Page 66 of Borden 3

Hector puffed out his chest, angrily retorting, “How the fuck would you know that?”

Theo glanced at me, flashing a look of mock disappointment. “You really didn’t tell ‘em much about me, did you?”

With that, Theo twisted away and returned back to the ring, screaming for a body to thrash so he could warm himself up.

Hector tugged me out, his footsteps thunderous.

Chapter Twenty Four

Emma

Past

Our spot was at a forgotten bastion on the harbour. It was an old fort from the 1800s that was moved here as a tourist attraction. They built a balcony at the top and made it a lookout for visitors. It was in good condition, well taken care of, and part of the historic society, but nobody cared for it. People walked past the bricked tower and didn’t pay it any mind. There was a staircase that was closed off that took you to the top of the bastion and to its lookout. Theo climbed the fence and then lock picked the closed gate so I could enter. The lookout was a direct view of the New Raven river. Sometimes we’d spend the night there, watching the boats come and go. We didn’t talk. Theo and I weren’t talkers, but he’d hold my hand, a promise and a reminder that he was there.

He did that now. Held my hand as I rested my arms on the ledge and peered out at the water. I had calmed down from the puddle of blood I’d stepped into, but I was still on edge. Theo let go only once to place our backpacks against the brick wall.

Then he was back at my side.

We watched the water sway, glittering like diamonds under the moonlight.

He said suddenly, ““For he who shall fall from this point on shall die a cruel death! Find me there, at the bottom. Or maybe at the top?”

I shot him a bizarre expression. “What are you talking about?”

He shrugged on a chuckle. “I imagine that’s how they talked back then. A knight, all grandiose and important, atop the bastion tower.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Who would fall from this high up?”

“Someone that wants to kill himself because has nothing left to live for.”

I mulled on that as I looked directly below us. “But you said ‘find me there at the bottom, or maybe at the top.’ What does that mean?”

“Either you find me dead at the bottom, or you stop me from jumping off at the top.”

I didn’t respond for a while, feeling his stare on me.

He hadn’t been talking about some old knight. He was talking about himself.

“I would find you at the top,” I whispered.

“I’m beginning to believe that,” he whispered back.

I couldn’t look at him now. Too vulnerable, my emotions were still burnt out from the house party and from the long walk over. But his stare was thawing me. His words, loaded with quiet melancholy, pierced me.

“What's your family like?” I found myself asking. Theo was such a mystery. I couldn’t get to the bottom of him sometimes. Like taking me to that party. He’d never done that before. I began to wonder who he was, and if there were parts of himself that he had hidden from me.

“No family,” he returned. “I have no one.”

“No one at all?”

“No one,” he repeated, patiently.

“How’d you get away with that?”

“I’m seventeen. Not really a kid in people’s eyes. New Raven’s not really big on checking in with the poor kids, are they? Or transient kids. That works for me.”

I shrugged. “No, they're not big on checking in, but Granny sends the police after me all the time.”

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