The Missing- Volume II- Lies (13 page)

“Who is doing this to you, Nora?” she sobbed and I turned so that I was facing her. Without giving myself time to think about what I was doing, I took her in my arms and we held each other. My bare chest pressed against her rough shirt, and I almost sighed at the feel of her. Finally so close. How I always wanted her to be.

“Who would do this to you, Nora? My god!”

I ran my hand through her hair and it felt good. So good.

“She insisted on coming.”

Maren pulled back and the distance between us felt like miles. I realized Bradley was also there, standing beside the open window, watching us, unreadable.

I pulled the blanket back up over my naked breasts, overwhelmed with sudden awkwardness. Maren glanced at Bradley, who hadn’t moved. “He said he had to come see you. I wanted to come too. He tried to stop me, but I wasn’t having it.”

Maren attempted to give me a smile, but it fell short.

I wanted to ask where Maren had seen Bradley to ask him. Why were the together to begin with? I looked from Bradley to Maren. From Maren to Bradley. But their focus was entirely on me. And that felt nice.

For this brief period of time, I was the center of their world.

So for now, I could ignore the prickling of suspicious anger that simmered quietly in my gut.

“Can I turn on a light? I want to have a better look,” Maren said, reaching around me to flip on the lamp.

My frightened gaze landed on Bradley, silently imploring for him to stop her. I didn’t want her to see more of my scars. It was too much.

But he did nothing. He watched me with the girl I loved impassively. Dispassionately. There was nothing in his dead, green eyes. And I shivered.

Where was my Bradley?

Where had he gone?

“Some of these are old, Nora. Tell me now what’s going on!” Maren insisted and my attention was pulled from my friend.

I didn’t say anything. Bradley too remained quiet. He watched the two of us together with a look on his face that I didn’t recognize. Was it for me?

Was it for Maren?

My stomach clenched and I felt sick.

Was it for Maren?

I grabbed my shirt from the floor and hastily put it on, trying not to cry out when the cotton touched my skin.

It was strange having Maren here. With Bradley.

It didn’t feel right.

Crowded.

Suffocating.

I couldn’t quite breathe, and I wanted them both to leave. I was angry with Bradley for this. I was upset that Maren was here tonight of all nights.

I was confused and messed up and feeling an anger that didn’t quite make sense.

And Bradley stood silently; wearing an expression I had never seen before.

Jealousy perhaps?

I felt lighter.

After too many tensely silent minutes Maren shifted on the bed, crossing her legs at the ankle. “So Bradley climbs through your window, huh? Do you guys play some sort of Dawson and Joey role-play or something?”

I frowned. Bradley frowned.

Maren lifted her hands. “It was a joke. Sorry. I feel like I’ve intruded on something. I think I should get out of here.”

I should have told her to stay. But I was upset. Bewildered. I didn’t want her in my hell. I didn’t want her trapped with me.

It wasn’t right.

It was so, so wrong.

She stopped as she neared Bradley, and I watched the two of them closely.

Something was off.

“I’ll see you later,” she said softly to my quiet friend. He nodded and his lips curved upwards quickly before falling again.

He smiled at her.

I clenched my hands into tight fists.

He smiled at Maren.

And then she was gone and he was mine again.

Mine.

“How could you let her come here?” I accused.

Bradley crossed the room and joined me on the bed. He laid on his back staring above him. “She doesn’t exactly take no for an answer, Nora,” he explained, but I didn’t quite believe him.

Mistrust had entered my heart that I never experienced before. Not with Bradley.

“Were you together, Bradley? How was it that she was able to come here with you in the first place?”

Bradley’s mouth twisted into a grimace, his eyes trained on the ceiling. “What if we were together? Would it matter?” he asked me.

I slammed my fist down on to the mattress. “Yes! Of course it would!” I exclaimed, trying to keep myself from screaming at him.

Bradley looked at me, his eyes sad. Finally I was able to read him. “Don’t you see how dangerous she is to you? To us? She’ll ruin you, Nora. Then what will be left when she’s gone?”

“She won’t ruin me! You’ll ruin me, Bradley! Only you!” I wanted to scratch him. Maim him. Scar him.

“Maybe it’s finally time to run, Nora. Before the monsters catch up with you.” Bradley resumed staring at the ceiling, his eyes strangely glassy.

I frowned. “Who are the monsters? Who should I be running from?”

Bradley closed his eyes, looking exhausted. More exhausted than I had ever seen him.

“Sometimes the monsters are the ones with the pretty faces. Don’t trust anyone. Not even me,” Bradley whispered, his voice fading away.

“What will happen if I’m caught?” I whispered back, but he didn’t hear me.

It was just as well.

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know.

The Present

Day 8

Died on Saturday

Buried on Sunday

I
was battered and bruised.

Even worse, I was dying.

I knew that with an absolute certainty.

I had been gone for over a week. Or at least I thought so. And I had yet to be found. Somehow I knew no one was looking for me.

I didn’t matter.

Not to Mother.

Not to Bradley.

I was locked in my cage and I wouldn’t be getting out. I had been pushed aside. I was now out of the way.

Just as Mother had always wanted me to be.

Rosie had warned me that the time would come and I would simply disappear. That everyone would forget that I even existed. She had been overjoyed by the prospect.

Rosie.

I thought of my foster sister and my heart began to thump worriedly in my chest.

Rosie.

She wanted everything that was mine. And everything that wasn’t.

I remembered her standing with me outside of Maren’s house that night. Her nonsensical warnings that meant
nothing.

She was always everywhere I didn’t want her to be. So where was she now?

I imagined she had pushed all memory of me away. She and my mother were drinking coffee and chatting over slices of cake. She would be sitting on the couch watching a movie. And it would be like Nora Gilbert had never been.

Rosie.

Bradley.

Where was Bradley?

I remembered his eyes. So wide. So anxious. Worried about me.
For
me.

“Maybe I just wanted something for myself, Nora! If it couldn’t be you, then I wanted the next best thing!”

I closed my eyes. My head hurt. I couldn’t think properly.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

What was that noise? It was coming from nowhere and everywhere.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I wanted to check on Maren, but I couldn’t move. I lay prostrate on the floor in front of the door where I had collapsed many hours before. I had tried to find a way out. I knew that if I didn’t Maren and I were as good as dead.

I couldn’t give up, but I knew that a part of me already had.

I drifted in and out of consciousness. It couldn’t even be called sleep. It was the deep rest of someone almost in the grave.

And in those in between moments I kept my ears open, waiting for the song. Waiting for the voice. It was the only comfort I could have.

But there was only the silence.

So I pulled my knees up to my chest and sang to myself. Familiar words that I should have recognized right away.

They were the words I had given to Maren all those months ago. The ones she had set to music.

Our song.

Here in hell.

How did my captor know it?

Did it even matter?

I missed it now that it was gone.

So I sang a new song. New words. Horrible words. Tragic words.

“You told me to let go, I held on tight,” I rasped, my voice all but gone.

Thump.

Maren.

I tried to sing louder, but I couldn’t. My throat was dry as dust.

“You told me to run, I kept you in my sights.”

I rolled onto my back. It didn’t hurt. Not anymore. Those wounds had healed. There were other things that were more painful.

Thump. Thump.

“Maren,” I sobbed, my cracked, dry lips sticking together as I tried to speak. I attempted to sit up.

I couldn’t.

This was all my fault. I knew that.

The smell of smoke overwhelmed me. The heat sizzled my skin, cracking and popping. The scent of charred flesh filled my nostrils and I began to dry heave.

No one was screaming.

There was no chance to make a noise.

It finished too quickly.

I started to hyperventilate, trying to get air into my lungs. Panic overtook me. I had to get out before it was too late.

But it’s already too late, isn’t it?

“Calm down, Nora,” I whispered, hoping just by saying the words that I could settle down.

It didn’t work.

The smoke was everywhere. I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t breathe!

I forced myself up on my knees and crawled towards the wall. “Maren!” I called out as loud as I was able.

Nothing.

Silence.

“Maren? Do you think you could get up and maybe try your door?” I wasn’t sure she could hear me. My voice was scratchy and low. My throat was raw and burned.

“We really need to get out!” I was trying not to freak out, but the smoke was choking me. The heat was unbearable.

Was the building on fire?

Was I imagining it?

I knew they’d come looking for me.

I wasn’t sure what I’d do when they showed up.

I should have known it would end badly . . .

I felt something shift in the air around me. I had no idea what it was, but it made me tense in preparation.

Like a gathering storm or the moment before a plane went down.

Violent anticipation.

There was a sudden gust of air and I shivered. Standing in my bra and underwear, coated in sweat and grime, I suddenly felt very certain that I wasn’t alone.

“Maren?” I whispered.

Nothing. No response. I really hadn’t expected one.

I began to shake. My teeth chattered despite the heat.

I felt fear. Real and brutal. Clawing its way up my throat. Settling in my bones.

Everything was blurry, I couldn’t see, but I knew something had changed.

Carefully, with my hands against the wall, I made my way towards the door. The air continued to swirl around me and the awful heat that had become my normal dissipated slightly.

I could breathe.

Finally.

Thump.

Thump.

Was it Maren? I didn’t think so. It seemed to be coming from
out there.

I almost screamed.

I kept moving. The light was different.

I could see sun. More than the usual filter of useless streams around the outer edges of the door. This was real and true sunlight.