Odin M. Donnar, 59, of Virylan, was found deceased on 2, Premier Summer 100,000,005. He is survived by his oldest daughter, Pandra L. Donnar, as well as his niece, Helen K. Laurier. He is predeceased by his wife Astria B. Donnar, and his brother, Cupid N. Donnar.
Odin’s loved ones describe him as jovial, friendly, and gentle-mannered. A service to celebrate his life and legacy will be held on 8 Summer at 21:00, hosted by the Virylan Community Center. Odin’s family have requested that those wishing to offer financial support instead donate to Energy Gives, a Western Trebianna charity dedicated to providing underprivileged youth with the resources they need to succeed.
The entire room froze around me as I fixated on the eyes I’d seen so many times, bloodshot and smiling in my direction at work. Just three days ago, I watched Mr. Donnar walk out of the pub arm-in-arm with Stella as he chanted traditional summer tunes. He’d been alive enough, young enough, and healthy enough to be a guaranteed friendly face at my next shift. Dread crept up my spine as I considered what threat could have possibly erased him from existence since our last interaction.
No.
Graysen wouldn’t kill an innocent man… right? All the guy had done was flirt with me drunkenly on a major holiday. Stella removed him, and everything was fine. Graysen wasn’t a killer.Well. He wasn’t an evil killer. He wouldn’t kill somebody who didn’t…deserve it? What criteria would sign a deathwarrant from my love? Where did he draw the line while playing god in his desperate quest for control?
My legs trembled beneath me as I took a step back. And another. What was there to do now? Patiently wait until Graysen returned in an hour so that I could delicately try to pry the truth out of him. “Did you kill this man?” How would I ask that? Most importantly, how would I know the honest answer? Information was becoming a matter of life and death, and I stood helplessly in the dark waiting for somebody to give it to me.
Fuck.That.
I started walking. Then running. I scrambled up the stairs, practically crawling my way to that forsakendoor. The door I’d once been so certain was none of my business suddenly felt like my right to break down. Hell, it was my civic duty to break down. Maybe there were dead bodies after all.
With the clock ticking down to Graysen’s return, there was no time to hesitate.Bang. My foot throbbed from the impact of my kick beside the lock. How did he do this so easily? I lifted my knee and struck again, my heel aching, and the door unmoved.Shoes. Shoes would help. I ran to the bedroom, tugging my heaviest boots on along with a pair of pants for good measure. I quickly returned to the door, testing my aim once with a light kick before shoving my heel below the doorknob. The wood splintered. My chest heaved. I took a steadying breath and summoned all the terror and frustration I could muster, lifted my foot, andslammed.The lock buckled and the door caved inward.
The sizzling relief of my success was doused in cold water as I took in what was so important to hide. The door had led to… a bedroom. There was a metal-framed bed, a fireplace, and what looked like the charred remains of wardrobes. It was difficult tomake out the details of the furniture in the dim lighting, but their surfaces were distinctly blackened with crumbling ash.
I took one hesitant step inside, soot crunching under the soles of my boots. The light switch was unresponsive, so I slowly made my way across the expansive room towards the closest window. The heavy curtains were burned, but still sufficiently blocked out the earliest starlight. I intended to push them to the side, but they crumbled to the ground as soon as I touched them. Theclangof the metal rod made me flinch in fear, and my head whipped around to the open door instinctively, ready to be caught intruding. Right, nobody was home.
There was a dresser immediately to the left of where I stood, less damaged than the furniture closest to the doorway. I grabbed the soot-covered golden knob and pulled it open. Women’s undergarments. I felt sick to my stomach immediately. It wasn’t that I expected Graysen to haveneverhad a partner before me, I knew he had. But why were her intimates still here? It felt like a betrayal, as if he had never moved on.
I pushed the drawer closed with force. What was the secret? That he had burnt an entire room into near oblivion? That he still had another woman’s belongings in here? I turned from the dresser to face the rest of the newly illuminated space, finding the most horrifying answer to the off-limits knowledge of his past.
Blood. So much blood.
Most of the stains were concealed by ash, but in areas where the flames hadn’t licked as thoroughly, there were streaks and splatters of crusty rust-brown. This wasn’t some accident during the throes of passion; there had been a violent and gory struggle in this space. A fight that spanned the width of the room, I realized, as my eyes scanned the blood not only on the floors, but the walls.
My heart pounded in my ears as I considered the missing woman, the blood, the suspicious dark past, and penchant for volatility. I stepped slowly towards the doorway, eyes fixated on the brutal scene. The macabre spell that had taken hold of me broke once I reached the top of the stairs, where I spun on my heels and sprinted to the front door.
The peace of the early morning mocked me as I burst into its gentle fog and silence. The world wasn’t even awake yet, and mine had already completely fallen apart. The mist provided a cover that would come in handy should I pass Graysen from a distance, although I desperately hoped I wouldn’t. I just needed to make it past Mykie’s neighborhood and to the school, the only safe place I could think to hide.
I stared at the sign marketing Mykie’s street, my heart trying to beat out of my throat. Had Graysen left? Was he about to appear at any moment, staring at me with harsh, chilling bronze orbs? Huffing, but determined to persist, I pushed myself to pick up the pace. My strides were stretched so long I thought I may be flying between every step.
I was locked in a panicked purgatory until I looked over my shoulder to see the silver street sign disappear into the fog. There was no time to rest. I needed to get to the school and hide—just in case. I could no longer underestimate the man I loved. My feelings had nothing to do with what he was capable of, I had to separate them mentally until I could process this.
My memory of Cassius’s instructions was hazy, so I relied on my gut instincts once I took the right turn at the pub. A heavy sense of déjà vu guided me through the mostly unfamiliar streets.I think the school is being built down the road from the jeweler.A dreamlike image of a Thornian holding a dainty ring with an amber gemstone over their claw flashed through my mind, but the picture soon disappeared as the first stone steps ofthe school hill came into view, filling me with some relief. When had I gone to a jeweler? I hadn’t.
I couldn’t see the school through the cast of gray, but I recognized the staircase at the top of the hill. I stumbled down the steps. My boots slipped in slick mud once I finally reached the grass, the handrail within grasping distance sparing me the fall. I corrected myself and slowed down just enough to watch my footing as I continued towards the school. The edge of the pond passed me to the right, clouds of mist concealing its mirrored surface.
“Faeryn?” The male voice zappedmy already fried nerves, and I held in a yelp.
I froze in my tracks, my head snapping in the direction of the voice. There stood Cassius, hands buried in his pockets.
“What are you doing here?” He stepped closer and his eyes scanned me from head to foot. “Are you hurt?”
I’d nearly forgotten Iwasinjured.
“I’m not safe, Cassius.” I braced my hands on my knees as I hyperventilated to catch my breath. My lungs burned. “Can you please hide me at your place? I’ll explain later.” I paused every other word to swallow more air. Everything hurt. Not just my body. Was my heart breaking?
“Of course.” He was standing in front of me, a hand resting on my hunched shoulder. “You look awful. Let’s get you somewhere safe.” He grabbed my arm and tugged gently to incite movement.
I watched the back of his head as we cut through the fog, using it to ground myself to some environmental context. Thankfully, he walked this path every day and would know the quickest way home, even with low visibility. The streetlamps of town had been there to help me before, but out here in theuninhabited faint light of dawn, I felt like I was in a void. It reminded me of my nightmares—endless nothingness.
I saw a wide, dark silhouette in the distance, it wasn’t a house or a person. Was it…? It had been so long since I’d seen one that it took me a moment to recognize the curve of a car’s hood and roof. It sat in a dewy patch of grass, completely out of place in the environment.
I froze in my steps. “You have a car?” Cassius hadn’t mentioned being particularly wealthy. He was a construction worker with aspirations of teaching, neither were famously lucrative professions.
