Veronica had been wearing that blue dress on the last day anyone saw her, the one with the white ruffled sleeves that go halfway down her arms, probably covering up burns or cuts or something. I never really liked her; she used to wear this lavender hair band that she probably thought was cute and these white dress shoes with huge daisies springing out from them.
I think that’s what bothered me most about her, and how quiet she was. Which is now what scares me most, that, and how Veronica doesn’t have a face anymore.
No one really liked her growing up; there was just something about veronica that perturbed people. She would always be by herself at school, unless one of our classmates made her their pity friend, but they just stopped trying after awhile. Veronica didn’t seem, when anyone bothered to ask why she was such a loner her reply would always be the same thing.
“But I’m not alone.”
I know what she means now, now that I’m the one who’s never alone.
Things didn’t get any better for Veronica once we reached high school, people started to notice things even if it’s only to ignore them. She still wore that dress and those damn daisy shoes, even when it was raining; how could someone not comment on that?
I barely even remember seeing Veronica in high school, though I looked back in the yearbooks and found I had at least seven classes with her. The last time I think I saw her was when some of the more gregarious girls had taken her cloths, leaving Veronica only a gym uniform, and where playing a juvenile game of keep away, or trying to. The shoes, I think, ended up on the roof or something, but through the whole thing Veronica just stood there looking at their jeering faces and waiting for it all to be over. Her eyes had this, hollow look to them, as if there wasn’t anything inside her anymore, maybe there never had been
I’d gladly see those hollow bottomless eyes then nothing, at least the eyes would hint at some spark of humanity, the kind of spark that the things waiting outside my house severely lack.
Sometime after most of us graduated I read in the newspaper, it was the Wednesday edition that Veronica had gone missing. Several people from around town, who liked to look like they cared about things, formed a loose search party. I looked for Veronica too, but on my own. I thought I had a better chance of finding her then some self serving search party, though I didn’t believe I’d actually find anything. The local paper ran with it for a few weeks before dropping it for a political sex scandal. After that everyone sort of forgot about Veronica, either supposing she had killed herself or had been killed, it didn’t really matter to them, or me I suppose. It’s a really shitty thing to say but it was like it was best for everyone involved that she disappeared.
Except she’s come back and has something that she never had before, friends.
Now it’s us that have stated to disappear.
The power went out five days ago, the generator three days ago and it’s gotten cold; I’ve collected together all the candles and set them up around the house so at least I still have the small comfort of light, and a radio that had been sitting in my closet. I don’t know if that’s what’s keeping them out of my house, I have a couple of theories about it, though that’s all they are, theories.
My best one is that Veronica’s still too quiet and polite to come in and get me, at least for now, I wonder what’s taking her so long?
