[Rhys]
“No!” I wake up, arms flailing. Get off! Get off me!
No matter how hard I swing he doesn’t get off, he doesn’t disappear; he was a dream, dreams disappear, why doesn’t he disappear? I keep swinging, swinging as hard as I can but he’s still here, in my mind, in the air that I gasp trying to inhale, in my veins, he’s here. Why didn’t I leave him for good like I said I would?
His lies, those beautiful lies ringing in my ears. That’s why. That’s why I didn’t leave. Because his lies were like rainbows and butterflies, lace and silk and all those pretty things that make you feel like life is divine.
Because his lies are captivating, and I’m weak. Susceptible to temptation.
[Justin]
When I get to her she’s not calling out anymore, just whimpering. Curled up in a ball beneath the blankets like a child who hides under the bed, trying to disappear… or make someone else disappear. He’s hit her before, but never like this. I’ve never seen her like this.
“Baby?”
Silence.
[Rhys]
He’ll stay at the door… or maybe he’ll sit on the window seat; he did that before, the night Gabriel died. He brought me here, let me bathe, gave me clothes, kept me company for the day that it took for my parents to fly in from Memphis. Said I could go to my apartment if I wanted to but that he didn’t really want to be alone and that he was pretty sure that I didn’t want to be alone either. For the longest time he was curled on the window seat until I gave up trying to sleep and asked him to join me in the bed.
I was Gabe’s little sister so it was never ‘like that.’ We were just friends then, buddies.
But so much shit has happened since then that I couldn’t possibly ask him to join me now.
Even though… I’d really like to.
So I just stay. Immobile. And wait for the blackout: sleep.
