Chapter One
Twenty-four-year-old Strawberry Shores resident, Laura Lane was frustrated. Not with the fact that she was getting ready to give her best friend, Emily, a ride to the mechanic's so that she could get her car repaired, and not even because she herself had to be at work at her job at the library soon. No, not about any of that. Laura was frustrated that her hair wasn't cooperating. She had a full afternoon planned, and she wanted her hair to look good, professional. But it didn't. As Laura looked in the mirror in the bathroom, she blew a wisp of air toward her forehead and watched her bangs shuffle somewhat. Her hair was dark and curly, and curly hair didn't usually bode well with high humidity, and today was especially humid in Strawberry Shores.
"I hate you," Laura said softly to her hair, as she looked at her short, curly hair and played with it some more. No, she thought, I don't think this hair is going to cooperate … ever. She placed a little more gel in her hand, rubbed her hands together and patted her hair gently until the hair on her head became a little less frizzy. After playing with it for a while, Laura decided that even though she still didn't like her hair, it would have to do for now. After all, she had a full afternoon planned, and it had only just begun.
Laura stopped playing with her hair and took a drink of water before walking out of the house to go and pick up her best friend, Emily. Emily Heart was one of Laura's closest friends and had been for several years. Neither was a native of Strawberry Shores, but after living in the area for a while, they both felt like they'd lived there forever because they loved it so much. It was small, quaint, beautiful and safe. Neither Laura nor Emily wanted to live anywhere else. In fact, as Laura got into her blue Toyota Camry and headed toward Emily's place, she decided that she'd probably die in Strawberry Shores, and that was all right with her.
When Laura got to Emily's apartment, she noticed that Emily was outside standing over the engine of her green Mitsubishi Galant. Her Galant needed new brakes, as the current ones were making the squeaking and grinding noises that brakes often made when they were about to give out. Emily would be driving her car to the local car mechanic's shop, Cooper Brothers, and Laura would be following her so that she could then bring Emily to her volunteer job at the hospital before she, Laura, could head out to the library. It wouldn't be that complicated; in fact, it wouldn't even take too long, since Strawberry Shores was a town of only 2,000 people or so and was very small.
Still, Laura was anxious to get it all done, in part because she knew how frustrating it was to be waiting on your car to get repaired, and she didn't want Emily to deal with that any longer than necessary; and in part because, as a librarian, Laura always liked to get to work a little earlier than necessary. She loved the books, and she loved the peace and quiet, and everyone who knew her knew the reason why. Peace and quiet were important not only because of her "gift," as she called it, but also because she was a writer and the quiet helped her plot out her books, so she wanted to be around it as much as possible. Yes, peace and quiet were definitely preferable over loud noises, especially noises that came from devices such as radios.
"Hey, Emily," Laura said as she got out of her car and walked toward Emily's car.
Emily looked up immediately, and Laura noticed that her hands were dirty.
"What are you trying to do, fix it yourself?" Laura laughed.
Emily glanced at her and gave her a slight smile, then continued to look down at her car's engine. She had a confused look on her face. "Not really," Emily said, still looking down. "I'm just so angry that these brakes are messing up. I mean, I haven't even had the car that long!"
"You do realize that you have to be under the car to fix the brakes, right?" Laura grinned at her.
"Right." Emily sighed and slammed the car hood down quickly, wiped her hands once more and got behind the wheel of the car so that she could start it. Even though the brakes were the only thing wrong with the car, Emily seemed surprised when the car started right up. This time, her smile was wide.
"Okay, thank you so much for this, Laura. I promise I'll bake you a big batch of your very own cupcakes," Emily began, smiling at Laura.
"You know I love your cupcakes." Laura laughed.
Emily's cheeks turned pink with pleasure at Laura's comment. "Well, you'll love these even more than all the ones you've had before." She giggled. "I'll see you at Cooper's."
As Laura followed Emily on the way to the mechanic's shop, she thought about her friendship with her . They had been close almost from the moment they'd met, but they were still two very different people. True, at twenty-five, Emily was only a year older than Laura, so they were close in age. But Emily was a little more naïve and innocent than Laura was. After all, Laura had a burden to deal with, which she called a gift so it wouldn't become too frustrating for her. Emily didn't understand the gift, but even though she was a bit skeptical about it, she believed Laura whenever she talked about it. After all, the last thing Emily wanted was to have this same gift, and as she'd said on numerous occasions, she was very glad that it was Laura and not her who had it. Emily didn't understand it, but since she loved Laura like a sister, she'd decided to be supportive of this thing Laura called a gift.
At Cooper Brothers, both girls parked their cars – Laura in the regular parking lot, and Emily near the mechanic's bay. They walked up to the mechanic together, but Emily was the one who spoke first.
"Hey, Liam." Emily approached the mechanic in the dirty blue overalls. She poked out her bottom lip, then chuckled and said, "My car is sick!"
Liam smiled and asked, "What's wrong with it?"
Emily went into her spiel. "My brakes are making all sorts of noises, and I don't feel safe with the way the car driving." Laura listened to the conversation between Liam and Emily as she thought about the meeting she was having this afternoon. She was distracted though by the radio playing in the background. As she continued to listen to Emily and Liam's conversation regarding Emily's brakes, she shook her head in an attempt to get the radio's noise out of her mind before it triggered her gift in some way. It wasn't working, but she continued her attempt anyway by closing her eyes and going over her ideas for the meeting.
Laura moved closer to Emily and Liam. Since she couldn't distract herself with the details of the meeting, she tried to concentrate on the particulars of what was wrong with Emily's brakes and how Liam was planning to repair them. But as hard as she tried, she couldn't get the music out of her head. The longer Emily and Liam's conversation went on, the more Laura noticed the radio. Laura prepared for what would happen next. What always happened next.
She had to do something to get her mind off the music. In the middle of their conversation about brakes and brake pads, Laura walked closer to the counter. As soon as she could, she interrupted their conversation, still feeling a bit anxious about the music coming out of the radio.
"Liam," she injected, "how is your brother?"
The question seemed to catch him off guard. Liam's brother, Oliver – or Ollie, as most people called him – had been in a coma for some time now, but Laura could tell that it was still a difficult subject for him to talk about.
"Uh, fine, I guess," Liam said, then shook his head. "I mean, about the same."
Laura struggled to keep the topic going and hoped he'd elaborate, because she was coming up empty.
"I mean," Liam started, this time acting like he was anxious to talk about his brother's situation. "I mean, people think that when people are in a coma, they just lie there, but that's not true. Ollie, well, he moves around every now and then in the bed. He even opens his eyes once in a while. And that always makes me think he's gonna come out of the coma, but he never does. He moves, and he opens his eyes sometimes, but the doctors say he's still in a coma. That's confusing to me."
Laura still didn't know what to say. She felt sorry for Liam, and for Ollie, but she honestly couldn't think of a reply for Liam at that moment. So, she just said the first thing that came to her mind. "What does he do when he opens his eyes?" she asked. "Does he act like he knows you, or is it just a blank stare?"
She wasn't sure why she asked that, but she had to admit she was curious about his coma. Still she didn't know either of them well so she felt a little bit awkward even talking about Ollie as if she did.
"He just stares," Liam said quietly. "I don't even think he knows what is going on. He just stares." Liam seemed depressed speaking about his brother, and Laura felt sorry for him again.
"Do the doctors have any idea what caused this? Why he's in the coma?"
Liam shook his head and told them of Ollie's situation his medical problems, the doctors' prognosis, and anything else medical and Ollie-related.
But as Liam spoke, Laura suddenly heard the static in her head, and she winced Laura knew the familiar feeling—, that feeling she'd gotten so many times before. When it first happened, it had made her a little uncomfortable, but now she was used to it.. At that moment, she just knew that Liam was lying about his brother Ollie. She was sure of it. She didn't need any proof other than the radio static in her head.
After an accident, prior to moving to Strawberry Shores, Laura had discovered she had a mild psychic ability – a "gift," as she called it. No, she didn't see ghosts, and she couldn't tell the future. It was a little more unique and concentrated than that. In Laura's case, she could actually tell when someone was lying to her. Not right away, of course, and not all the time. Usually only when a radio was within hearing distance.
At that moment when the static began, she knew someone talking to or near her was lying. The radio would be on, and there would be a static-like noise in her head, and Laura just knew. She didn't always know what the person was lying about, or the extent of their lying, but she knew the person was lying.
Naturally, when it first happened, Laura had felt that she could only share information related to this gift with a few people. But she'd told Emily, because almost immediately after the two women met, they'd felt a connection with one another and had become close friends.
To Laura's surprise, Emily didn't make fun of her once her secret was out. That didn't mean that Emily understood the gift, but she found it fascinating and had immediately decided to support Laura as best she could. And since that day, Laura and Emily had a special bond.
In addition to Emily, Laura also told her other best friend, Alexandra Shade – or Alex, as she was called. The three of them called themselves the "three musketeers," and they enjoyed being close friends and spending time with one another, even though Alex and Emily tended to argue a lot and enjoyed getting on each other's nerves. Together, they accepted Laura's gift and even encouraged it at times, feeling that Laura had a special gift that she should just accept, especially since there wasn't anything she could do about it, and work to expand it. And now, Laura felt good about the fact that Emily and Alex knew about her special abilities. Liam went back to discussing Emily's car. "Right now, I'm a little b-backed u-up h-here at the sh-shop," he stuttered.
Once again, Laura felt certain that he was lying. Not lying about the shop being backed up, but about Ollie, because the static was gone now that they were off the topic of Ollie and his condition. But why?
All Laura wanted was to find out about Ollie, about his prognosis and how his days were going. Laura was, in fact, genuinely concerned about Ollie, even though she didn't know him well, but now, for the oddest of reasons, she knew that Liam was lying about his brother. Of course, she couldn't let him in on the fact that she knew he was lying, so she kept it to herself. But, she was still concerned about the entire situation, so she decided to press Liam a little more.
Laura interrupted again and began to ask Liam questions, in an attempt to find out more information and to figure out what the specific lies were. She was unable to think about exactly why Liam would lie to her, and she figured the more she talked to him, the more likely it was that she would figure out what his lies were. But of course, that didn't happen.
The more the two of them spoke, the more she realized that she would never find out the answer to her question regarding Liam's lies. At least not today. In fact, after a few questions, Liam began to look suspicious of her, so Laura stopped asking them.
She'd decided that, at least for now, she would stop trying to figure out exactly what Liam was lying about, but that didn't mean she didn't want to know more about his lies. After all, whether Ollie was doing better, worse or about the same, why would Liam feel the need to lie about his situation? What was he keeping from everyone, including Laura? Why did he feel like he needed to lie about this tenuous situation? Was there something wrong that he wasn't sharing with others?
Laura backed off and went over to the vending machine. She purchased a soda as Liam's conversation with Emily continued, but while they were talking, she gave Emily a look. Emily knew the "look." It was subtle to all but those who knew Laura best, so Emily knew exactly what it meant. It meant that someone nearby – in this case, Liam – was lying about something, and that Laura knew it.
Emily's eyes seemed to show excitement at the look. "So, you'll let me know when you have an estimate?" she asked.
Liam nodded. "I've got your information in the office. I'll call you."
"Great, bye then. Come on, Laura." Emily hooked her arm through Laura's, and they headed to Laura's car.
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