Part 2My Dead Boyfriend

Back in the dorm, I felt hollowed out, just drifting through the days. Jessica Vance started acting weirdly nice to me, which was… strange.

Jessica’s my roommate. And one of my many romantic rivals.

Like me, Jessica fell for Ethan freshman year. We were basically competing from day one.

Her family’s loaded. She was always trying to give Ethan expensive sneakers and stuff, but he never took anything.

The moment Ethan and I got together, things got ugly between Jessica and me.

I knitted Ethan a scarf once. She called it pathetic and cheap. The next day, Ethan wore it to class.

Sometimes I’d get back to the dorm late, and she’d ‘accidentally’ lock me out.

Even after Ethan and I had been together forever, she still openly hit on him. Never gave me the time of day unless it was a sneer. Ethan, thankfully, ignored her completely.

But after he died, she started being… considerate. Hovering, bringing me food. At first, I figured she just felt bad seeing me so broken. I didn’t suspect a thing.

Until I finally looked at Ethan’s phone.

His passcode was my birthday. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to open it before.

But the longing was too much. I logged into his messages, reading his texts to me from his perspective, laughing through tears one minute, sobbing the next.

I was the only contact pinned to the top. As I backed out of our chat, I saw Jessica’s name right below mine.

Something felt wrong. My finger hovered, then tapped. The messages loaded. It was Jessica, asking Ethan to meet her down by Whisper Creek. The time? Nine p.m. on the night he died.

The coroner put his time of death around midnight. Jessica met him just three hours before he supposedly jumped? What did they talk about? Why didn't she say anything?

My breath hitched. My hands started shaking. She never mentioned meeting him that night. Not once.

Rage boiled up inside me. I stormed back into our dorm room, phone in hand, confronting her. "Why didn't you tell me you met Ethan that night?"

Jessica was alone in the room. When she saw the chat log on my phone screen, the color drained from her face. Pure panic.

"I… I just confessed my feelings again," she stammered, her eyes darting around, refusing to meet mine. "Just like all the other times. He turned me down flat, and I left. I swear, Sarah, I have no idea why he killed himself after that."

Jessica was never this flustered around me. Usually, she was all arrogance and disdain. This guilty act proved she was hiding something.

I slammed the door shut and locked it, stalking towards her. "What did you really say to him? Why did he jump? You want me to blast these messages all over the campus forum?"

I backed her towards the balcony window. She looked like she was about to shatter. Suddenly, she crumpled to the floor, kneeling in front of me.

"I just wanted to know more about him," she sobbed. "So… so I dug into his family background."

I knew Ethan was an orphan. He never talked about his parents much. What did his family have to do with his death?

Jessica continued, her voice trembling, "When he was ten, his father, Grant Cole, drowned himself. Jumped off a bridge. Then, when Ethan was sixteen, his mother, Linda, drowned too… in the bathtub at home."

A chill went down my spine. Drowning? Both of them? Why that specific way?

Ethan never told me his parents died like that. He was always so optimistic, so full of life. How could someone carry that kind of tragedy and still be so… sunny? It felt like Ethan had a whole secret life I knew nothing about.

"After his dad died," Jessica choked out, "his mom was in a car accident. Lost the use of one leg. Then she killed herself too. I knew Ethan had it rough. I just… I wanted to help him. That night, I met him and… I offered him money. A lot of money. Said I’d give it to him regularly if he’d just… spend a few days a month with me."

I almost laughed. It was pathetic. Ethan? The proud, brilliant Ethan Cole? Agreeing to be her paid companion? Impossible.

Jessica pulled out a stack of photos. "He refused, obviously. Said he only loved you. I knew he did. So… I showed him these. The stuff I found out about his parents. I wanted to break him down, shatter that pride of his. He got furious when he saw them. Really angry. Then I just… left."

She was crying hard now. "Sarah, I swear, I don't know why he killed himself! It wasn't my fault! Please, just let this go. Don't drag me into it."

She actually looked like she was telling the truth, mostly just terrified of being implicated. My head was spinning. "Get out," I choked out, pointing to the door. "Just… get out!"

Jessica scrambled to her feet, a mess, and stumbled towards the door. But just before she left, she turned back, her eyes suddenly dark and cold.

"Before I left," she whispered, her voice low and chilling, "Ethan said it was a curse. Sarah, I’m warning you. Stop digging. You don't know who the curse will hit next."