Very Bad Things by Susan McBride

and I was little,” Tessa said, very softly. “But I remember our mom smelled like flowers, and it wasn’t perfume. She had a garden. She let Peter and me help her sometimes. We planted seedlings and cut flowers to put on the table. It was the only time when we were together that I thought she was happy.” A light flickered in Tessa’s eyes before it went out again. “Our dad was tough. He worked a lot, so he wasn’t around much. He’d bring Peter with him to campus on the weekends. I always wanted to go.” She bit her bottom lip. “But Peter said it wasn’t fun, that he made him do all sorts of work. He used to run off when our dad wasn’t looking. He found a lot of places to hide.”
    “What was Peter like?” Katie asked, feeling good that Tessa was opening up. In the four years they’d roomed together, she’d never gotten Tessa to say much of anything about her family.
    Tessa closed her eyes, and Katie wondered if she’d pushed too much.
    “I’m sorry, I don’t want to make you sad,” she said, holding on tighter to Tessa’s hand. “Are you okay? Are
we
okay?”
    Tessa opened her eyes and raised her chin from her knees. “Yeah, Dr. Phil, we’re okay.” She let go of Katie’s hand. “But I’m beat. So if you don’t mind …”
    “Sure.”
    Katie got up, and Tessa crawled into bed without changing out of her clothes. She turned toward the wall and sighed. Clearly, she didn’t want to talk anymore.
    Katie undressed quietly and pulled on a soft tee and old sweats. Then she climbed into bed with her phone. Before she shut it off for the night, she texted her mom to say I’m OK. Luv u . Then she read a few texts from friends like Bea Lively, asking if she was doing all right. And there were four new messages from Mark.
    i miss u
    i need u
    i love u
    can i c u 2 nite?
    Katie stared at the screen. She wanted so badly to be with Mark again, but she wasn’t sure the time was right. Even his dad wanted them to keep their distance until Rose Tatum reappeared and this mess was cleared up, along with Mark’s reputation.
    She switched off her phone and pressed her cheek into her pillow. Drawing in a deep breath, she closed her eyes, hopingsleep would come fast. Only when it did, it brought the same vivid nightmare. The floor sighed, gently creaking as footsteps crossed the room. A shadow hovered over her bed, and she breathed in the smell of roses and something dank and musty.
    Kay-tee
. She heard her name in that weird, strangled whisper. Then she heard another whisper.
Get out
, it said.
This has to stop
.
    Wake up, wake up, wake up
, Katie told herself, fighting to surface.
    She opened her eyes in time to glimpse pale skin and pale hair through the dark.
    “Tessa?” she said groggily, hearing hushed footsteps and then the click of the door being opened and shut.
“Tessa?”
    Katie switched on the light but saw no one, just Tessa’s empty bed and a dark red spot on the floor.
Is it blood?
she thought, and went closer. No, not blood, she realized, but a bloodred rose petal. She picked it up and rubbed it between her fingers, her pulse thumping. It was real.
    Was her dream not a dream at all? Had someone been standing by her bed? Was it Tessa? What was going on?
    Katie shoved on shoes, grabbed her phone, and ran into the empty hallway.
    The door to the rear steps sat ajar, a strip of light shining through. Katie pushed it wide and entered the back stairwell. The soft tap of footsteps drifted up from below. Tessa was going down to the basement.
    Without thinking, Katie followed, descending to thebottom of the stairwell. She found herself standing in the laundry room in total darkness. She stood still a moment, letting her eyes grow accustomed to the pitch-black. Then she caught the faint beam of a penlight at the door to the machine room, past the laundry.
    “Tessa?” she said, her voice rising. But no one answered.
    And the beam of light disappeared.
    Tessa hadn’t come down to watch TV, had she?