One Stupid Thing

3:2:82

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Don't talk to me!"

I blink my eyes open at the intruding sound of banging on the door and lay still, listening in on the tense conversation that Kiara and Rafe are having.

"You two are lying about this diary thing," Rafe says in a hushed voice. "You know where it is."

"No, I don't."

"You don't? Okay," Rafe replies, clearly unconvinced.

"You wish." Kiara walks across the room to the window, not noticing that their argument had woken me up.

"Okay, listen, I wouldn't tell me either, but he's never going to believe we don't know something, all right?" Rafe follows her.

"Hey!" Kiara yells, ignoring his reason and continuing to try and grab someone's attention.

"Listen," Rafe seethes, growing frustrated with her and stepping extremely close behind her. "Singh killed that—"

"Hey!" Kiara shouts, turning on him. Rafe backs away with his hands in the air in surrender. Kiara's eyes flick to me as she fumes and breathes heavily.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" I ask, throwing the tangle of blankets off of me and walking over to them. I adjust the satin pajama set that had been lended to me to sleep in. Kiara is wearing an identical one.

"Your friend here is being unreasonable!" Rafe snaps, briefly acknowledging me before turning back to Kiara. "I mean look around, Kie. I'm the only friend you two have."

The lock on the door clicks, breaking the tension in the room. One of the soldiers, one I have grown to recognize, steps through the doorway. Kie brushes past Rafe and I to approach him.

"Hey," Rafe protests.

"I need to talk to Mr. Singh," Kiara tells the man, continuing to ignore my brother. "I have something to tell him. It's urgent." The soldier looks past her to Rafe and I suspiciously.

"Yes," he says shortly. The man takes her by the arm and leads her out of the room.

"Hey, Kie! Don't leave—" I protest, hurrying towards them, but Rafe's makeshift bed on the floor trips me and the door slams shut in my face. Don't leave me alone with him.

I slowly turn to face Rafe and try my hardest to contain my fear. I can't show him that I'm afraid. He can't have that power over me. Rafe paces back and forth a few times, running his hands down his shaved head. "Shit!" he curses under his breath, slamming his fists down to his sides. It takes every ounce of self-control I have to not flinch at the outburst.

Rafe looks at me through his eyelashes, his gaze unwavering and not giving away anything of what he is thinking. "Where is the diary?" he finally speaks, staying a fair distance away from me.

"I don't know," I lie.

"Yes you do, little sis. Tell me where it is. Do you have it? Do the others?" He steps towards me and I back away instinctively. My back hits the door and I press against it.

"Even if I did know, why should I tell you, Rafe? I don't even know who you are anymore," I snap back.

"I'm your brother, Stella. Even though you don't want to admit it, we share a father, so that makes us siblings whether you like it or not."

"You aren't the brother I remember," I say coldly.

"Well, I'm not the only one who's changed. For some reason, you've got it in your head that you're a 'Pogue' now. You're friends with them, you disappear with them, hell, Stella, you and Sarah have been missing for a month. Now here we are trapped in some treasure hunter's house and you won't even look at me!"