Page 31 of Heart of a Killer

“I saw you with him,” she admits.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Skylar. I saw you with Leland the night I didn’t kiss you back.” She shrugs her shoulders before looking back down at her food. “I was in my own head about an ex.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “When I finally got up the courage to come and make it up to you. I saw both of you in his room ... ya know.”

There’s a lump in my throat, and I can’t say anything. It’s almost as if my heart jumped into my throat. Brie looks up at me. I swallow hard, and the muscles in my shoulder bunch around my neck. She puts a hand on my arm.

“Hey, hey. Skylar, it’s okay. I understand why you did what you did. I rejected you. I get it. I really do.”

“That’s why you were standoffish and mean to me yesterday? Because you were coming to apologize and saw me with Leland?”

“Yeah.” She gives me another shrug. “I was hurt.”

Clearing my throat, I croak, “Why?”

Brie frowns even as her eyes soften. “Why what?”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because I didn’t plan for Leland to be there with us. It just kind of happened. He just showed up and invited himself to the party.”

Hysterical laughter escapes my lips because she has no idea about Alex and our past together. I wouldn’t have shown up in his room like I did if it wasn’t for that. I’m not that forward. I made it okay in my mind and needed that connection with someone.

“Leland is hot, right?” She’s staring at him from across the room, chewing on a carrot stick.

I can’t help but let my mind wander back to what he called me,little butterfly. That name plays over and over again in my head. Does he remember what I did to his mom, to him? Does he remember Nicole stabbing him? He has to remember something if he is back to calling me by his favorite pet name.

“Yoo-hoo, trailer trash.” Brie waves her hand in my face. “Are you okay? You’ve been acting so weird ever since what we did last night. Look, if you weren’t okay with it, you could have said something. I thought you were totally into it.”

“No ... I mean, yeah. It was really hot.”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“You don’t feel strange? Leland just showed up and left us there, and then this morning Patricia is dead?”

“No?” she says quizzically. “Patricia had Pica. You saw her the way she was with popsicle sticks. She would literally tear her mouth up to eat them, and she would enjoy it. She probably stowed some away from the trash cans and binged them in her room late at night so no one would stop her.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. But what about that brown-haired lady that used to sit across the lunchroom from us? She just disappeared.”

“You mean discharged. You know people actually get better and leave this joint, right?”

“Yeah, maybe I’m just being irrational.”

“It’s okay, my little trailer trash,” Brie mocks, taking my head in her arms and petting my hair like a momma hen. “I’ll protect you, baby.” She thinks it’s funny because she’s younger than me and I’m the worrier.

“What the fuck is up, my two favorite ladies?”

Leland sits in his usual seat across from us as if nothing happened the night before. Like he didn’t say those words to me.Little butterfly.My skin still crawls at the thought. Maybe Brie is right, and I’m being paranoid.

“Oh, nothing. Sky is freaked out by the scene from this morning. She seems to think you are a killer or some shit.” She laughs it off.

“What, me a killer? That’s actually hilarious.” He’s chuckling and continues, “I have some anger issues. You know that, Brie, but I’d never intentionally hurt anyone. I mean...” He shrugs. “I could say that a demon snuck in her room in the middle of the night and attacked her.”

I glance over at Brie. “What’s he talking about?”

She looks pale but smiles, anyway. “Oh, nothing.” She waves off my question.

Then the bell rings for our garden time. There’s a time in the day right after dinner that they allow us to get some fresh air because it’s good for our mental health. Keeps me from going insane, and Brie gets her nicotine fix. It would be an enjoyable part of our day if it weren’t for the fact that it’s December and the facility doesn’t provide jackets.

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