Whitethorn Academy

Chapter Five

I didn't care to watch the city that passed me by. It would only hurt more to watch my home disappear before my eyes. So instead, I stared at my hands folded into my lap. The tears kept coming, dripping down my cheeks and onto those borrowed sweatpants.

Thankfully, Inara didn't make any small talk attempts. I wasn't yet ready to speak with her at any length about what would await me at the end of our journey.

The tears finally stopped falling once we passed through the Haxville city limits. Without the tears, the only thing left was a hollow aching inside of me. My home was gone, disappearing beyond the horizon.

Along the way, Ernie eventually tried to make small talk, but I wasn't interested. Inara obliged him. As they talked, Ernie occasionally glanced at me in the mirror. Whenever he did, I could see the pity that lurked in his eyes.

And I didn't want to be pitied. So, I sulked in the backseat and pretended that I couldn't see it when the driver looked back at me. I still thought of my mother, alone in that house with Vincent.

With me gone, would Vincent decide to take his anger out on her instead? Would bruises lace her skin like mine? Under the long sleeve shirt, my ribs itched where I knew the bruises lay. I shuddered at the thought of my mother like that.

At some point, Ernie and Inara stopped chatting and the radio was turned on instead. I tried listening to the music, but there was none. It was a news channel, and they were talking about the bodies they'd found in the woods. As much as I didn't want to listen, the words haunted me anyway.

"Tragedy strikes Haxville as several teens are found dead in the woods. Police are currently investigating and are not releasing details at this moment. But if you have anything that would help their investigation, please reach out to the Haxville Police Department."

The anchorwoman kept talking about other news, but the silence that hung in the car's air was heavy. These people had picked me up in front of the police station. Would he think I had done these horrible things? Would he drop me on the side of the road, to travel the rest of the way alone?

Did Inara already know?

Ernie made a non-committal noise before shutting the radio off. "What's the world come to these days?" He asked. "Children killed in the woods. These are crazy times."

"Hush, Ernie," was Inara's stiff reply.

A pit carved into my chest. She knew. Of course she knew.

"Apologies, miss," Ernie said, casting his sad eyes to me in the mirror again.

I didn't bother replying. After all, there's was nothing I could add to this conversation. I'd been there, and I'd been a person of interest, but the police had let me go.

But the thought that maybe I had played a hand in that poor girl's death made my stomach squeeze with nausea. And what about Oliver? Could I really have been responsible for his death as well?

I'd been jealous and heartbroken when I'd seen Samantha on Mason's arm. When they'd kissed, I'd wanted to cry. But Hanna had held me together and stood by me. Until I'd apparently vanished and she'd never found me again. Where had I been that entire time?

Oliver had been a thorn in my side. The weird little brother who was terrible at socializing and told Vincent every step I took. Had I hated him? Sometimes. We were two people forced to live together, both part of a dysfunctional family we'd wanted no part of.

Detective Brennan had been right about one thing. I'd had reasons to want both of them dead, even if they were petty and childish reasons. But now they were both dead, and I was their only link. It still surprised me the police had let me go. Especially after Hanna had told them I'd disappeared with a bone to pick.