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actually thought that Beth might fall over. She looked truly and utterly

terrible and it was alarming.

Hadn’t June just asked her a few days ago if she thought something was

off with Beth? If the stress was getting to her? Yes, yes, she had. Arabella

knew June had booked a time to speak with Beth soon. She’d been so busy

lately, but she was writing her an email. Yes, she certainly remembered June

telling her that she was writing something, and she was going to meet with

Beth in person after she’d had time to digest what she’d written and make

sure everything was okay.

Beth extended a hand that looked like a claw. She grasped for the arm of

the chair and pulled herself into it, not so much sitting down as collapsing.

Arabella watched her, her skin so milky white that the vein throbbing in her

forehead was nearly visible. The pulse pounded at her neck, leaping in time

to the amount of times that Beth swallowed.

Arabella’s first instinct was that Beth had just found out she was sick,

and it was something terrible

and terminal and she’d come in because she

needed someone to talk to. She didn’t look well at all. Arabella clenched

her teeth against the outpouring of questions she wanted to ask. She told

herself to be patient and wait for Beth to talk to her. She didn’t want to

stand over her, so she forced herself to sit back down in her chair. She

nearly missed it and gave an anxious little laugh when it skittered out

behind her, and she caught it at the last second before she fell on the floor.

Beth stared at Arabella. Arabella tried to maintain eye contact, but it was

getting unnerving. Beth hadn’t blinked once, she swore it. She stared,

silently willing Beth’s eyelashes to flutter. She even blinked a few times

herself, dramatically, hoping that Beth would follow suit, but she didn’t.

“I-I did…”

Arabella leaned forward. She tried to smile softly, calmingly,

encouragingly, but that sentence started with I did, not I am. Not, “I’m