Maddox shifts forward, bracing his hands on our seats as he peers over the console. Kairo tenses before flicking back to the video. My neck prickles with awareness at the familiar, melodious voice that fills the cab, and my pulse races.
“Wait…” Kairo squints at the screen, but whoever is recording is doing a shit job. The video is shaky as the sounds of a roaring crowd nearly overpower the woman’s vocals.
But the voice strikes a chord with all of us in aninstant.
When a flash of blurry black hair moves across the stage, I snatch the phone from my friend. Whoever is recording shrieks, starstruck by the singer, and I lose sight of the performer again.
“There’s no way…” Maddox trails from behind me.
I can’t stopstaring. My brain can’t process what Ithinkis happening. That’s not possible…
“She died!” Kairo throws his hands out before a humorless chuckle tumbles from his lips. “That’s not—”
“Don’t,” I warn harshly, pinning him with a glare. “Don’t say her name.”
He tilts his head in a challenge. “Not saying her name isn’t going to change the fact that we canseeher.”
“We don’t know if that’s her,” I snap.
Kairo shakes his head as he laughs bitterly. “Oh, yeah? Sounds an awful lot like Rosalie.”
My muscles lock, bunching under my Army Greens. The sound of her name ricochets around my head, a haunting sound that plagues my nightmares. The girl I thought was a ghost, forever trailing mercilessly behind me and making crushing weight settle in my limbs, isalive.
“She’s here,” Maddox says before shoving his finger towards the screen. “She’s performing at Varsity Vat.”
I close my eyes, my lips twisting in displeasure. “It isn’t her.”
Kairo shoots forward, turning on me. “Fine! Let’s make a stop and see for ourselves then.”
My jaw ticks. “No.”
“It’s on the next street,” Maddox protests at my obvious refusal.
“Stop the fucking truck,” Kairo seethes.
My hand tightens on the wheel as I shove the phone back at my friend. “Wearen’tstopping. We have a deadline.”
Maddox checks his watch. “We're an hour ahead of schedule. We’ll be stuck waiting in the yard until someone comes to help with the drop off.”
My knuckles are turning white from how hard I’m gripping the leather beneath them. “We. Aren’t. Stopping.”
“Let’s take a vote then,” Kairo shifts in his seat. “All in favor of going to Varsity Vat?”
Both of my friends raise their hands.
“Two against one,” Kairo smirks.
Honestly, I’m terrified of seeing it for myself. The longer Rosalie lives in the vacant spot of my mind where I dare not touch, her memory lingering like a phantom, the more I canforget. Not that I ever will, but the illusion is what I’m chasing. I want to remain oblivious.
It’s the only way I can keep myself sane at this point.
But as both of my friends stare at me, their eyes pleading and urging me to take the next left, I sigh in resignation as I flick on the blinker.
Maybe there is still a small part of me that thinks we’ll come up short and I’ll get to gloat before things go back to normal.
Or there’s another part of me that’s hoping I’mwrong.
Not that I would ever admit it, but as the buzz beneath my skin begins to grow, the closer we inch through traffic to Varsity Vat, the more that small, nagging voice tugs away in my subconscious.
