Beautiful Apparation (Tony Perry FF)

forty-one

"Tell me if I'm hearing this clearly. Devin is actually Kyle, your brother who should be six feet under?" Danielle repeats for the third time. She's still shocked and confused, as am I.

"Yes!" I sigh rubbing my temples.

We're currently sitting in her living room. Vic hasn't been home for the last three days apparently. For some reason I knew he wouldn't be here, due to music and stuff. I didn't want to keep all this information I had to myself so I came to vent. Danielle is the only one I can trust at this moment. Sure she may have lied about knowing Tony, but I'm desperate, and when you're desperate, you'll cling onto anyone near.

"What should I do Danielle? It's not like I can make him disappear. Who knows what he's capable of now." I was never scared of Kyle, until now.

She looks dumbfounded.

"I don't want to tell you what you should do, but you do have options Audrey. Not all hope is lost."

I wait for her to tell me my 'options.'

"Hold on." She gets up from her seat, and hurries upstairs.

In the meantime I pull out my phone and open unread emails and delete them all after. Most of it is spam anyways. When Danielle returns she holds the thing I've been avoiding lately, the dagger. I almost forgot she still had it here.

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet," She begins. "I just think you'd feel safer with it."

I hesitate to take it, but eventually I grasp the handle. It reminds me of a grenade, just waiting to explode, ready to damage anything in its path.

"Danielle, I don't know if I could do this anymore."

I lightly place the dagger on the coffee table. It's scary to think that either Tony or Kyle can be gone with one slash. I can't imagine myself doing that to either of them. My hands are shaking, so I shove them into my pockets.

"Audrey, you're scared, don't be. Fear is the last thing you need. You need to be strong now, for yourself."

"Did you know?" I ask barely audible. I hope she lies to me.

"No," She admits. "I'm not shocked though. After I dropped Tony, he seemed desperate. Like really desperate. I didn't know he'd do something so vile."

That's all I needed to know. My eyes drift to the clock, 10 PM. Even though its been a week since Tony's disappearance, I'm still scared to be at my own forsaken home. The whole house gives me the creeps.

"Do you want to stay here?" Danielle asks reading my mind.

"Can I?"

"Of course, that's what friends are for." She yawns. "I'll grab you some PJ's. C'mon."

We walk upstairs together. I don't know if I'm more relieved that I'm able to stay over, or the fact I'm out of the same room as that damn dagger.

>>>

The sound of a knock shoots me up from the bed. Danielle gets up right next to me at the same time. Vic stands at the bedroom doorway. I rub my eyes and realize he isn't empty handed.

The dagger.

"Danielle, this is so cool. Did you buy it at that antique shop we went to that one time?" He examines the blade.

Quickly, Danielle scrambles out of the bed and takes it from him.

"Actually no. Audrey found it in an alley. Hope you don't mind that she slept over. We lost track of time last night. Had a lot to catch up on. You know how us girls can be."