beautiful boy all but laughed at me.

“Oh! She’s imaginary, huh?” Joe asked.

“She’s not imaginary,” I said. “She’s invisible.” He rolled his eyes.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“Yes!” I shouted.

“Lame!” Joe said with a snort. I gave him an odd look.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Imaginary friends are stupid.”

“Miranda’s not imaginary! She’s just invisible!?”

“Whatever! Only babies have invisible friends!”

“That’s not true!” I stamped my foot with tears in my eyes.

“Baby! Baby! Kinsey’s a baby!” Joe shouted.

“Hey you, leave her alone, dirtbag!” another boy shouted. He turned inside to see a marble thrown at his head. It landed on the side perfectly. Blood ran down the side of his temple. Eight boys from his class stood, staring at us. Joe growled at the lead boy.

“You!” he yelled. He ran over and tackled that boy. I stood there as they started to fight. Some of the other boys chanted for them to fight while the others tried to break them up.

“Stop it!” I shouted. “Stop! Stop! They couldn’t hear me over the yelling and punching. Miranda tried to pull me away, but I couldn’t mess. I think it took a teacher to come along and break them up. Both boys have blood and bruises on their faces. The other boys ran off. I don’t remember much that happened after that. But, Joe did push me down out of the way as he walked by. He said it was an accident, but we all knew that he was lying.

That wouldn’t be the last time I encountered him. We would meet up again after we found a dead body in the attic of an abandoned house.

But first, there was a strange man that appeared around the house the summer before.