Page 38 of Stoker's Serenity

Linny leaned her butt up against the railing wrapping the little landing outside Serenity’s front door and crossed her arms over her stomach.

“I met Ren our senior year of high school. She transferred in to my school after they told her she wasn’t welcome back at the one she’d come from. Believe me, it was total bullshit. Ren didn’t do anything wrong.” She put out her hand as though she was going to need to stop me from thinking the worst about her bestie, but there wasn’t any way.

For as much as I didn’t know the minute details, I knew Serenity, and she was a good girl.

“What’s with the dude at the beach?”

“One of our classmates, I think. He could have been a lower classman. At any rate, Serenity’s first real boyfriend was Kyle Ian Covington. He shot up their old school and killed all those kids – which, if they were anything like the one you saw on the beach? I can’t really say I blame him.” She put up her hands to ward me off when all I did was raise an eyebrow.

“I know, I know! You shouldn’t really wish death on anyone, but the absolute shit they put Ren through? I mean it was a constant barrage. ‘Murderer’s Whore’ eventually just got shortened down to ‘Murder Whore’ for expediency’s sake, but yeah. That was the name she came to my school with and it’s literally stuck to her like nobody’s business ever since.”

“Jesus,” I muttered, hanging my head and shaking it.

“She didn’t know what Kyle had planned. She didn’t even know he was the one shooting until she ran into him in the cafeteria while she was running for her own life.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“She was horrified, he shot himself, and she’s been dealing with the fallout one way or the other ever since.” She looked bleakly through the window and I followed her gaze. Trouble and worry clouded her light brown eyes as she stared at Ren’s sleeping form.

“How long has this been going on?” I asked.

“Nine years,” she said, letting out an explosive breath. “These little incidents have gotten fewer and further between, but they do still happen. I’m surprised it happened in your little podunk town.”

“Hey,” I fired off by way of a warning shot.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “It’s a nice town. It is, it just happens to have an asshole in it.”

“Today, yeah, but everybody knows everybody else in Ft. Royal. Dude was a local tourist type. He doesn’t live there.”

“Well, that’s good to know, I guess,” she muttered and heaved a giant sigh, scrubbing her face with her hands.

“You staying the night, then?” I asked when she had spent several minutes staring at her prone friend.

“Legit, I’m scared to leave,” she said finally. “I know she’s tough, but this has been her cross to bear for nine yearsand I know she’s sad. I know she’s lonely and depressed, and I’m scared. I’m scared one of these days one of these incidents, it’s going to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. That she’s going to give up, and that’ll be it. I’ll lose my best friend, just like that, because people can’t not be judgey pieces of shit over shit they don’t even know…”

Linny started to cry, her heart breaking for my little dark orchid in there and I didn’t quite know what to say. I took a shot in the dark with the truth.

“I’m not going to let that happen,” I said.

Linny gave me a withering look. “It’s not like you can control it. Not like you can control what people think of her, what they say to her, how they make her feel…”

“No, you’re right,” I agreed. “I don’t have control over any of those things, but might be I’m able to teach her the art of not giving a fuck.”

Linny flubbed a laugh and shook her head. “I’ve been trying that for years,” she said bleakly.

“You’re also close, you two. Maybe she just needs it from an outside source.”

“Maybe,” Linny murmured, and let out a shuddering sigh.

“You kill my best friend, I’m going to kill you, but not before I come up with some real creative ways to make it hurt like hell.” She gave me what I think was supposed to pass for a hard look but all it did was remind me of a tiny ferocious little kitten. Sure, the claws were needle-like, the fangs present, but they were far too dainty to make for any real damage.

Still, I tried not to laugh in Linny’s face or hurt her feelings.

“I’m sure you would. You women-folk are crafty like that.”

“Are you mocking me?” she asked, suspiciously.

Yes, maybe a little.

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