The Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 17: The Overthinker (Bree)

I never thought I'd say what I'm about to say...

I hope Silvia is hosting Zumba tonight.

I like hearing the thumping party music and terrible singing.

I like knowing that all these women older than sixty can still have fun.

It makes me feel less guilty about rotting away doing nothing.

Maybe my party years will start when Rowan dies and I'm well into old womanhood.

I mean, it's not like my life is over just because I don't get drunk every weekend.

Other places strictly enforce the 21 age limit for alcohol, but that doesn't happen here.

In Winterville, liquor store owners just want you to pay, they don't care about age.

Before I met Rowan, my friends and I would always buy alcohol and no one would bat an eye.

We were fourteen.

Illegal? Technically.

But there were no consequences for our actions.

That's just how it is here.

Hearing the chatter and laughter from next door also makes me feel a strange veil of safety.

I don't know why.

I'm still laying in my bed, Acorn curled up on my chest.

Every so often he'll swish his tail and it'll hit my face.

If my parents didn't have a large inheritance and I couldn't afford to live without a job, would my life be different?

I'd like to think it would be.

I'd be able to meet people, make new friends and actually do something with my life.

I think I'd like to work in a bakery, or maybe be a waitress.

I'd love to do volunteer work like helping injured animals and scooping out rubbish in the lakes and rivers here.

Winterville has dreadful pollution and high rates of animal cruelty.

I know if I was to report what Rowan did to Acorn's mother, the WPD would do nothing.

Chief Winton would laugh at me again and say that there were so many dead animals on the street, he probably just found it and thought I could help it.

Idiot.

I stare up at my ceiling which is dark blue and painted with a constellation of bright white stars.

I dream of the day when I can lay in a field at night and stare at a real night sky.

I slip in and out of sleep.

It's five o'clock when Hades knocks on the door.

I'm brought back to that horrible dream with him and Rowan, and my heart flutters with anxiety.

Ignoring him will only make matters worse though.

I need to make sure he's not actually with Rowan.

Before I answer the door, I retrieve my gun from under my bookshelf.

Just in case.

"You in there, Bree?" Hades sounds calm.

He doesn't sound angry like he did in my dream.

I draw in a shaky breath.

I know it's only a dream and I'm being dramatic, but I can't help it.

"Bree?"