9
September 23rd
Time passes.
It passes in a way I am not unaccustomed to, but it is painful nonetheless. After my breakdown, I was put under in order to calm my nerves.
A panic attack. That’s how the nurse explained it. But it was more than that. It was my soul unwinding from my body. It was my emotions and feelings readjusting to the knowledge that Axel and Grayson placed on me.
I needed it.
But now I need to heal. And that’s what I have been doing. Healing. Recovering. Rehabbing.
A gunshot wound does not just go away, but finally it feels as if I am nearly back to normal.
Or as normal as can be.
“Sunday, talk to me. What’s going through that pretty head of yours?” Axel wraps his body around mine in the stiff hospital bed. He has long since learned to take up as little space as possible, to avoid my wound, to not hurt me.
I am back in my own clothes, this is my last day here. Yet it leaves mewary.“I hope Darius is okay.”
This room is small, sterile,cold. But it has felt like a reprieve. A quick pit stop before diving right back into the madness that is our town.
Axel jolts. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
Grayson makes his entrance, banging the hospital door open. Now it is my turn to jump.
Grayson hasn’t spoken to me since I had my meltdown. Since he told me I should leave. Since I woke up with only Axel.
He doesn’t acknowledge me now, his eyes focused above us. On the tiny TV that is perched on a metal box. I haven’t used it once, but Grayson clicks it on.
It only takes him five seconds to find what he is looking for.
“Darius?” I gasp.
There he is. My best friend. The sweetest man I have ever known. The one who took care of me at my lowest. Who cooked me my favorites.
The ones he must have figured out from previous lives.
Who gave me my only birthday gift.
Who kept me company when I was at my lowest.
There he is, stone-faced standing shoulder to shoulder with none other than Maxwell.
“Is this a joke?” Axel is standing now, as close to the TV as he can manage, his neck crooked upwards glaring at it. “They put Darius next to Maxwell? The guy whose brother he killed.”
Grayson clicks up the volume.
“–cording to the lab report, it has been confirmed that Darius and Rayden were biological brothers. And new evidence has emerged via text message communication, a woman was the reason for their altercation. Unfortunately, Rayden, who was so lost to his own jealousy, hurt the woman before turning the gun on himself.”The man speaking is clearly a lawyer. A slimy one at that. The expensive suit perfectly tailored to his body, his hair slicked back, his eyes soulless.“The Thorne’s will be taking care of the victim’s hospital fees and anything to help on her road to recovery.”
The screen flickers to an evidence bag. To a gun.
“Axel?” Grayson growls.
“That’s not the murder weapon.” Axel squares his shoulders. “They’re twisting the narrative. Darius’s idea with the live feed worked. It’s probably the only reason we have been left alone. Too many witnesses outside of the town, they couldn’t cover it up the way they typically do.”
When it’s clear that Darius will not reappear on the screen, I shift my focus.
