Page 31 of True Sight
“I want to,” I say quickly and realize how true my words are. He nods twice and rotates to face me.
I clear my throat. “My parents died when I was little, thesummer before third grade. It was this freak accident with another car, we were going over a bridge, the car went into the water…” My voice trails off and I squeeze my eyes closed as flashes from that day hit me square in the chest. They only open again when I feel his hand encasing mine and squeezing it gently.
“The nightmares…” he guesses, gingerly. There’s a sense of safety in his touch and it bolsters me enough to continue.
“Are of the accident.” I nod my head. “They happened a lot right after it happened but not for a long while since. They just started up a few months ago after a friend of mine got into some trouble.” My eyes cast towards my legs thinking about Malcolm and his brief relapse that happened earlier this year. He’s in recovery again but something about seeing him the way he was triggered something in my brain that caused the nightmares to return. I’m sure Hanna will say it’s something to do with stress or some shit.
“Once my parents were gone, my grandma took me in and moved me here, to Charleston. That’s when I met my friends and between them and her, I somehow managed to make it this far in life. She raised me, took care of me, taught me everything I know. And then, just like my parents, she was gone too. My friends have kept me going from there but the nightmares…they’ve started again.” I force an uncomfortable smile and look at the wall, too embarrassed to face him again.
“Hey.” Still holding my hand, he shakes it in order to gain my attention once more. When I look at him, he smiles at me but this time it’s different. It’s a smile that says ‘I see you, I get you, I understand you.’“I just want you to know that you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. I know we aren’tfriendsor anything.” We both laugh at the joke. “But I’m not going anywhere and you can talk to me aboutthis stuff. Or the nightmares. Or about Annie, who clearly is feeling neglected.”
His laughter fills the room again as Annie comes trotting up to him, putting both paws on his shoulders and licking his face. He gently pushes her off and she settles into his leg. He takes my hand again and looks me in the eye before giving it a good squeeze.
“We orphans have to stick together, you know.”
And when he winks at me, my stomach annoyingly lurches again for the third time this afternoon.
15
CONRAD
My fingers dance across my keyboard as I work on the back end coding for Henry’s site so it links with the app I’m also developing for him. I’ve been at it for hours when the sound of my phone buzzing grabs my attention. When I read the notification, I chew the inside of my lip, slightly disappointed that it isn’t from someone else. I’d seen him yesterday for our weekly meeting and things were completely normal compared to the time we spent together on Sunday. No winking, no hand touching, and no more personal sob stories.
Thank Christ.
Pulling myself out of the replay of Sunday that is happening in my head, I look down at my phone to read the text.
1 New Message: Dungeons and Dickheads
Malcolm:
Hello my handsomefriends.
I scowl at my phone and think for a moment that Ophelia has swiped his phone again. Before I can say anything about the oddness of his message, Hank beats me to the punch.
Hank:
Sup Malcolm? You seem awfully chipper. Or is this your girlfriend speaking?
Malcolm:
No, no, it’s me. I’m just happy because she was unable to say anything just a few minutes ago, if you know what I mean ;)
For the love of Christ Malcolm, have some tact.
Hank:
For once, I second Conrad’s disdain. We don’t need to know about your sex life dude.
Kolbi:
Aren’t you two at work? Please tell me you aren’t hooking up in the office or god forbid anywhere near where food is prepared.
Malcolm:
No you idiots, we would never do that.
We went home first before having a good time *smirk emoji*
