Page 16 of Fallen Thorns
Why me?
An abrupt bang at the front doorechoed through my ears and the hairs on my arms stood on edge. I couldn’t move, my eyes fixed to the glass. I hoped whoever it was would give up and go away, but they didn’t.Bang, bang, bang.I squeezed my eyes tight.Bang, bang, bang.The knocking weakened, but then I heard, so faintly:
“Please.” A pained plea.
Rani.
My eyes widened. I patted myself down for my phone until I found it, tucked in my back pocket.I said I would call.
Twenty missed calls and fourteen texts. All from Rani — spanning from midnight until twenty minutes ago.
Shit.
“I’m... coming!” I shouted, frantically drying my hands. Chucking the packet under the sink, I tore off my coat, buttoned up my shirt, and threw a discarded, unwashed jumper on top. “Coming!”
I unlocked the door and it fell open. A blur of a person lunged towards me, arms locking in a tight in embrace. For the first time in a while, I returned the tight hug comfortably; leaning into it and dropping my face into Rani’s soft hair. Her warmth grounded me.I’m so sorry,I thought.
As she pulled back, I noticed the mascara smudged beneath her bloodshot eyes. “Arlo,” she panted. “You’re alive.”
My brow furrowed...did she know? How could she know?
“I...”
“Don’t you ever worry me like that again,” she snapped.
“I’m sorry.”
“You said you would call but you didn’t! I thought maybe you were having a better time than I expected, so I waited, but then I woke up this morning to find out there had been another death down by the riverside and you still weren’t answering me. I came here and knocked so many times but you wouldn’t answer, so I asked around to see if anyone had seen you because I was thinking the absolute worst and that the body they found wasyours.I thought I’d lost my best friend because I let him go out with someone I didn’t know, but you were here. Were you here the whole time? Why didn’t you text me back?” Her eyes teared up again, and then my own welled, too. Not once had I thought of Rani. How selfish and ignorant of me.
“I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry.”
She hugged me again and sighed into my chest.“I thought you were dead.”
I was. I am. What am I?
“Where have you been? What happened?”
Where to begin.
“Arlo?”
Where. To. Begin.
“When did you come home?”
“Last night.” I lied.Why, why, why?
“Then why didn’t you pick up?
“I... slept in.”
“It’s five o’clock.”
“I drank. A lot.”
“I know you’re lying.” She released her hold and stepped back, staring straight into my eyes. “Why are you lying?”
“I...”I can’t tell her. There is no way I can tell her.Phantom hands groped my neck, immeasurable weight pressing down against my chest.
