Page 50 of The Lies We Steal

“The teacher assistant, Chris? The one for our applied mathematics class, he’s missing. Has been for the past few days, and now Coraline Whittaker has gone missing. Her parents reported it yesterday, everyone’s bugged out. This town loves to fuel rumors and scare nonlocals with their ghost stories,” He smirks, “They probably just ditched this place, wouldn’t be the first time the pressure of Ponderosa Springs got to someone.”

I’d already punched him in the face and now I was feeling the urge to upchuck on his shoes. This was the first time since we’d seen the murder that someone had mentioned it to me.

My mouth dried up completely. My head filling with images of the snakes crawling all over his body, their sharp teeth sinking into his skin. Watching the blood pour like a waterfall from his throat. The sounds of him gurgling for his life.

I quiver, stepping back from Easton, needing to get to my dorm room.

“Yeah, probably just needed a break from the school or something.” I reply, “I’ve got to get back to my room, I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Clutching the strap of my bag, “And I’m sorry about your face! I’ll make it up to you with homework answers sometime.” I rush, wanting to leave this conversation.

He furrows his eyebrows in uncertainty. Probably thinking about how weird I am, considering I’d socked him in the face and was running away like a chicken with my head cut off.

I turn my back, moving my legs towards my hall.

“Briar!” He calls behind me.

Shifting my neck to look at him, “Yeah?”

“Be careful. Not everyone here is who they pretend to be.” He lifts his hand in the air, rubbing his middle finger in reference to the ring that’s adorning my own. I’d forgotten about it, forgotten that I’d slipped it on after my swim because I didn’t have any pockets.

“Yeah, uh, thanks.” I call back, disappearing into the safety of my dorm hall.

Great. Perfect.

He now thinks I’m with Alistair. Let’s just add that to the list of things that doesn’t need to be happening in my life right now.

I nearly sprint to my room, fumbling my way into the door. Everything begins to spin, I can’t seem to catch up with the speed of things. The room is dark, besides Lyra’s bedside lamp, the dim light casting a shadow onto her sleeping face. A book she’d been reading resting on her chest as she sleeps peacefully.

What I would give to do that.

To not dream of him.

To not think of him.

I lock myself in the bathroom, rushing to the toilet where I collapse hard on my knees. They dig into the tile as I empty what little food I have in my body out into the white bowl.

My ribs tighten, my throat already sore from the stomach acid. My eyes shut as static flickers behind them. All the snakes. All the blood. The sound of them howling with laughter as they chased us through the woods.

It was a game to them.

They’d probably only killed Chris for fun. A joke. So bored with all their money and status they had to up the ante. Knowing their last names would save them from any backlash they received.

They wouldn’t even come close to getting caught, because in all the chaos is calculation. They have a reason for everything, a plan, always plotting their next move.

I don’t stand until I’m sure I’m done, only then do I begin shedding my clothes and hopping into the white titled shower.

Pulling the starch, plastic curtain closed I close my eyes, lifting my head up to the shower head as my fingers turn the cool metal to scorching hot water. I wanted to melt the memories off me.

“Uh.” I gasp sharply, the water is a shock to my system, my freezing toes stinging underneath the heat. I almost moaned at how good it felt. Dropping my head, letting the stream cascade down my back and coat my hair.

I felt every drop bounce off my skin, silence besides the pitter patter of water smacking the tile beneath my toes. I focused on my breathing, on the liquid, how warm I felt.

Since it had happened,I thought about why they’d committed murder. Were they truly that bored? Or had something else happened?

Were people really born monsters? Or were they conditioned to be that way?

And that girl, Coraline, they wouldn’t have done something to her, would they? Which led me to wonder, if they had done something to her, were they the reason Silas’s girlfriend wound up dead?