Beyond The Know

Undisclosed Bale

 

Alexa hadn’t actually estimated how difficult it would be to escape the clutches of Flora’s so-called friends. She thought that she’d just excuse herself and pretend to be researching or something similar.

She did not expect to be forcibly involved in conversation with both the cackling maniacs and her brother. She sat beside him, staring at the objects on Flora’s mantelpiece; she was looking, but she wasn’t seeing. Her eyes glazed over them as she thought about Bella’s secret- people had died because of it.

The girls’ chatter was averted towards Parker, and they began to shower him with unnecessary questions. It got to the point where they were practically pelting him, weighing him down. Flora rolled her eyes and continued to go on her phone, the light from the screen illuminating her face, her pupils tiny, swimming amongst the disc of hazel brown iris. Alexa smiled to herself; at least Flora wasn’t fooled by her brother’s charm.

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?” Pink phone chirped, overly enthusiastic. Alexa stared at her brother as his face paled and his eyes began to mist over. The girls began to frown, and Flora looked up from her phone to see why everything had gone eerily quiet. She watched cautiously as Parker blinked and began to stand up. He’d clearly remembered something heart-breaking, and her chest constricted; her friends had triggered that. She felt a sudden surge of fiery vexation towards them as they began to ask Parker to stay. Could they not see that he was clearly devastated? He shook them off and headed out of the room, going up the stairs two steps at a time.

“Jeez,” Wide Eyes rolled her eyes dramatically, “someone needs a chill pill.” Flora couldn’t believe the unsympathetic attitude of her friends. Her eyes darted to Alexa who stormed out of the room, her cheeks pink. Flora got up and and followed her, bounding up the stairs behind. She hid on the staircase, listening carefully as Alexa knocked and entered Parker’s room. As soon as the door was closed, she crept to the door and strained her hearing. She didn’t want to listen, but she also needed to know more about the siblings. Why they’d really escaped where they came from.

So she could understand their situation.

“I tried…” Parker was saying, exasperated, “I tried to forget about it. To start anew-”

“You can, Parker. it wasn’t your fault-”

“But it was! You tried to warn me; I’m just a reckless arsehole. And now she’s dead.” He whispered the last word, and Flora could barely hear it through the thick door.

“Parker, please-”

“It was horrible, watching her die so brutally! I wanted to protect her, so much. I wanted her to be happy. And she paid the price.”

“Don’t you see? It wasn’t wrong to be with her. It was wrong to separate us in the first place. The Know isn’t doing it right. They don’t understand what they stand for; justice.” Alexa was coaxing her brother out of self-hatred for his incautiousness. But Flora was shocked; they’d watched a girl die? Just for being friends with them? Her heart swelled at the thought of it, living by such harsh conformity. She couldn’t imagine their pain, their loss. As she walked from the door and back down the stairs, she couldn’t help but wonder about the question that was clouding her mind.

Did Parker play those detestable tricks to hide behind his pain?

How she’d gotten herself into her situation, Alexa couldn’t exactly recall. She lay beneath Bella Haze’s bed, as she had been doing for the past twenty minutes. Her elbows hurt and her stomach groaned in protest at her compact position. Her calves were numb and her breathing laboured. Her mind buzzed with what she’d discovered, so to avert all thoughts from her dilemma, she recalled how she’d ended up there, when she was in the living room only an hour previous.