“Caleb, I…” Sarah sobs against the door, reminding me all over again that this is my reality. Anger courses through my veins as I stomp toward the door, desperate to release my grief on someone else.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snatch open the door.
Sarah stumbles inside like a drunk on heels. I watch her crash to the ground. I almost reach out to catch her, but at the last second, I pull my hands away.
“Shit,” she says, standing back up on shaky legs. I don’t even offer a helpful hand. I just stand there and watch her struggle.
“What the hell do you want?” I slam the door, narrowly missing her body.
“Do you have Manda’s necklace?” she asks, rocking me back on my heels.
She didn’t come here to talk or to apologize for stealing my entire life. No, she came here for a fucking cheap-ass necklace that they got on vacation. It’s one of those cheesy heart “best friends” necklaces. She and Manda both had half, and neither one of them ever took it off. My already boiling blood makes my cruel words come even quicker than I would have thought.
“You fucking bitch! You have some serious balls to show up at my door asking for anything!”
“I don’t feel her anymore,” she whimpers, dropping back to her knees. “I just… Please, I need to feel her.”
“Guess what, Sarah? I don’t feel her either. That’s because she isn’t fucking here anymore. She gone, and you want to know why?”
She expects my answer and quickly looks up at me with sad eyes. “I wasn’t driving,” she whispers.
“Yes, you fucking were! Own it!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
“Caleb, please. I love her. I would never knowingly hurt Manda.”
“No, Sarah. You loved her. It’s past tense now. She is fucking dead, remember?” I spit out the words as I watch her flinch with each syllable.
I need someone to pay for what happened to Manda, and I don’t give two shits if it is her best friend. I need something to make me feel again. I’ve been so numb over the last few months, and I don’t care if doing this will make me feel like an asshole. At least I’ll feel something. I was already pissed at Sarah, but when she showed up here tonight, asking for something of Manda’s? Well, she may as well have thrown herself into the lion’s den. I’m not usually a cruel man, but I can definitely make an exception for the woman who killed the love of my life.
“You are one selfish bitch, Sarah. Not three months ago, you killed the only woman I have ever loved. She was my fucking life and you murdered her!” I roar so loud my voice actually breaks. “Then you show up on my doorstep, asking for her most prized possession? And you’re delusional enough to think that begging will actually make me to give it to you? If it were up to me, you would be rotting in a jail cell right now, but as it stands, you are prancing around town, while Manda is buried six feet under.” That admission hits me hard as my mind flashes to an image of Manda in a casket. I stumble over my words, trying to erase the image that can’t be unseen. “You need to really listen to me right now. I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove that you were drunk and driving the car that night. And when I do, I am going to take everything from you—the same way you did me.”
“I don’t have anything left for you to take.” Her chin begins to quiver as tears openly flow from her blue eyes.
“Oh, I think you do. Now get the fuck out of my house,” I say, staring down at the floor with my hands securely on my hips. I can’t look at her without my rage bubbling over.
“Please, Caleb. I need something, I’m dying here without her.” She all but crawls across the floor to my feet.
It catches me off guard to see this devastated side of Sarah. I almost feel sorry for her for a split second, but just as quickly as that feeling passed over me, it disappears.
“Get out!”
“Please,” she whispers, still holding my leg.
I look down and lose whatever calm I thought I had. “You want her necklace?” I ask, and she immediately perks up. The tears still run down her face, but for the first time since she arrived, she appears to have some glimmer of hope.
I walk to my bedroom and pull Manda’s necklace off her nightstand. It’s been there since they handed me her belongings at the hospital. I stomp back into the den, where Sarah is standing, trying to collect herself. She is rubbing her fingers under her eyes where her eye makeup is running down her cheeks. My mind jumps to the million times I’ve watched Sarah and Manda swipe the makeup away after hours of drinking and dancing.