Page 17 of Fallen Thorns
Her face softened. “Sorry. I’m just scared. I genuinely thought you were dead. Why is there so much death?”
Then I properly started to cry. Rani pulled me into another hug. “It’s okay,” she said after a moment. “I’m just glad you’re alive.”
“I’m sorry,” I choked.
“I know. I’m sorry too.”
We held each other for a long moment, until I finally loosened my grip and let my arms flop back to my sides.
Rani wiped her eyes on her fluffy scarf. “I don’t want to sound like a crazy friend, but I care so much about you, Arlo, and… please just call next time. Or text. Even if it’s just a thumbs up or a kiss. I only need something to let me know I’ve not been a terrible friend and left you in danger.”
“I promise. I’m sorry, Rani, I really am. I got carried away and wasn’t thinking. I had no idea someone... someonedied.”Realisation set in.“Do they know who it is?” I thought back to all the faces I could possibly remember from that night.Had Lucy attacked others? Killed others? Why was I the one who was saved?
Rani shook her head. “Not yet, which is why I got so concerned. You practically vanished off the face of the earth.”
“Sorry.”
“Stop apologising!” she snapped.
“Sor...”
She glared, hiding a grin.
A ghost of a smile twitched across my face as I closed my eyes, the tension lifting.
Rani slumped herself on my bed, pulling Wellington to her chest and wrapping her arms around him tightly. “People are getting scared. This isn’t supposed to happen.”
“Do they know the cause of death?”It has to have been Lucy.
“Suicide, apparently. Those are the rumours anyway. Jumped from a height, they say. The… carpark,” she choked out the word, clearly envisioning the scene.
Right next to where we were.My mind spiralled... it wasn’t a suicide. It couldn’t have been. They were pushed, to cover it up and make it easier to control the police. None of these deaths were accidents or murders inflicted by ordinary people — no, the victims were murdered by the same creatures that killed me.But why am I still here and they’re not? What made me any more important?
But how could I have expressed my thoughts to Rani in that moment without sounding inconsiderate and delusional? Spouting off the truth like some crazed conspiracist who ambles up to the police station, blaming some other worldly force for the deaths of three completely unconnected strangers. They would believe I’d lost my mind and have me escorted from the premises with a warning for wasting police time. I’d probablyend up a suspect too for tying the cases together. I’d be essentially incriminating myself there and then. Two clear suicides and a murder. Victims not linked except theywere.The two supposed suicides were, as I found out later that day, both from the same course. And the man? The police and investigators will have no doubt discovered a link to him too; they’re good like that. I would be locked away.
“Arlo?”
“Yes. Sorry. I was just thinking.” I tapped my fingers against my crossed arms.
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
That earned me a glare.
“Just about how surreal this all is,” I added.
Rani sighed, sitting up and parking my teddy between her crossed legs. “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it. I can’t quite wrap my head around any of it. I wonder how the families are feeling. It’s heart-breaking.”
Instinct told me to console her, to sit by her side and drape a comforting arm around her but the notion felt too much. So, I remained standing and kept my arms folded, awkwardness creeping its way back in.
The bathroom fan buzzed away gently in the background, though the off-putting aura settling between us was probably my fault. I’ve never been good at comforting others, and though I tried so hard, I never had the right words to say or the correct actions to make the other comfortable. To prove I could be empathetic.
“Did you at least have a nice time last night?” Rani finally said.
“Hmm...”How much should I say?“It didn’t work out. But that’s fine.”
“Yeah. Oh well, you know what everyone says: There are plenty more fish in the sea.” Rani’s nose curled up at the statement.
