Page 67 of The Phyre that Burns

“Hello?”

“What?” I repeated.

“Ginae?”

“It’s me. Can I help you?”

“This is Phoenix. Are you okay?”

“No. Do you want something?”

“You guys left so abruptly, I wanted to see if everything was okay. My brother isn’t answering his phone, so I thought I would try you.”

I finally looked at the time on my phone and saw that I’d been asleep for less than an hour.

“Everything is fucked up, but I don’t feel like talking about it right now. Try calling your brother again. I gotta go.”

“Ginae! Wait! Don’t hang?—”

I ended the call with Phoenix before she could finish and tried to go back to sleep. Minutes later, my phone rang again, and I answered even more aggressively than before.

“I don’t want to talk!”

“Nae, it’s me, Devyn.”

“I don’t care! Just let me be!”

“If you hang up this damn phone, I’m booking a flight.”

“Ugh! What do you want?”

“Phoenix called me. She didn’t have any details, but she knew something had happened between you and Phyre.”

“And?”

“Sis, whatever it is, you can talk to me. If you want me to come to you, I will,” she said softly.

I sighed, contemplating whether I wanted to tell my best friend what happened or end the call. Devyn was persistent, and I didn’t take her threat to book a flight lightly.

“He knows about the baby.”

I thought she might gasp or say something to express her shock. Instead, she FaceTimed me. I begrudgingly accepted the call, and since I didn’t turn off the light before crawling into bed, she could see my face. I was sure I looked horrible, and she confirmed it when I heard the gasp I was expecting before.

“Nae, look at you. Your eyes and nose are red and puffy. I’m so sorry, sis. Tell me what happened.”

It was a short story, and even with shedding a few tears and pausing here and there while reciting it, it took only a few minutes to share what had happened.

“And you have no idea how he found out?”

“Not a clue.”

“Why would he assume you got an abortion?”

“I don’t know, but even if I had, it was my choice. If he’d been up-front with me about his shit in the beginning, he would have known exactly what happened.”

“True.”

“Fuck him, anyway. I still believe the shock and stress I endured when I found out he was engaged is what caused the miscarriage. I’ll die on that hill, and no one can convince me otherwise.”