Dear Diary,
Today, Carmen came back to school. She has been out of school for a couple of weeks up to this point, and she has been acting weird since she got back. I was happy to see her at first, but now I’ve seen that she’s done so many things. After she stared at me with an unsettling look, I started building a list of the things I noticed, as well as possible explanations:
- Constant staring off into space (she says she was sick, so potentially still recovering?)
- Eyes look slightly sunken in and paler irises (sunken from sickness and pale from lighting?)
- Despite her saying she was sick, there is a significant amount of dirt under her fingernails. (???)
- She takes pauses before remembering what I’m talking about, even when it’s things she should know well, i.e., her birthday. (Brain fog from sickness?)
I was going to write more, but she just walked in.
She finally left. I think she knows I can see there is something wrong. She offered me a ride home, but I lied to her and said I had a ride home. She offered me the ride with a smile, but there was something wrong with it. It was almost too wide—it looked like it hurt. Her eyes looked dull and insincere; they had danger in them like a rabid animal.
I think maybe I’m being paranoid. I went back and told her I’d take the ride; it is supposed to rain.
I don’t know where she is taking me. Carmen took our friend Angela as well, so I am in the back. She is not going towards either of our houses. She is driving towards the woods, and she has that sick smile on her face again. I don’t know if I should confront her or wait for an opportunity to run away.
She finally stopped, and there is disturbed soil next to where we stopped. Carmen has locked Angela and me in the car, and she appears to be digging in that same spot. I tried breaking the windows, but I am truly trapped. Carmen turned her head to look at us, but her body stayed looking forward. Everything about her is slightly wrong. Her smile is wrong, her limbs contort wrong, her eyes are wrong and even her skin is the wrong shade.
She has finished digging. The glassy eyes and stiff body of my best friend peered up at me from the hole that this mockery of my best friend, Carmen, had dug.
