Greers secret (working title)

A Story by Abbi

I was in the kitchen preparing dinner, the kitchen was dimly lit with cheap lightbulbs that gave off a soft yellow light. As I stood near the counter, butcher block with gouges and scratches from years of knives slipping or no one caring about using a cutting board, there was a knock at the door. Not unusual, I had neighbors, and I was cooking for a party I was throwing later tonight, but the guests shouldn't be arriving yet, and I wasn't being loud so it wasn't a noise complaint. As I placed the mixing bowl on the counter and walked to the door I racked my brain as to who might arrive so early, no one in particular came to mind. I opened the door only as much as the chain lock would allow and looked at the one person I thought was gone from my life for good, my ex-bestfriend, Xanti.

We had a falling out in highschool when Xanti dumped her boyfriend to see if he would go running to me, well he did. We ended up dating for almost a year, and then broke up, only to have him go back to Xanti, she then stole his phone and texted me pretending to be him for a week, which of course I fell for, Xanti knew every detail, and then Xanti showed up at the nail salon where I work and revealed what she had been doing, I almost beat the s**t out of her right then and there, but I didn't.

As Xanti stood on the other side of the door I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by a feeling of violence, acting on it would have cost me though, she was bigger than I was, and back when were friends she had taken kick-boxing, she would have had me on my a*s in a second if I tried it.

"Hi Zyla." Xanti said, like we were still old friends.

"What the hell are you doing here Xanti?" I said, the aggression I was feeling almost slipped out when I said her name.

Xanti took a step back, hesitating, almost like she thought this might be a mistake, but as she stood there, I got the distinct feeling something was wrong, something had happened, her body told me what her mind couldn't put to words, when her eyes turned to crystal with the first tear and she looked down at her shoes, there was no mistaking her news, Greer was dead.

10 minutes later we were sitting at my kitchen table, a cheap card table with disgusting brown fabric on the top and battleship grey paint on the legs and supports, paired with foldable chairs that might fall apart if you sat just right. Xanti hadn't said anything since she walked in the door, as the tea kettle began to boil Xanti broke down, the sobbing was almost to much to bear, but she had done horrible things in the past. At first her sobs didn't affect me, but I couldn't just stand there and watch so I grabbed the box of tissue off the counter and walked over to Xanti.

"Here." I said, my tone flat, trying not to care.

"Thank you." Xanti said between sobs.

"What happened Xanti?" I turned to her, only wanting information, no drama, just knowledge.

"He told me he was a real estate agent, he showed me the houses he was selling, none of them were near where we lived so I never checked them out, after he disappeared I visited one, there was nothing there Zyla, nothing, I don't understand." Xanti seemed to be composing herself she had stopped sobbing so hard, and was now only sniffling intermittently, like a small child looking for pity after a meltdown, I thought.

"None of this tells me what I want to know." my tone was clipped, sharp... too sharp, Xanti jumped and cowered lowered into the chair, somehow getting smaller. "I didn't mean to scare you." I said, softer this time. she looked around like she was embarassed, something horrible had obviously happened to make her act that way.

"It's fine, I'm fine. The police called me late last night, they found his body on a construction site, the workers haad smelled something, they thought an animal had died. It wasn't an animal, he had been there at least a week, with the cool weather nobody had noticed, but then on thursday it hit 90 degrees. they said they have no idea how he got there, and hadn't noticed anything unusual. The police said he was shot, an execution like killing. I don't know what that means, after I got the news I found a note in the bedside table. I must have missed it earlier." she handed me a tear stained piece of paper, it read:

Dear Xanti,

when you read this I will be dead.

Go to Zyla, she will know what to do.

Love, Greer.

I had no idea what he meant, I hadn't heard from or seen this man in almost 7 years, how the hell was I supposed to know what to do with his girlfriend, who by the way hated me as much as much as I hated her.

“I don't...” My words trailed off as I watched an envelope slide under the door to my apartment, I hadn't heard any footsteps. My name was typed onto the front. I got up to get it, as I walked to the door I noticed smaller letters under my name, I picked it up.

I told you you'd know what to do.

Greer's handwriting, he knew that by the time this reached me Xanti would already be here, we would have already read the note he gave her, either he knew, or we were being watched.