Page 25 of Requiem

Pauses.

My cheeks prickle as I watch him up there, his eyes still cast down, his focus fixed so intently upon the cello. My ears echo with the sound of the plaintive note he just played, the sweetness of it still vibrating along the edges of my bones. I’m as still as he is—still as a statue. Still as the flat, undisturbed surface of a bottomless lake. Still as a winter dawn after snow.

The moment stretches out, eating up the seconds that tick by, and the inexplicable need toscreamrises up the back of my throat.

The second he moves again, drawing the bow back across the strings, a surge of heat floods my body in a wave of fire that makes my eyes prick and burn.

The sound he teases out of the cello is thunderous and intricate. The music climbs as he draws the bow back and forth, his left hand sweeping up and down the graceful neck of the instrument, transitioning from one note to the next with fluid practice, and no one makes a sound.

I—

I frown.

I recognize this music.

There’s something so familiar about it. So haunting. Iknowit, I swear…

The veins on the backs of Theo’s hands and forearms stand proud, testament to the effort that his performance requires, but the melody flows with such ease, such beauty, that you would think it cost him nothing at all.

Mesmerized, I sink into my seat, stunned by what I’m seeing.

How?

How can someone so vile be capable ofthis?

He’s a murderer. Cold and callous.

He’s made it plain as day that he doesn’t give a shit about the world and everyone in it. But how can someone who cares so little be responsible for what’s happening inside my body?

Within the hollow of my chest, my heart aches.

My ribcage is so tight, it’s as though the bones have cinched around my lungs, preventing me from pulling down breath.

My hands, resting in my lap, have clenched into fists without me realizing it, and try as I might, no amount of coercion will force them to relax.

Well, well, well. He’s quite something, isn’t he?

Rachel’s voice murmurs in my ear. Suddenly, I feel her presence so close that I’m afraid to turn my head. If I do, I won’t find her sitting beside me in the dark. The spell will be broken, and the certainty that she is here with me in this godforsaken place, witnessing what I’m witnessing, will be broken. I can’t bear the heartbreak of the thought.

Instead, I close my eyes.

If I reach out my hand for hers, I could take hers if I tried. In this very moment, sheishere with me. The smell of her coconut body lotion hits the back of my nose. I can feel the pent-up energy of her, radiating from the seat next to me. For the first time in weeks, a peace washes over me, taking the tension out of my shoulders, erasing the frown from my brow. My hands finally relax, resting loosely against the tops of my thighs.

‘Christ. You should be seeing this,’Rachel’s voice whispers.I know you don’t want to hear it, but he’smagnificent.’

No. He’s a monster.

He hurt you.

He took your life.

He’s a fuckingliar. We can’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth.

Rachel’s laughter rises with the swell of the music, and the sound of it makes my eyes prick even harder. “Always taking things so seriously, Sorrell. He’s just some guy, playing a cello. Look at him.”

“I won’t.”

“Shhh!”

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