Page 20 of Synodic

I wished I could tell him more, but my eyes succumbed to the pull of darkness once again.

* * *

That afternoon I sat rolled up on the couch in the baggiest sweater set I owned, wrapped in the comfiest blanket I could find. In my hands, I cradled a steaming cup of lemon ginger tea, steeped and kindly prepared for me by Natalie. The rich aroma wafted towards me, and I deeply inhaled the warm notes of spice and citrus.

Apparently, this drink was a hangover cure, and while I didn’t think that’s what I was suffering from, I was willing to try anything that would calm my stomach and pounding headache.

“So you think you had an allergic reaction? You’re sure no one slipped something in your drink?” Natalie asked from the opposite side of the couch, looking ill herself. Was she suffering unintended reactions from last night as well?

“I’m positive,” I said before taking a tiny sip of tea that tingled down my throat. “I didn’t accept a single drink from anyone except you and Harlan. There’s no way someone could have slipped me something. Those men never had a chance, though they definitely cashed in on the situation.”

She bit down on her lower lip and looked at me regretfully with her hazel stare. The apparent guilt for leaving me alone dulled the usual sparkle in her eyes. “I just got off the phone with the club. Apparently several of the security cameras were faulty. Any footage of you is too bright and hazy to make anything out. There is no evidence to corroborate your accusations of the three men.”

I gripped the cup, trying to keep it together. “Can you…can you at least tell me what happened after? I don’t remember much.”

“Harlan found Damon and me on the upper level and said something was seriously wrong with you and to come help.”

My jaw almost dropped in my lap. Harlan had left me not once but twice!

I fumed at the thought of him knowingly leaving me alone in that room completely unconscious. So unaware of his surroundings, he hadn’t even stopped to consider mine. He’d barely given those men a second glance before they disappeared off into the shadows, not even sparing a moment's thought that they might come back and finish what they started.

Harlan had avoided the whole conflict altogether, probably worried he would scuff his loafers or mess up his hair.

“You were pretty out of it. You could barely stand, let alone walk, and you were barefoot. I didn’t have much time, but I couldn’t find your shoes anywhere. Damon carried you out of the club. We ordered a cab and came straight here. Harlan wanted to stay with you, but I made him leave. I got you as comfortable as I could for bed and left you to sleep it off.”

My cheeks flushed with mortification. I had been unconsciously carried out of the club by a man I didn’t even know. A man that Natalie was clearly interested in, but still, why hadn’t Harlan done it?

I didn’t think I’d ever been this embarrassed in my whole life. I squeezed the mug tighter. “Natalie, I’m so sorry. He sounds like an amazing guy, and I completely ruined your night.”

“Don’t worry about it. We all wanted to help,” she said, shifting uncomfortably and quickly looking to the kitchen to check the kettle.

“What was…what was Harlan doing?” I choked out. I already knew, but I had to hear it from her.

“He was losing his mind. He was so worried about you, he didn’t know what to do. Damon and I pretty much had to take charge of the whole situation.”

If Harlan thought he was losing his mind, he should really try walking a mile in my shoes, wherever they were. I remembered darting back and forth between the club and the forest I only saw in my dreams. I’d been so out of it that I slipped between worlds as if they were merely the turn of a page apart.

I thought back to Rowen. He was seething, but he would never have let the situation get the better of him the way Harlan had. Too bad he wasn’t real. But that was a whole other problem for another day. I wasn’t ready to face that just yet. One thing at a time. “I can’t believe he left me again.”

“Don’t blame him, Keira. You were pretty bad. It was…hard to see you like that.”

Hard to see, yet harder to experience. And they didn’t even know the half of it.

“Are you going to be alright?” She placed her polished hand on my knee and gave me a pat through the thick blanket.

“Now that I know not to pick up another drink of alcohol ever again!” I answered as if all was well and I wasn’t facing a mental breakdown. Or that I had no control over my mind as it slowly tore in two.

Pretending I wasn’t on the precipice of losing my mind was getting harder and harder to fake. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it up.

My phone buzzed obnoxiously by my side. It had been going off all morning with texts and calls from Harlan, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. Especially after learning about how poorly he handled the whole situation.

It had been bad enough that Harlan left me for so long, but worse to find out my own date couldn’t even discreetly carry me out of the building.

I ignored my phone as it buzzed and stared blankly forward, while Natalie’s fingers flew across her phone. As she furiously typed away to whomever, I realized just how garishly she decorated our living room. Bold colors, obnoxious prints, and flashy decorations covered every inch of our living space. Not even a breath that I lived here.

How had I not noticed this before?

I’d never expressed any interest in decorating, what with my room barely containing a picture on the wall and a few track plaques, but Natalie had completely taken it upon herself to become our interior decorator. She must have assumed I was okay with it because I never said a word, and now here I sat in a gaudy room I didn’t even recognize.

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