A Poisonous Kiss on the Cheek

The sound of the truck coming to a stop jolted us awake. Being careful, I got out of the bed and walked over to the door thing of the truck. It took a bit for the guy to open up the back, but he eventually did and we all got out.

“Well,” said the truck driver, “this is a quiet little town right outside a bigger one so you’ll probably be able to get bus fair cheep.”

Stella hugged the man. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means to us.”

After the moment of shock wore off, he hugged her back. “You’re welcome. I have three daughters of my own. They’re sort of like you three.”

I barked one, humorless laugh. “They do not want to be us. Trust me.”

He raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t say anything. “There’s a Denny’s over yonder, right by the gas station. Those folks are nice and should give ya a discount.”

Elaine smiled. “They probably will.”

We all said our ‘goodbye’s and ‘thank you’s and made our way over to Denny’s. The warmth and babble of other people was like music to our ears. We were seated towards the back at a booth and ordered some milk and juice to start us off.

When the waitress was gone, we all looked at each other for a second before bursting out laughing. “The last time we did this,” said Laine through the giggles, “we were just starting our curses.”

“How long ago was that?” I laughed.

“Weren’t we just starting high school?” Stella asked.

“I think we were.” I smiled, remembering it just like it was yesterday.

The leaves were just starting to change when Stell and I walked onto the high school campus. Our parents seemed crazier than usual; their sentences weren’t making sense anymore and they walked more on their hands and knees more than they did on their feet. Before, we always joked about our parents being crazy because they usually made more animal sounds than anything, but this was really weird.

Stella nudged me and pointed over to the corner of the building. “Look! There’s Laine!” We met Elaine back in third grade when she moved into our neighborhood. We were friends ever since.

“Laine!” I called, waving my arms in the air.

She looked over and her face instantly brightened. “Guys! You’ll never guess what happened!!”

“What,” I laughed, “You finally got a boyfriend that lasted more than a day?”

Her cheeks flushed slightly. “No, my parents found oil!”

“What?!” Stella and I said at the same time.

“They were digging a place to put a new tree in and they struck oil! There was so much so that’s why it was so close to the surface. The geologist said that if you put a pin into the ground that even a hole that small would have set the thing off.”

“That’s great!” Stella gathered Laine up in a big hug and they danced around. I watched them with a smile on my face when I noticed a slightly darker spot on Laine’s neck.

“Hey Laine,” I said, stopping them mid-jump. “What happened to your neck?”

She let go of Stell and cupped her neck. “I-I don’t know what happened. My parents came home and told me. I got excited so I went to get them their favorite champagne and they...they just...hit me.” Her voice got so quiet at the end that I had to strain to hear her.

“Are-are you serious?” Stella asked. Laine just nodded. “Oh Laine, I’m so sorry.” She hugged her again and I joined in.

That was just the start.

We all had the same exact schedule so we all knew what was going on with each other. We all noticed that all the guys hung onto every one of Laine’s words. She was being followed around by a group of them everywhere she went. She had to tell the guys not to follow her home at the end of the day.

The next day was when Stell had been complaining about horrible pain, and all the girls and popular guys started being around her. We never had a moment of alone time. So when Elaine had her men and Stella had her entourage, I was alone.

The next day was forever burned into my mind.

I forgot to do all my homework and projects that were due that day and I was thinking about just staying home, but I thought that it would alert the school of my parent’s condition, so I went anyway.

I sat down in my seat for the first class and the teacher instantly chose me as the one to screw over that day -- and she liked saying the grades that everyone got aloud.

I sighed. “I don’t have my homework. I didn’t do it, alright?”

As I look back at it now, I notice the now-familiar glaze that fell over her eyes. “Alright then, A plus.” She marked it down on her clip board and moved on to the others. I remembered looking at Stell and Laine like the teacher was crazy. All they could do was shrug.

And that’s how it went through out the entire day. Me saying that I didn’t do my working and them marking it down like I knew everything. I thought it was pretty sweet until the last part of the day.

We were at our lockers, laughing and having fun when a guy a little taller than me with black hair and a gorgeous body and face came up to us. He stuck his hand out towards me, a crooked smile on his face. “Hey,” he said, his voice making me melt. “The name’s Damon.”

I took his hand, a big smile on my face. “Hi Damon. I’m Kalie.”

His smile grew as we shook hands. “I have a feeling that we’re gonna see a lot of each other.”

I snapped myself back into the present, felling a small frown on my face. I looked at Stella and Elaine, remembering those days that started our hell. I opened my mouth to say something comforting and nice, but what came out was, “We look like shit.”

We all laughed at that. “I’ll go over to the gas station to get some makeup, alright?” Laine said, a smile on her face.

When she walked out the door, Stella doubled over, clutching her stomach. “Kay, it hurts.”

I got up and hugged her. “It’ll be okay, we’ll be fine, alright?”

Stella was shaking her head even before I started talking. “No, Kay. This hurst worse than ever before. I think... I think...” she looked up at me, her eyes a scary shade of yellow. “I think this is the end.”

“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no, no, no!” I shouted at the end. “C’mon,” I grabbed her wrist and started pulling her towards the gas station. “We’re getting some Advil and you’ll be better and we’ll go home and everything will be happy.”

I kept pulling her, despite her protests. I couldn’t let her die. No, not on my watch. And it sure as hell wouldn’t happen here.

I bursted through the doors of the station, making Laine and the clerk look up. “Kay? Stell? What’s-”

“I’m dying.” Stella said simply.

Laine instantly dropped whatever she was holding and rushed over. “No, Stell! No!” She helped me bring Stell towards the back where they had the coolers for the drinks. I opened one up and handed her a water before going into the isles for some Advil or Tylenol or anything.

I just found a little bottle when I heard a familiar voice ring out. “You can’t escape me, Kalie,” Damon said from the door. I spun around to see him holding up a Zippo lighter and a buddy of his holding one of those red things full of gas. “Give up now, and you’ll live.”

“Fuck you!” I shouted and ran back towards Stella and Laine. I popped open the top and handed Stella two. “Please just humor me and take them! Damon’s here!”

Her eyes grew wide and she took them, washing it down with the last of the water. “Where?!” She stood up and we looked around, but no one -- not even the clerk -- was in the small shop.

“What’s that smell?” Laine said, sniffing the air.

I sniffed and felt my heart stop. “Gas,” I whispered. “He’s going to blow this place up....”

“What?” Stella asked.

“He’s going to blow this place up!” I shouted, running towards the door. I opened it and froze, Laine and Stell running into my arms and looking out. Damon was standing there, along with four of his friends, all holding the gas nozzles. That wasn’t the scary part. The scary part was that the nozzles were all on, pouring gas all over the place.

The station itself was on a bit of a dip in the land so all the gas was running to us, burning our noses with it’s stench. “It’s all over, Kalie,” Damon said, turning the lighter on. “I’m tired of giving you chances.” With that said, his goons dropped the hoses and ran and Damon threw the lighter in the air.

“Run!” I shouted, grabbing both of their arms and running out of the store and trying to get around it.

Time seemed to slow down, yet speed up at the same time. One second passed and I was almost at the corner of the store. Another second went by and I no longer held their arms. Another second ticked by and I cleared the corner, turning around so I can get my friend and sister to safety. The next second went by and Elaine cleared the corner while the sounds of screeching tires echoed around us. The next second passed and I noticed that Stella was really behind, clutching her stomach, her yellow eyes full of sadness pain.

The next second passed, and it all blew up on me.

The station, the store front and Stella were engulfed in the blast. The only thing shielding Laine and I was the side of the building. We held each other, trying to keep us safe from the heat and falling debris.

When things finally settled down, we lifted our heads, unable to move or speak.

The entire gas station was gone. The only thing left was this part of the store and a black spot on the ground. I slowly let go of Laine and walked over to where I last saw my twin sister. It was then that it finally set in.

“Stell?” I called, looking around frantically. “Stell? Stella? Stella! Where are you! Stella please, please, please be okay!” I looked over at the broken windows of the store and my heart stopped again. “Stella?” I whispered. I walked numbly through the broken window and into the store, over to where the isles were stacked up in the back.

Lying on one of those was the charred remains of a body.

I walked over, tears flowing down my face. The body was burt beyond recognition, but I knew that it was Stella, my twin sister, my partner in crime, the only sane person in my life when everything else seemed to be going wrong. “Stella...” I whispered, not even trying to hold back my tears. I looked up at the ceiling, as if all of the answers to all of my questions were written on it.

The crunch of glass and a gasp had me spinning around to see Elaine, open-mouthed, staring at Stella’s remains. She walked over to where I stood and we just stood there, not moving or talking, just looking.

Elaine spun on me and jabbed a finger at me. “This is all you’re fault!” she shouted, tears staining her face.

“My fault? My fault? What the hell are you talking about! What the hell did I do!”

“You just had to be with Damon! If it wasn’t for you being with him, she would still be alive!”

“Unless you’re forgetting, you whore, but he was my punishment!”

Elaine gasped. “You’re calling me a whore?!”

“Well, you slept with every guy at the school -- even the teachers!!”

“At least I could actually get some! At least I never murdered someone! Hell, why should this death even bother you, you cold-hearted beast!”

I shoved Elaine up against the wall, my nails bitting into her shoulders and getting right up in her face. “Never, ever think that losing the only person who I ever cared about would be something to brush off.” I let go of her and she fell to the ground.

She scrambled away and stood up, anger along with fear and sadness in her eyes. “Fuck you, Kalie. I hope you have what’s coming for ya.”

“I hope your parents beat you again.” I growled back.

She gave Stella’s body one last look before turning and running off into town. Before she was completely out of my line of sight, she turned around, pointed at me and shouted, “It’s all your fault!”

I turned back towards the shop and found the cash register still intact. I cleaned it out and found a few flowers still alive behind the counter. I picked them up, wrapped a string around them and placed it on the countertop. I pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and started writing. When I was finished, I placed the bouquet of flowers on Stella’s torso, walked outside and taped up the note on the doorway.

I gave one last look at the place before I went over to a car and opened it up to find the keys in the admission. I turned it on and started driving, tears blurring my vision as the words of my note floated around in my head.

It would cause me a lot of trouble if no one read this. I put this here in memory of my twin sister, Stella Johnson. She became the most popular girl in high school on our second day. Everyone loved her, not only because she was beautiful with her natural platinum blonde hair and her ice blue eyes and her fair yet perfect skin. No one saw the pain that she went through, or even bothered to find out that she had Pancreatic Cancer that could have claimed her life at any second. I am writing this in memory of my wonderful sister and I hope that this message is spread out into the world to let everyone know about her. I love her more than anything.

Stella’s loving sister,
Kalie