Page 112 of Fallen Thorns
If it turns out to be nothing.It had been five days now.Nothing.
I was prevented from hearing the rest of the conversation, but I believed it ended with Casper shouting and Mars trying to remain calm.
Later that day my mum called, as she had been doing every day since I left, to check in. I reassured her with my most eloquent lie; sending my love to her and Bess then tucking my phone away and ignoring it for the rest of the day.
On the final day of the year, Mars put out a brief statement for the band, which explained Ben was taking some time off for health reasons, but the band would be back in the new year. ‘Thank you for supporting Forever Red this year. We would not be where we are without all of you.’ It read, mimicking Casper’s words. ‘Happy New Year everyone.’
It was met with an influx of comments from the band’s growing fanbase, wishing Ben a speedy recovery, and checking in on Casper too since their relationship had very much been public knowledge these last few years.
That evening, Marianne led us all to the top of a hill to a house she owned; it had an upstairs balcony and an uninterrupted view of a large portion of the city. A yearly tradition, I was quick to learn.
I sat, bulked out in layers, huddled between Rani and Mars with hot chocolate in our mugs. We gazed out over to the blues and golds of the city, to the stone turrets and slate roofs. To the city I now called home: the city buried in invisible blood.
Mars shifted beside me and moved their legs into a more comfortable position. To my right, Rani linked her arm with Carmen’s.
Marianne stood with her arms perched over the side of the balcony wall. She watched over her city as a ruler would. A protector; her face emotionless.
Five minutes to midnight I heard footsteps in the doorway behind me. I didn’t turn, no one did, but we all knew he stood there, Casper — his presence reflected in the balcony glass. He stood in silence, eyes a river of pain.
I felt Mars’ arm link under mine, and I let them, tucking our arms warmly to my side.
We all looked up as the cathedral clock chimed and the first fireworks shot into the sky.
Red, gold, green. A cacophony of sound and colour. Someone to the house to our left set off their own fireworks while someone in the house to our right cheered. I felt the presence of both my friends by my sides. So alive.
The last firework was a bittersweet red and Mars turned to me, planting a swift kiss to my shoulder.
“Happy new year, Arlo.”
When I turned around, Casper was gone.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
We didn’t acknowledge the dawn of a new year the way everyone else would have. We didn’t wait for miracles or new beginnings.
A solemn shadow hung over The Thorns, even those few who deemed Ben’s disappearance as insignificant. Eventually, they came crawling back in sympathy.
My headache dampened, and I felt clearer than I had in weeks. I sat on my bed, staring at the cold, hard wall. Mars knocked then waltzed in.
“How are you this morning?” they asked, joining my side. They’d asked me the same question every morning since they freed me. Each day my response had been the same: ‘Okay, but could be a lot worse.’
Today, however, I smiled at them and tapped my temple, “Great,” I said. Over the weeks and months, I had crafted a new definition for that word, but it still held the same meaning, I just reevaluated how it stood against everything Inowexperienced.
“Casper came back this morning,” they said, looking down at their nails.
“He did? How is he?”
“Great,” they echoed back my own words, looking up at me with a sarcastic brow.
I leaned back. “Sorry.”
“Aren’t we all.”
“What is he going to do?”
“He’ll never give up, we all know that. There is only so much searching one can do without driving themselves mad.”
I thought about Casper traipsing the streets every hour of the day for a whole week.‘I’ll never stop.’
