(cont. DANIEL)
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Isabel and I are in a heavy make-out session on her bed, when I start to have this déjà vu feeling like I’ve been here before. I suppose I have been, when I was black out drunk, but I don’t remember it. At least I didn’t think I did, but something about being back here is jogging my memory.
I remember being here with her before, but I didn’t know it was her. I was so drunk that I thought I was with Anna. As I kiss her neck and smell her perfume, it suddenly makes sense to me why I would so easily hook up with her when I was so not over Anna; it was because I thought she was Anna.
The next memory that comes to me makes my stomach lurch. I asked Anna – Isabel – about the necklace, the one I am positive she was wearing on the day she died. And she showed it to me! She took it from her sock drawer and had me help her put it on, but…how? How would Isabel have that? More importantly, why would Isabel have that? Could I be remembering it all wrong? I must be. It doesn’t make any sense.
I try to brush it out of my mind, but it just feels so real. I remember it so vividly. Isabel must feel something off about how I’m responding to her kiss because she pulls away and looks at me.
“Is something wrong?” she asks.
“Uh, my mouth is feeling pretty dry. I probably should have drunk some water before we left. Do you mind getting me some?” Not the slickest excuse, but it was all I could think of on the spot. Isabel seems to buy it.
“Of course,” she says, giving me one more peck on the lips. “I’ll be right back.”
She gets up and walks out of the room. I listen carefully until I hear the sound of her footsteps descending down the stairs and I jump into action, reaching into the drawer I thought I remembered her getting the necklace from. Like in my memory, it’s full of socks. I search through two different pairs before I feel my fingers hook onto a chain and out comes the locket. Anna’s locket. I open it up and find my own picture, along with Anna’s staring back at me.
I feel as if I’m going to be sick, but I can hear Isabel walking back towards the room and I hurriedly put the necklace back where I got it from. I need to find out what she’s doing with it, but I can’t confront her about this now and I can’t let her catch me snooping. Whatever this is, I need to think about it carefully.
I quietly shut the drawer and stand up straight just as Isabel comes back in to the room with my glass of water. She gives me a quizzical look.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“I’m really sorry, Isabel, but I have to go,” I say.
“What?” Isabel asks in alarm. “Why?”
“I forgot I promised my mom I’d help her with a laptop issue when I got home, you know how bad parents are with technology,” I lie. “She’s got some stuff due for work tonight, I can’t bail on her.” I walk over to her and give her a kiss on the lips, soft and tender. I can feel her body melt in response. “Rain check?”
She sighs. “Okay, your mom comes first, I understand that,” she pauses, then adds, “you’re too good for this world, Daniel Wade.”
She gives me one more peck on the lips before I go.
I’m freaking out on the drive home. I can’t stop thinking about the necklace. Anna was wearing that on the day that she died. There is no reason for Isabel to have it, unless…
No. Isabel couldn’t possibly have had something to do with Anna’s death. I was with her on the night Anna died! Although it’s possible that she hit Anna with her car before I saw her… which would explain why Anna never showed up to our anniversary date.
Stop it, Daniel, what are you saying? This is Isabel we’re talking about. Sweet, kind, helpful Isabel. There has got to be a logical explanation for why she has that necklace.
Except I can feel in my gut that there isn’t. Even if Isabel had an innocent reason for having the necklace in her possession, there’s still the fact that when I drunkenly asked her to show it to me because I thought she was Anna, she actually did. So, why was she pretending to be Anna? Actually, come to think of it, Isabel has been sort of morphing into Anna lately and I never really noticed it until now.
She wears the same perfume as Anna, listens to the same bands as Anna did, she styles her hair the same way as Anna did. She even laughs similarly to how Anna laughed! Could it be that Isabel killed Anna so she could replace her? The thought makes me sick to my stomach.
I have to find out what’s going on here. I have to get justice for Anna. Whoever killed her surely has some hell to pay. Even if it turns out to be Isabel…