“If you’re talking about disappearing on me an hour into our not-really-a-date… you were pretty high. I figured you hitched a ride home with your friends and forgot all about me. You really don’t need to keep rejecting me for me to get the picture. It’s all in the past, yeah?”
I wanted to argue, to insist that I hadn’t gotten high and forgotten about him because Danny really did seem like a nice guy. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could possibly tell the truth. Amber had been right: I was a liar and a murderer. The excuse on the tip of my tongue sounded like more of a brush-off than the fake brush-off that Danny was providing me. I’m sorry I bailed on our date, it was only because I was drugged and dragged out of the nightclub by a bunch of high school girls at the bidding of Dominic Kingsling, after which I accidentally or deliberately blew up the car and everyone inside it. Including myself.
Yeah… I was better off simply nodding my head and never speaking about it again.
So that’s what I did.
I hid out in the college medical centre for the rest of the day, even though it hadn’t taken more than an hour for the nurse to dress my hand. I needed a game plan, because I was more than a little certain that I was wearing some kind of a bomb around my neck, which meant that the messenger was announcing another of his one-man shows. Cabe had almost kissed me last night, which meant—in the messenger’s eyes—that we had almost formed the bond despite Cabe’s manipulated memory. If I were the messenger, I’d be angry too.
Now his show was beginning, and I needed to stop it before our ‘four’ became a ‘three’, and the ‘three’ became a ‘two’… until nothing was left but me and the messenger.
I checked the time on my phone before heading to the parking lot where I had asked Poison and Clarin to meet me after they were done with their classes. Quillan hadn’t said anything to me about coordinating a ride home, so I assumed that he was going back with Noah and Cabe the same way they had all come in. That was fine with me. The last thing I needed was any one of them hanging around to hear my plan, because they wouldn’t simply hate it. They would go out of their way to sabotage it.
There was a tap against the passenger window. I whipped my head around, but relaxed when I saw Poison.
“So you went to one class, I’ve heard.” She spoke as she pulled open the passenger door and jumped into the seat, turning to give me an inquisitive look.
Clarin slipped into the back quietly, watching us with concern in his eyes. “One class in two days,” he reiterated. “What’s the deal, mouse? And why in the hell are you wearing a bandage?”
“The time to win back Noah and Cabe has passed,” I told them both, not commenting on my lack of attendance or my hand. “I need them on our side now .”
Clarin suddenly leaned forward, his head thrust between the two front seats so that he was staring straight into my face, his eyes wide. “You’re going to form the bond?”
I nodded, and Poison pushed him out of the way, her expression shocked. “But—”
“And then I’m going to disappear,” I cut across her, “so nobody will get hurt.”
They immediately started arguing, as I knew they would. I reached up to my collar, running my finger lightly along the length of the leather. I knew that the LED lights had lit up again, because Poison and Clarin immediately fell silent. I pulled the note out of my pocket and handed it over, watching as the shock settled over them like a wet blanket, washing away the fight from their limbs and the opinions from their tongues.
When they were finished, they looked to me, lost. I knew the dreaded hopelessness that curled within them; it was my familiar friend—but a friend from the past. I would never be hopeless again. That wasn’t to say that I had a whole lot of hope inside me either… but I had other things instead. The
I wanted to argue, to insist that I hadn’t gotten high and forgotten about him because Danny really did seem like a nice guy. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could possibly tell the truth. Amber had been right: I was a liar and a murderer. The excuse on the tip of my tongue sounded like more of a brush-off than the fake brush-off that Danny was providing me. I’m sorry I bailed on our date, it was only because I was drugged and dragged out of the nightclub by a bunch of high school girls at the bidding of Dominic Kingsling, after which I accidentally or deliberately blew up the car and everyone inside it. Including myself.
Yeah… I was better off simply nodding my head and never speaking about it again.
So that’s what I did.
I hid out in the college medical centre for the rest of the day, even though it hadn’t taken more than an hour for the nurse to dress my hand. I needed a game plan, because I was more than a little certain that I was wearing some kind of a bomb around my neck, which meant that the messenger was announcing another of his one-man shows. Cabe had almost kissed me last night, which meant—in the messenger’s eyes—that we had almost formed the bond despite Cabe’s manipulated memory. If I were the messenger, I’d be angry too.
Now his show was beginning, and I needed to stop it before our ‘four’ became a ‘three’, and the ‘three’ became a ‘two’… until nothing was left but me and the messenger.
I checked the time on my phone before heading to the parking lot where I had asked Poison and Clarin to meet me after they were done with their classes. Quillan hadn’t said anything to me about coordinating a ride home, so I assumed that he was going back with Noah and Cabe the same way they had all come in. That was fine with me. The last thing I needed was any one of them hanging around to hear my plan, because they wouldn’t simply hate it. They would go out of their way to sabotage it.
There was a tap against the passenger window. I whipped my head around, but relaxed when I saw Poison.
“So you went to one class, I’ve heard.” She spoke as she pulled open the passenger door and jumped into the seat, turning to give me an inquisitive look.
Clarin slipped into the back quietly, watching us with concern in his eyes. “One class in two days,” he reiterated. “What’s the deal, mouse? And why in the hell are you wearing a bandage?”
“The time to win back Noah and Cabe has passed,” I told them both, not commenting on my lack of attendance or my hand. “I need them on our side now .”
Clarin suddenly leaned forward, his head thrust between the two front seats so that he was staring straight into my face, his eyes wide. “You’re going to form the bond?”
I nodded, and Poison pushed him out of the way, her expression shocked. “But—”
“And then I’m going to disappear,” I cut across her, “so nobody will get hurt.”
They immediately started arguing, as I knew they would. I reached up to my collar, running my finger lightly along the length of the leather. I knew that the LED lights had lit up again, because Poison and Clarin immediately fell silent. I pulled the note out of my pocket and handed it over, watching as the shock settled over them like a wet blanket, washing away the fight from their limbs and the opinions from their tongues.
When they were finished, they looked to me, lost. I knew the dreaded hopelessness that curled within them; it was my familiar friend—but a friend from the past. I would never be hopeless again. That wasn’t to say that I had a whole lot of hope inside me either… but I had other things instead. The
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