Page 53 of Close

Levi: Where are you? Jason says you’re not answering your phone.

Levi: Call me back. Now.

Levi: You have one hour before I come.

The message is over 1 hour old. My chest constricts with panic.

“I need to call him.” Without waiting for a response, I rush to my room and shut the door behind me, my finger already tapping on Levi’s number. He picks up on the first ring.

“Are you okay?” Levi’s voice is tight with worry, and guilt stabs at my chest.

I sink down onto my bed, pressing a hand to my forehead. “I’m fine. Everything’s okay. You don’t need to come over.”

“Too late.” Concern and barely restrained anger color his tone. “I’m in the car. What’s going on?”

“I’m really sorry for worrying you. My phone died and I was at the library longer than I realized.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Levi sighs, the rustle of keys in the background. “Where are you now? Back in your room?”

A lump forms in my throat. “Yes. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Sorry for snapping at you.” His tone softens. “You can’t keep disappearing on us like this. Especially since…”

Since I had that horrible episode.

“Please trust me,” I say. “I’m okay. You don’t need to come.”

Another weighted pause. I hold my breath, waiting.

“Fine. I won’t come,” Levi says at last. “But this isn’t over. What’s going on? And don’t even think about trying to lie, little one.”

Lying has never come easily to me, especially not to my brothers. They see right through me. Always have.

“I had an episode today, and I’ve been having nightmares again,” I confess in a whisper. “They’ve been getting worse, but please don’t make me come home.”

“When?”

“This afternoon.” I twist a loose thread on my comforter.

“What happened?”

I take a deep, shaky breath and let the words tumble out. “I got locked up in a dark closet. Accidentally. It was like I was back at the mansion. The whirring sound. The pounding against the door. The voices… the blood.” I break off with a sob, unable to go on.

So many years later, it still hurts like an open wound. If not for Levi, Lan, and Uncle Marc taking me in, I don’t know what would have become of me.

“You should have told me sooner,” Levi says.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” I say. “You have so much going on.”

“You will always come first. No matter what, you hear me? We’re here for you whenever you need us.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Call your therapist and attend regular sessions, okay?”

“I will. But…” Should I tell him that Sebastian is the one keeping the nightmares away?

“But?”

---