I don’t expect to see a tiny little redhead on the other side of the door.
“You’re not Spencer.”
Her eyes widen. It’s dark, but the porch light makes the color staring up at me an eerie tone of crystal blue.
“Uh…no. I’m Piper.” She shifts something in her hands to jab behind her. “I live next door with my friend. Anyway, this was delivered to our place. It has your address on it.”
Shoving the box toward me, my face scrunches when I see my name on the flap. Mom must have sent another care package and wanted to surprise me.
“Thanks,” I murmur, putting it under my arm and grabbing the door to close it. “Well…”
Nodding, she steps back and tugs on the oversized UM sweatshirt she’s wearing. It’s the same one
Emery wore when she…
I clear my throat. “Bye.”
Her lips part when I close the door, not thinking about much except what’s inside the parcel. Setting it on the coffee table and taking another swig of my beer, I rip off the tape and open the flaps.
Murphy mumbles before passing back out, half draped on the couch and half hanging off. Rolling my eyes, I pick up a glass jar full of…paper?
“What the…?”
At closer glance, I recognize some of the colorful post-its inside. When I unscrew the top and pull one out, my jaw grinds.
They’re the post-its I left for Em.
Stupid pictures of cartoon objects and animals with sayings only she’d get. Insults. Taunts. Nicknames.
She saved them all?
Pulling a few more out, I notice some that aren’t mine. The drawings aren’t very good, and half of them are smudged like she kept running her hand across the ink.
I can still tell what they are.
A lacrosse stick.
The UM emblem.
Sunshine.
One of them has words.
If you don’t go to UM, I’ll haunt you.
A choked laugh escapes me and Murphy jerks up, falling off the couch. He lands with a loud thud on the floor before groaning. I snort and nudge his leg with my foot.
“You good down there?”
He mumbles something unintelligent.
I nod, going back to the post-its.
The very first mouse I drew for her is resting in front of me. Brushing my fingers against the aged paper, I manage to smile before clearing my throat and putting all of them back into the jar.
There’s a note from Mom.
Henry found these in Emery’s room. He said you’d want them.