I immediately jumped to the time Dean had first gone missing from the first camera’s gaze, slowing it down to real-time as we watched him open his closet doors.
“Pause it,” Kelsey said, and I instantly did.
His closet, from what we could see, looked like any other closet, full of clothes and other shit…but in the corner sat something I found a bit odd. Something that a nineteen-year-old college student didn’t usually have in his room.
Kelsey’s eyes narrowed as she gazed at my phone screen. “Is that…a safe?”
“I think so,” I muttered. It looked to be about a foot tall and a foot wide, a small safe, and I instantly wondered what could possibly be in there. Whatever it was, it had to be something good. Or, in Dean’s case, bad.
Kelsey then said what we were both thinking: “We need to get into that safe.”
We then spent the rest of our time scanning this same camera’s footage to see if Dean ever opened it. If he came at it from the right angle, we’d know its combination. And, thank fucking God, it was a safe with a number pad and not one of those old-fashioned locks where you had to twist and turn the knob to unlock it.
And, what would you know, right before he left for Thanksgiving break, Dean bent to open the safe…at the perfect angle, too. I was pretty sure both Kelsey and I instantly memorized the code he used.
What was inside it? A flash drive, nothing else, and it was that same flash drive I assumed he packed and took with him over break, not wanting to leave it there.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kelsey asked, propping herself up to look at me.
My eyes met her mischievous expression, and I found myself nodding. “We need to get into that safe.” Hopefully Dean would bring it back with him.
Fingers crossed.
Chapter Twenty – Kelsey
I really didn’t like going to the hospital, and it wasn’t because I had to either walk or pay to take the bus from campus. The reason I didn’t like going to the hospital was because each and every time I laid eyes on Mel, my whole body ached with regret. When I walked into her room and found her still unconscious, now hooked up to a feeding tube, my heart weighed a thousand pounds.
I still blamed myself for this, partially. Mostly I blamed Dean, but frankly I wasn’t a good friend to her. I should’ve been better to her, proved to her that I’d be there for her. If she didn’t feel so alone, maybe she never would’ve tried to kill herself a second time.
It was a lot of weight to pile onto my shoulders, but I couldn’t help it.
I sat beside Mel for a while, staring at her unconscious form. Her parents had come by the hospital room, telling me they planned on packing up her things. It was official: Mel was dropping out of SCC, and if she bounced back from this, I didn’t think she’d come back. Her parents wouldn’t make that mistake again. Levi and I had until late next week to do what we had to do, which was another reason I had to get out of here soon.
I’d be needed at the rec, you see. I’d skipped my bio lab to visit her, and I’d take the bus from the stop down the street to the one right outside SCC’s rec center to watch Dean and the other Sigma Chi guys play basketball, keeping an eye on him while Levi went into his room and did what he had to do.
With any luck that flash drive would be there, and all the dirt we’d need would be on it.
“I know you probably can’t hear me,” I told Mel, only feeling comfortable to speak because the door to the room was shut, “but Levi and I have a plan for Dean. We’re going to take him down, and hopefully he’ll never have the chance to hurt anyone again.”
Mel said nothing, because she couldn’t speak.
“I know it’s too little, too late,” I went on. “And I’m sorry, Mel. I’m so sorry. If I could rewind time and be a better roommate, a better friend to you, I totally would.” My head turned down, and I stared at my lap. “I guess I just suck all around, huh?”
If Ash was here, she’d heartily agree. I needed to have a heart-to-heart with that one too, hopefully over winter break. But first I had to get through this thing with Dean and pass my exams. The latter seemed pretty freaking impossible, since class and studying had been the last things on my mind. At least I’d done most of my final papers, although Mel wasn’t around to critique them.
I’d make it. Maybe.
My eyes went to the clock hanging on the wall above the bathroom door, the bathroom which Mel couldn’t even use—yeah, didn’t want to go into specifics there. Ew. It was about time for me to head out, anyways. I wanted to get to the rec after Dean and his friends did. Plus, it had snowed outside a bit, so traffic might be slow.
“I have to go, but I promise, I’ll be back.” I got up, swearing to myself that even if her parents moved her stuff out, I would always be back. I’d keep visiting her, bugging her, until she opened those eyes again, until she no longer blamed herself for what happened.
I lightly grabbed her hand, squeezing it once before leaving, heading out and into the hall. Within ten minutes, I was at the bus stop, freezing cold in my hoodie, my breath white puffs in the cold air outside. The bus pulled up ten minutes after that, and the driver gave
