Page 79 of Fallen Legacy

“Good. I can’t quite believe that I’ll be thinking about university soon.” I internally grimace. Is uni even an option for me anymore now that I am pregnant?

“Make sure you get out there and experience life, Eliza. Don’t let this Bay hold you here,” he says, his pale blue eyes holding sympathy.

“I intend to, Calvin,” I assure him. “I was chatting with your mum before and, well, she mentioned you and Libby became good friends.”

Calvin’s smile drops. Clearing his throat, he nods his head as he concentrates all his attention on the plate he’s cleaning. “We did.”

“It’s just, I don’t know. This whole suicide verdict doesn’t sit right with me. I think there was maybe more to it than that. Your mum said she’d been happy again, like her old self.”

“She was,” Calvin blurts out, and he looks over his shoulder to check that the others can’t hear us. “Just be careful in that house, Eliza. Libby was happy. She adored Archer, he was her life. Yes, she had depressive episodes, but she wasn’t always like that. They came and went. The night before they found her, she came to see me. I found her at my cottage door, soaked to the bone in just her pyjamas. She was hysterical, saying she’d had enough, that she wasn’t taking anymore.”

“Not taking any more of what?”

Calvin shakes his head. “She wouldn’t say, but that night she asked me to help her leave. She asked me to leave the Bay with her and Archer.”

I almost drop the glass in my hands at this news. “So, she was planning to leave and the next day she’s found dead?”

Calvin looks at me with solemn eyes and nods his head. “Like I said, be careful in that house.”

I study him and nod my head in agreement at his warning. “Were you in love with her?”

Calvin pauses with his hands in the soapy water, and he looks off into the darkness through the window. “I think I’d always secretly loved her, since being a young boy, but I was younger than her and back then, she only had eyes for your father. But towards the end we became friends, and I think she started to see me differently. I became her confidant and I think that yes, if we’d have left together, our relationship would have evolved into a romantic one.”

I place my hand on his arm, and he looks down at my hand and then at me. “I’m sorry you lost her, Calvin.”

He smiles sadly, the pain of her loss reflected in his eyes. “Me too.”

ELIZA

The next morning when I wake for school, I lie there for a while just running over last night’s conversations in my head. I no longer believe Libby killed herself, but then that means that if she didn’t, there’s a murderer in our midst. Could Libby’s murderer and my stalker be one and the same?

I’m quiet on the car ride to school. If Archer picks up on it, he says nothing. We meet the boys and Vee in the car park, and we all walk into school together. I decided when I was lying there thinking about Libby that this coming weekend, I’d tell Archer about the baby. There being a chance that whoever hurt Libby could be the one stalking me has made me realise I need to protect my unborn child and to do that I had to tell Archer. Am I scared about how he will react? Yes. I’m terrified, but I know Archer and his honourable sense of duty, and he’ll love and protect this child.

We split up from the boys in the corridor as they head to their lockers over on the left side of the hallway, Vee’s and mine are on the opposite side.

“Are you excited about the party?” I ask her as I turn the combination to my locker.

Vee grins. “Girl, wait until you see my dress. It’s Versace and pure silk,” she gushes over said dress, and I can tell she’s picturing herself wearing it right now.

“I don’t even want to know what obscene amount of money that has cost you.”

She bats away my comment. “I’m only eighteen once, so I deserve a spectacular dress.”

As I open my locker, my attention is concentrated on Vee. As I reach my hand inside, an expression of horror crosses Vee’s face as she lets out a blood-curdling scream.

“Snake!” She grabs my hand and yanks it back, and we both stumble backwards and land on our arses. I look up at my locker to see a pissed off snake inside. It’s coiled, ready to attack. I don’t have time to process anything as Archer jumps over us. He slams the locker door closed with a loud bang just as the snake looks ready to attack. I jerk back when I hear it hit the inside of the door.

“What the actual fuck?” I look from Archer to Vee in complete shock.

“Rafe, get the headteacher and call Boyd,” Archer orders, as he checks the locker is securely closed.

“Why Boyd? It’s just a snake, Archer. Probably some dumb prank,” I tell him, I don’t understand why he’s so worked up about this.

Archer’s furrowed brow tells me he isn’t taking this as a prank. He crouches down in front of me and Vee. “Are you both okay?” I nod my head and take his hand when he offers to help me up.

“We’re fine. It’s just a stupid school prank,” I insist, not sure what all the fuss is about.

Archer pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head. His heart is beating ten to the dozen and I can tell he’s struggling to keep calm.

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