Declan + Coraline (17 page)

“Ma’am, we need you to move aside,” the paramedic said, and I moved back slightly without letting go of his hand. “Are you coming with him?”

I nodded and rose as they stabilized him and lifted him up. I noticed the police officers talking to the crowd that had gathered, unbeknownst to me. As I looked around, I noticed Imani standing far off in the distance.

“Ma’am, we need to go.”

“Coming.” I followed along with them.

***

“Oh God!” an older woman with short white hair cried as she fell to the ground. The doctor told her what the paramedics couldn’t—that on our way here, Mr. Pierre had died. Just like that, he was gone.

My cousin and I had gotten into a fight and she drove off, making it not even a mile before killing someone. That was my reality now as I sat in my blood-stained SpongeBob pajamas, unable to leave.

“Ms. Wilson?”

I turned to the officer who’d called my name.

“Yes…yes, that’s me.”

He looked at me from my bare feet to my hair that was still wrapped in a scarf. “Do you live at Raven Hill?”

“Yes.”

“And the Infinity is yours?”

“Yes.” I really wanted silence. My head felt like it was going to split open.

“Ma’am, we’re going to need you to come down to the station. For more question…”

“Was it you?!”

I jumped at the voice that yelled at me. The old woman, still sobbing, marched up to me as she held on to her husband’s personal items.

“Did you kill my John?”

“No!” I said quickly. “Mrs. Pierre—I didn’t do this.”

She slapped me. “How could you do this to us? He was going to retire! He had a week left!”

“Mom, let’s go.” Her daughter pulled her away as the officer stepped in between us. I held onto the side of my face, unable to speak. The world was spinning too fast for me.

“Ms. Wilson, you need to come with us…”

“Is she under arrest?”

I turned to find Declan walking up to us. It was six a.m. and he was dressed in jeans and a simple dark blue button down shirt. This was just too much…it had to be a nightmare. Stumbling backwards, I fell onto the chair.

“Mr. Callahan—”

“Is she under arrest, Officer?” he repeated as he stood beside me.

“No, sir, not yet, we just have some questions—”

“Then get away from us. An explanation for this will surely pop up, and when it does, it will come from our lawyer. For now, I think it would be best if you headed back to the station. Your Captain should be calling you shortly.” Sure enough his partner came up and motioned for the officer to follow him.

“Have a good day, Mr. Callahan.” They nodded to him and when they turned the corner, he sat down.

Neither of us said anything and it bothered me just as much talking would have.

“How did you know I was here?” I whispered.

“One of my men was on his way to drop something off for you. He saw you get into the back of the ambulance and called me. Please tell me that none of that blood belongs to you. Have you seen a doctor?” He reached out to touch me, but then stopped. His hand curled into a fist before he gripped his own knee.

“It’s not mine. It was Mr. Pierre’s. He died today.” I felt like someone else should know that. “He was good man. I didn’t know him too well, but he was there at Raven Hill when we first moved in. He remembers everyone’s name and always came out of his booth to say good morning or good night to people. He was a good man and he died today.”

“Let me take you home.”

“Yes, please. My car is the murder weapon.” I laughed softly even though it wasn’t funny. I placed my hands over my face and tried to stop myself from crying.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“It wasn’t me…It was my cousin,” I sobbed as I wiped my nose.

“I will still take care of it, just let me take you home, okay?” He offered me his hand. I took it and held on tightly as he led me out the back of the hospital. Eric was there, and with the snap of Declan’s fingers, his coat came right off and was on my shoulders.

“Thank you,” I whispered as I sat in the passenger’s seat.

He turned on the music and lowered it until it was only a soft hum before we drove off and I rested my head against the window and drew in a shaky breath.

“Is this what your nightmares are like?” I whispered, as I stared out into the city. It seemed as though everyone was only just beginning to get up and move about as they prepared to start a new day. I, on the other hand, just wanted to go to bed.

“Yes,” he replied.

“And I won’t forget?”

“No. Sometimes we have to pay for other peoples mistakes along with our own.”

“Do we ever stop paying?” I looked to him when we reached the stoplight.

He sighed. “You never stop paying, Cora. If you do, it means you’re either dead or dying. I never want to see you like this again.”

“It’s the SpongeBob pants, isn’t it? Not doing it for you?”

A grin spread across his lips. “I’m more of Mr. Krabs type of man, I mean what the hell is a sponge doing at the bottom of the sea?”

My giggle turned into a full-blown laugh. It felt good to laugh.

“I missed hearing that,” he whispered softly.

I missed laughing.

I turned away from the gatepost when we got to Raven Hill. He stopped right outside my house and I opened the door for myself before he could get out.

“Thank you, Declan. But…”

“I understand.” He frowned as he closed his door.

“And you don’t have to take care of—”

“I said I would and I will. Don’t think of it as a favor. Think of it as a goodbye present or an ‘I’m sorry’ present…either one works.” He handed me an envelope through the window.

“What is it?”

“You’ll understand. Now go in before you scare your neighbors,” he said and I glanced around to see a few people coming out.

“Bye.”

“Goodbye, Coraline Wilson.”

I wanted to stay, even knowing everything I knew, I didn’t want him to go. But I took a step back and headed inside quickly. Resting my back against the door, I took a deep breath. Then, as I realized where I was, I bolted up the stairs.

“Imani!” I screamed.

“In here!” she called from her room.

Walking into her room, she had a suitcase on her bed, and she was busy throwing all of her things—
my things
—into it.

“What are you doing?”

“I already talked to Mom and Dad, I’m going to leave until this blows over.”

“Imani, he died. There’s not a wind in all the world strong enough to blow this over.”

She froze as her brown eyes glanced at me, then she started packing faster.

“Imani!”

“What?!” she screamed as she threw a shirt into her bag. “Coraline, I was drunk and high! I will go to prison for like life! I can’t, Cora.”

“So what? You want me to take the fall for this? They think it was me!”

“They do?” She relaxed as she reached up to grab me. “Coraline, that’s perfect—”

“In what way is this perfect?”

“Coraline, you’re a model citizen. You have money. You’ll be fine—”

I couldn’t take it anymore. Just as I was about to slap some sense into her, a hand grabbed onto mine.

“What the fuck you thinking you doing?” Otis asked as he held onto me with his good hand. His face was still swollen, and there was a large bruise on the left side of his face.

“Let go and get out of my house.” I tried to pull my hand from his grasp, but he held on tighter.

“Who the fuck do you think you talking to? Richie-rich?”

“Otis, it’s fine.”

“You better watch yourself, bitch.” He sneered as he let me go.

Rubbing my wrist, I turned to her as she zipped up her bag. “I thought you both broke up.”

“It was a misunderstanding.” She smiled at him as he grabbed some more of her things—
my things.

“Imani,” I whispered trying to stay calm. “He’s a gangster, an actual one. He needs to go—”

“Give us a few minutes,
princess,
and we’ll both be out of here.”

I tried to touch her, but she pushed my hands away.

“Imani, he will hurt you.” I tried to reason with her.

“What do you know?” She pushed my shoulder on her way out. “Babe, I’m ready.”

He nodded as he followed her out of the room.

I knew a lot more than I she thought. I knew how badly it felt to want to go and how badly you shouldn’t. Watching them walk down the stairs I didn’t know what to say.

“Babe, how much is that worth.” Otis stopped to grab the Greek vase from the cabinet in the living room.

“Put it down.” I rushed behind him.

“I’ve about had with you,” he snapped at me.

“Otis, it belonged to her parents, just leave it.” Imani pulled at his arm.

He kept glaring at me, and then he smiled. “My bad.”

“No!”

He let drop out of his hands and it shattered as it hit the ground. I bent down and touched the larger pieces as Imani tried to pull him out the door. Taking a few pieces, I threw them at him. “You son of bitch!”

“You little cunt!”

He smacked me so hard I fell onto the ground, and as I tried to brace myself, I felt the shards of the vase bite deeply into my palms. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”

“Otis, stop! Let’s go.”

“Imani, you step out that door with him, you are dead to me! I swear to God I will never forgive you.” I wiped the blood from my corner of my eye.

“I don’t need you, Coraline,” she replied. “Otis, come on!”

But he stood there glaring at me until she came and pulled him back.

“Get out of my house!” I hissed at them.

Annoyed, he grabbed the entire shelf and pulled it down. It crashed right next to me, forcing me to back up quickly.

“Don’t find yourself in Southbend, princess, or you might not be as lucky as you were today.”

“GET OUT!” I screamed. “GET THE FUCK OUT!”

“Fuck you!” he shouted as they got into the car and drove off.

This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be my life.

The envelope Declan had given me was on the ground. I hadn’t let go of it until now thanks to Otis. Reaching for it, I broke the wax seal and dumped everything out onto the floor next to me.

Three passports.

9 black cards. No names. Just numbers.

One ticket to Greece.

And pictures. Our pictures together. Pictures we’d taken when we went zip-lining and swimming with the sharks. There was a note on one of the pictures.

I don’t want you to be afraid or chose me because you have no other choice. So run, Coraline. Keep having fun. My uncle will let you stay until tomorrow night. But if you stay past that, he will take you as a threat.

Thank you and be safe.

Declan.

I noticed all too clearly that he didn’t write ‘PS. I love you’ this time.

“What the hell happened?”

I glanced up as my uncle came inside.

“Your daughter killed someone, and then she ran off with her boyfriend. But not before he broke my mother’s vase and got a good hit in.”

He looked around the room in shock before looking to me.

“I heard about the accident from your aunt. It won’t look good for the company if this gets out. We will lose clients. I know a guy at the police station, and for the right price he can make this look like a freak accident. Then we can donate to—”

“You’re not going to ask me if I’m alright?” I questioned softly. “I’m covered in blood siting on the ground on. Shouldn’t the first question you ask me be, ‘are you all right?’ If not as your niece, then at least as your ATM. Shouldn’t that be the normal reaction to this situation?”

He paused and I guessed it only dawned on him this wasn’t okay. He looked me over as he opened his mouth and closed it again, like a fish.

“I’ll give you the choice. Me or the bank.”

“What?” He paused.

“Which one?”

“The bank,” he replied without even having to think.

I nodded, not even surprised or hurt.

Ever since my parents died, I had been alone. Surrounded by people, but alone. What was the point in being a good person if you just ended up being run over by a bad one? Lifting up a picture of me in Cancun, I stared at myself. I’d been so happy then. It felt like it had been forever since that time, but it wasn’t, it was still waiting for me. If everyone was going being to be selfish, if everyone was just going to do what they wanted anyway, then why couldn’t I?

There were three choices in front of me.

Lifting the passport I stood up and walked past him.

“You really going to give it to me?” he yelled after me, but I didn’t answer.

First shower.

Then pack.

THIRTEEN

“Life has to end, she said. Love doesn't.”

―Mitch Albom

DECLAN

Two weeks.

You think I would’ve been over it. Over
her,
but once you knew what it was like to be truly happy, to feel like you were standing right next to the sun without getting burned, how can anyone go back to being in the dark?

“Declan?”

I glanced up at Evelyn. She and everyone else were staring at me. It felt like the first night when I came to live here. Everyone kept hovering over me at dinner.

“You alright?” she asked me kindly.

“He’s fine,” Sedric answered as he cut into his steak.

“I would prefer to hear it from him.” She glared at him. She was the only one that could get away with that.

“I’m fine,” I repeated.

“See?” Sedric chewed. “Let me know when she’s gone.”

“Of course.” I nodded as I placed my fork down. “May I be excus—?”

“Master Callahan?” Our butler stepped into the dining room, arms folded behind his back.

“What is it, Samuel?” Sedric placed his fork down.

“There’s a woman here for Master Declan,” he said looking to me. “A Miss Coraline Wilson.”

I got up so quickly that the chair fell over. I was out the door, knowing that Samuel wouldn’t have let her inside without permission. The rain soaked my clothes, but I didn’t care. She stood staring up at the house under a green umbrella, dressed in a peach-colored lace dress. A taxi was parked right behind her.