Unravel Him

A/N

Unravel Him Playlist on Spotify.

Song; (Jurrivh- Te Extrano)

BOOK 2

News of Malorie’s death had sparked a media wildfire and for the next several days, both Graymoore and BourneFell fell under the dumps.

I watch the flashing headlines from the TV screen as it is switched back and forth between countless interviews and discussions.

It was a hot topic.

The death of a girl who was simply a victim.

Somehow, someway, someone had managed to dig up the deal that was made between Malorie’s parents and the rest, became history.

“Well Dave, it would seem both Graymoore and BourneFell have yet to comment about the issue.”

“Sadly Stella, it’s business. They are just too busy dealing with the downside of the scandal rather than the poor girl’s unfortunate demise.”

It disgusted me.

Seeing Stella and Dave talk about Malorie like she was just a speck of dust.

I can only wonder what Malorie’s mother was feeling right now.

Was she mourning?

Had she retreated back from society?

Burying my head onto my hands, I muttered a couple of incoherent words.

The thumping of a tail made me glance down to see Jax staring at me with a tilted gaze.

I hate to admit but seeing the dog now only reminded me of his owner.

“What are you looking at?”

Jax pawed the ground in front of him as his high ears pricked to the side.

“Waiting for your owner?” Scoffing slightly, I rolled my shoulders and leaned back on the couch. “You’re going to be waiting for a long time then, because he’s not coming back.”

Jax barked once, his expression narrowed.

You don’t know what you’re talking about.

“Sure I do,”

Unknowingly I realize I was talking to a dog and promptly stopped.

“I’ve been hearing that same channel for hours now, aren’t you bored?”

I take notice of Hailey as she appears from the Kitchen, flattening her blond hair.

Even wearing a simple blouse and skirt could not make my best friend look any more beautiful than she already was.

She was that flawless.

“Just trying to keep up, is all.” I shrugged, setting the remote down in front of me.

I know she doesn’t buy it and it’s confirmed when she grabs the remote control and switches off the TV, Stella and Dave’s voice dying out at once.

“What’s going on? You’ve been acting weird for days.”

“Nothing.” Shaking my head, I release a tired sigh. “I just haven’t been feeling myself lately.”

“Well who’s fault is that if you won’t tell me what’s wrong?” Jax moves out of the way for Hailey as she plants herself beside me, the worried expression on her face, evident.

“I thought we agreed-”

“Yeah, yeah, no secrets.” Sitting straighter, I cracked my knuckles and hid my face behind my hair.

I haven’t told her about what happened.

She knows that Malorie jumped but she doesn’t know that I was there to witness it.

At this point she’s worried the news might trigger my past which it did, very, very badly too.

“It was just a shock, Hales. I guess it reminded me a bit too much about what happened that day.”

We both know what day I was talking about.

“Look, you don’t have to tell me everything.” She stops me, her voice earnest. “I’m just worried... after what’s happened... you feel hurt about what Thomas did.”

“Yeah, I’m hurt.” I agree wholeheartedly, my response a bit too quick.

I didn’t have to ask her how she knew, Hailey always had a way of figuring out things. She hadn’t bothered to go further from that but I guess today was my lucky day.

“I’m fucking hurt Hales, but what can I do? He lied, that’s that.”

“No, it’s not, that’s that.” Grabbing my wrist, she pulls it so my attention is drawn. “You can’t just let it go. How is that fair for you? Either of you?”

“I told him to tell me the truth and he didn’t even look at me.” I snap, pulling my wrist away. “For a guy who seems so dead set on what he wants, it’s practically a joke.”

“You’re angry.” She points out, gesturing to my trembling form. “You’ve been angry, for days. That’s going to lead you nowhere.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? You’re right, I have been mulling around, dragging my feet, but that’s because I have no idea what my next step is!”

“Have you considered letting him explain?”

“Yes...” I stressed out, letting go of my clenched fists. “That scenario goes two ways.”

I beat the shit out of him and get him to a hospital after.

Or

I beat the shit out of him and not, get him to a hospital after.

Either way, both sounded very appealing and very problematic.

“Look, Hailey...” Exhaling softly, I fixed my expression so it was more soft and less dense. “I don’t know how to fix this nor do I want to fix this. We both agreed that it would’ve never worked, we were only buying time.”

“You can’t honestly think that,” She scoffs, flicking her hand out as though she could magically throw away what I thought.

“Why not?”

“Are you serious?” The tone she gives me tells me she thinks I’m being ridiculous and stupid. “Please tell me, you’re not oblivious to your own feelings.”

“I’m not!”

“Then why hide it?”

“Because I fell for a guy who’s legacy killed my Dad!”

Jax growled, ears flattening at how quickly this situation has turned.

I glared at Jax, not bothering to conceal my anger.

Like owner, like dog.

Hailey quickly pets the dog’s fur, muttering soothing words so the dog would cease it’s growling.

It took a few seconds before eventually, Jax calms down enough to lay quietly in the corner, his ember eyes darting over mine every now and then.

The resemblance is eerie.

“When did you know?”

“What?” I’m so distracted with my thoughts that I didn’t notice Hailey had been trying to speak to me.

“I said,” She clears her throat. “When did you know? That you had feelings for him?”

Averting my eyes, I look at the TV, seeing the black screen mirror my blank expression.

“I don’t know.” Because even if I were to sit here for the next three hours I would never come up with an answer.

Hailey sighs loudly before wringing her hands in front of her, agitated by my attitude. “How am I supposed to help you if you won’t even help yourself?”

She gets up and disappears down the hallway, an air of frustration radiating of, of her.

I watch her go with defeated eyes before turning to Jax. “Well go on,”

Jax snaps his big head back to me in interest.

“Go after her, you don’t seem to like me very much as of lately anyway.”

He stands on all fours before herding in the direction Hailey disappeared to, more than happy to get away from my presence.

I’m starting to think, I too didn’t like myself anymore.

Shaking my head, I made sure both of them didn’t come back before reaching for my phone and unlocking it.

For a while I simply stared at the screen, my thumb hovering over the contact app.

Swallowing hard, I clicked on it and scrolled down, momentarily stopping as the name greets me.

Bloodsucker

Biting my lip, I hesitated calling him.

What would that accomplish?

What would I even say to him?

I miss you.

Clicking out of tab, I dug through my old voicemails, all the while holding my breath as pain rippled across my throbbing wound.

When I found the one I wanted, I didn’t waste time tapping it and holding it up to my ear, desperate for something, anything.

“Hey, it’s me ah... I don’t know how this works. I won’t be home today honey, so can you tell Vanessa I’m sorry? I know she’ll get mad at me if-”

His voice throws me off guard and I shut it off within seconds, eyes staring blankly at the wall as though it held all the answers in the world.

If it did I couldn’t find it.

So I drifted back to restless sleep.

Waking up the next morning wasn’t as difficult as waking up like the last few days.

So I decided it was a start.

I got up, showered, washed my face and did the necessities.

At one point of my daily routine, I only stopped when it was time to re-wrap the bandage on my side.

The skin around the wound was stretched tight over the stitches like an ugly S.

It wasn’t a pretty sight and the fact that it burned whenever I move tells me it’s been infected.

At least slightly.

So I cleaned it up as best as I could and made a note to buy more disinfected medicine since I’m almost out.

Gingerly walking down the stairs, with one hand over the bandaged area, I peek my head over the rails and squinted.

“Hailey?”

The usual smell of Coffee in the morning that she usually prepares is not there and I quicken my pace further down to investigate where she’s gone.

“Hales-” A note is attached to the freezer in black ink, scribbled haphazardly.

Went out early. Will be back in the evening. Took Jax with me.

Detaching the paper, I stare at it wearily before crumpling it over the trash bin.

If she didn’t want to see me, she could’ve just said so.

I picked up my bag and keys before heading out to school, deciding that I should just make it up to her later.

I haven’t been in the best of moods, I agree, so I’m sure pizza will cheer her up.

Maybe we could have a little slumber party, talk about some things.

Like the old days when we use to tell each other dares.

We used to get in trouble a lot because of that.

Mostly me, because I’m usually the one that’s daring enough to do it.

Principal Beatrice nearly had a fit when she found me dragging a huge lump from the forest to school.

When she asked what I was doing, I told her that Hailey had dared me to hide a bee’s nest in Lauren’s locker.

I got two weeks suspension.

Three, when she realized there were in fact, bees, in the sack.

A quiet laugh escaped me as I thought about it now.

Lauren was a bitch when we were younger and we wanted payback.

God, since when have we talked? Really talked?

With everything going on this year and the end of term approaching, I decided a talk was long overdue.

She deserves answers.

A lot of people... deserved answers.

I thought back about the boys.

The boys that had somehow managed to worm their way into my thoughts and feelings.

Elios, Evan, Jared, Matthew, Zanthus, Victor, Mason, Thomas.

Shouldn’t they be given answers too?

I owe it to them that much.

By the time I’ve thought about all the ways to make up for my cold attitude, I’ve reached GrayFell gates.

It’s still fairly early in the morning and the sun felt cool against my skin as I parked my bike at an empty spot.

So much so that when I switch off the ignition and unlatched my helmet, I stopped to tip my head back and breath in the fresh air.

Well kept greenery surrounded the gardens and I can barely make out the vast trees that tower over the walls.

GrayFell may be corrupted but this place was beautiful nonetheless even if it was in the middle of nowhere.

Getting off, I’m halfway rearranging my backpack when I stop to look around.

I’m surprise that almost everyone is going about their day normally, like Malorie’s suicide didn’t actually occur.

They laugh, they talk, they exchange glances.

Nothing short out of the ordinary.

I was right when I said Malorie would soon be forgotten.

It didn’t make it any less easier knowing about it anyway.

Shaking my head in ignorance, I sling my backpack over my shoulder before heading towards the double doors all the while fumbling for my phone that I’ve left in the side pocket.

It was connected to my earphones and the wire was tangled over the mesh.

I caught the eyes of several people who quickly looked away when they realize they’ve been caught.

“Damn wire-”

Huffing, I finally managed to get it off but the cord snapped in half, making me jerk in surprise before my phone plummeted.

“Shit,” Stuffing the broken cord in my back pocket, I quickly bent down to retrieve my phone, hoping that the screen wasn’t cracked.

“Thank god,” Briefly, my eyes fleeted to a black and white flyer, inches away from my hand.

I pause, silent, confused.

The word familiar, springs to mind.

When I notice several more flyers lay strewn across the floors like trash, I anxiously picked one up and brought it towards me.

DEATH AT ST PETER’S CHURCH LAST SUNDAY

The picture is painted in black and white of an old newspaper’s post but I know that face.

I know that hunched over sobbing figure, her hands on the white canvas in front of her.

Her eyes that screamed pain and guilt.

I know, because that’s me.

For a while, I just stand there, my eyes refusing to budge from what they could see.

It’s me. It’s me. It’s me.

Slowly, agonizingly, I look up.

My heart halts in my chest.

It’s everywhere.

The hallways. The walls. The floors. The screens.

It’s everywhere around me, reminding me of everything I tried so hard to forget.

Everything I tried so hard to erase.

Suddenly I’m aware of the stares. The whispers. The pointing fingers and unconcealed laughter.

I’m aware as the entire student body, fix their eyes on mine.

Crumpling the paper, I feel my hands balled into fists and my entire body going rigid as I stood to my height.

I burned everything. I burned everything about what happened that day.

Jackson and Ethan helped me burn everything.

How did this happened?

And then I see him.

Next to her.

I see him standing beside her, head cast down, brown orbs refusing to glance my way.

“Kale,”

The tone that erupts from my voice is not human.

It sounds robotic, mechanical, empty.

“Kale.” I repeat his name, this time blinking so that I understood he wasn’t a delusion and that it wasn’t the pain from my side that had completely overtaken me.

The redhead that stands beside him lifts a manicured finger before grinning wickedly. “Karma’s a bitch.”

It’s a signal I suppose.

A projection appears, flickering over the flyer filled wall, meters from my left.

Everybody waits with bated breaths as the screen goes static for a few seconds before I’m hit with a familiar video.

The video I burned myself when Jackson confiscated it from a reporter.

The screen clears, it’s blurry but I can make out the building. I can make out the heavy rain as it pelts the small town.

The camera is shaky, going out of view from where a figure stood over the edge.

I feel my legs going weak as all color drained from my face.

It’s muted, silent to others, but somehow, I can hear it, clear as day.

I can hear what goes on behind the scenes.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Dad! Please-”

I can hear the rain, the chatters of people.

The camera goes back to him just as he jumps.

“NO! NO, DAD! NO!”

Thud.

Maybe it was because I was there. Maybe it was because my head is pounding so hard, I feel as though the floor might give way any second.

The projection dies out and suddenly I’m glad it’s muted because they didn’t get to hear the screams that happened after.

But what came next tore a hole in my gut.

Laughter.

It’s replaced with people pointing and jeering at me.

“Was he a coward?”

“No wonder she’s so uptight, her Dad wasn’t there to teach her manners.”

“That explains a lot.”

The heat from my wound and the sight of the familiar video makes bile rise at the back of my throat, before I’ve turned away and dry heaved.

It finally hits me.

What Kale did.

What my trust has implicated.

He sold me out.

He sold me out to the same Harpy I protected him from.

And as I stand there, defenseless to their assault, I can only eye Kale, with an expression that spoke nothing.

“Was it all an act?” For some reason, I’m not angry.

I’m hurt.

Wounded.

“Were you ever my friend?”

“He was never on your side.” Karen hisses at me, one hand placed delicately over his shoulder. “If he was, did you think he’d tell me?”

Kale still hasn’t looked at me. The floor was apparently more interesting but I wasn’t going to let him get away it.

He needed to tell me the truth.

He had too.

Because if he lied then who am I believe anybody else anymore?

“I trusted you.” Stepping forward, I move in the line of his sight so he can’t avoid me. “I, trusted you, Kale...”

There are no tears. I’m blank and emotionless, only hanging on by a thin thread of reality.

“After everything... you just used me?” I sound child-like almost, unable to understand why this had happened.

Did our friendship mean nothing to him?

Did me, opening up to him meant nothing?

Nothing at all?

The flashes start up again, much more rapidly and less forgiving.

Malorie’s death.

Thomas lies.

My father’s past.

And then the seams break. The control over everything, shatters.

My walls collapsed, leaving me empty and vulnerable to the world.

So I did the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

I walked away.

I don’t remember what I did after I walked away.

I only remembered skating until the bell rang and skating until

I could no longer continue and by that time, I’d finished, it was late at night.

So when I enter the apartment and shut the door behind me, I don’t bother announcing my presence.

What’s weird is that I don’t feel anything.

I don’t feel the exhaustion.

I don’t feel the mental pain of what happened today.

I’m just blank.

Blank and cold.

Empty.

“Vanessa?” Light footsteps appear from the living room and in comes Hailey with Jax hot on her heels.

“What took you so-” She cuts herself off when I bypass her towards the Kitchen.

I threw my skates across the kitchen counter and slip my bag off my shoulder before pouring myself a cup of water from the pitcher.

The loud sound startles Jax who flattens his ears and growls warningly.

Ignoring him, I chugged the water down, feeling my throat burn over how heated my body felt.

“Woah, what’s going on?” Hailey follows me into the Kitchen arms crossed over the other. “Ness?”

“I had a bad day.” Dumping the empty cup at the sink, I unzipped my jacket and fan myself as I make my way over to the living room.

“Okay...? You’re a little vague, Vanessa.”

“That’s the idea.” Picking up the remote, I tried to turn the TV on but it refused and infuriated, I smack it against the wall, not caring that the batteries flew out.

Hailey watches as I do this with an even more troubled expression. “Did something happened?”

“No,” I flatly replied. “Nothing happened.”

She frowns, confused by my unwillingness to tell. “Can you just sit down for a minute? Tell me what’s got you all worked out?”

I don’t answer her.

My next target of frustration is directed at the TV in which I was furiously trying to press the manual ON power.

“Ness?” She moves around the room so I can see her in my peripheral vision. “Come on Vanessa, I thought we agreed no secrets.”

Secrets?

What happened when I told my secret?

What happened when I trusted someone and they break it?

What happened?

Whatever frustration I felt earlier on has returned with tenfold of vengeance and every pent up feeling that’s churning through me creates a deadly explosion.

It detonates.

“No secrets?” I release a high pitched laugh and slowly face her. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve protected you? How many times I kept secrets, from you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you so delusional that you don’t even realize how perfect your life is? You have a best friend that protects you from all the horrors of the world because we both know I’m the stronger one.”

Memories of someone breaking into the apartment, floods my mind and I don’t snap the hell gates on it in time.

“God knows if we let you on your own you’d break like glass.”

“Vanessa!” She yells.

But I don’t register it.

I don’t register that my best friend is confused.

I don’t register that she’s appalled by what I said and fearful.

I don’t register it because I’ve gone insane.

“You don’t get it! Nobody does! Every time I trust someone, every time, I let someone in, they leave!” Kicking the table, glass shattered over the floor, pooling over the carpet in messy shards.

Jax began to bark uncontrollably as his shoulder scrunch together, ready to attack if needs be.

I’m a threat.

That’s all he sees.

“They leave me behind because that’s all people do! That’s all it’ll ever be!”

I’m delusional.

Scared.

Confused.

“I’m still here Ness,” She moves to reach for me, desperate to understand my pain. “Talk to me, let me help you.”

Why did those words sound so familiar?

“Let me help you,”

“Nobody helped her. Nobody helped her when she begged. I had to watch her mother break in front of me! I had to watch as her baby died with her!”

“No.” Pulling away from her reach, I raise my hands in front of me. “No, no, you can’t help me because you’ll leave me in the end. You’ll leave like he did.”

“How can you say that?” She snaps, her temper finally showing. “I’ve been with you since the beginning, don’t you trust me?!”

“That’s the problem.” Deadpanned, I looked straight at Hailey eyes and didn’t miss how she faltered at my retreated expression. “I don’t.”

Silence.

Only the sound of Jax resounding barks reminds me that I just said that to my best friend.

Hailey sucks in a deep breath before narrowing her green eyes at me into a heated glare. “Yeah well, you better figure it out soon.”

She picked up her bag and hooked Jax onto his collar before marching to the door with him in tow.

“Because I can’t sit around and wait for you to tell me you’re hurting. We all have problems.”

The door slams close behind her and I’m left there to deal with what I’ve done.

What have I done?

Standing there, in the way to big apartment, suddenly I feel small, weak, afraid.

I’m alone now.

Sinking to the floor, I take out of my phone and scrolled through my old voicemails before holding it up to my ear.

“Hey, it’s me ah... I don’t know how this works. I won’t be home today honey, so can you tell Vanessa I’m sorry? I know she’ll get mad at me if I don’t say anything so do me a favor and tell her I love her too.”

The voicemail dies and I hit repeat, my father’s voice streaming out of the audio like a song.

“Hey, it’s me ah... I don’t know how this works. I won’t be home today honey, so can you tell Vanessa I’m sorry? I know she’ll get mad at me if I don’t say anything so do me a favor and tell her I love her too.”

I do this, over and over again, engraving his voice in my mind, engraving his words to my heart.

His voice soothes me but it unleashes another wave of pain I’ve never felt before.

The pain of losing.

The pain of grief.

I’m reduced to a sobbing mess in a matter of seconds and while my hands try their best to keep it in, I finally let go unable to bear it anymore.

The pieces are scattered.

The events are blurry.

So I list them out.

“My Dad left me. Malorie jumped. Thomas lied. Kale betrayed me. I hurt Hailey, now I’m alone.” That’s what happened. That’s why I felt this way.

So I repeat it. “My Dad left me. Malorie jumped. Thomas lied. Kale betrayed me. I hurt Hailey, now I’m alone.”

The reality that this is real is fading before my eyes and with clenched fists, I repeat the sequence like a mantra, hoping to get back to where I am.

But the more I do this, the more I drift.

So eventually, the mantra fell to mutters, the mutters fell to whispers and then nothing.

The memories grow louder in my head and I covered my ears, sinking further down from anyone’s reach.

My Dad left me. Malorie jumped. Thomas lied. Kale betrayed me. I hurt Hailey, now I’m alone.

My Dad left me. Malorie jumped. Thomas lied. Kale betrayed me. I hurt Hailey, now I’m alone.

My Dad left me. Malorie jumped. Thomas...

“Thomas,” His name is my beacon. A light in the dark.

I latch onto it and prayed, prayed for what? Release? “Thomas, Thomas, Thomas...”

He’s not here to hear me.

He’s not here to respond.

I’m by myself.

For some reason, nothing else scares me more than that.

Not death.

Not betrayal.

Not pain.

It’s loneliness.

And it scares me with all my heart.