Bound by Shadows

23

"Who are you talking about?"

Quinn starts chucking down the beer as if it was the last thing she could drink, and voiced in terror, "That dude, from our class. The creep. Ethan Calbert. I'm sure he murdered Hailey. What the fuck was I suppose to do when he threatened to kill me too if I didn't give up any information."

My heart pounded against my chest, "What did he do to you? And what information did you give up?"

Quinn sniffed, once, twice, her leg bouncing with speed while she bit her nails.

"I'm sorry Zanya. When you reached out to me a few months ago and told me where you were, he was listening into the call with a knife on my throat. Remember you were telling me about how you felt like he knew where you were. Your gut feeling? Ever since I told him where you lived I never heard from you again. I called and called and you never answered. So I thought he got you too so I went into hiding."

I trembled, "Then why didn't you tell the police about Hailey? Or that you couldn't reach me?"

Quinn laughed nervously, "Was I suppose to?" She kept on scratching the skin on her arm and I grabbed it, looking at the needle marks and then turned my gaze to the table to see it was full of used injections.

Fuck.

"He gave you drugs. That's why you didn't say anything." I looked at her in disbelief, feeling my chest squeeze.

She shook her head, "No, no, I swear no. I just, I had to. I'm sorry," she squeaked, her tears already running down her face, with a snot and then she grabbed hold of me, so hard that it hurt, "I feel like I'm about to die, Zanya. Please, your husband has a load of the drugs right? Give some to me. I swear I will never give out any information."

I shook my head, trying to break myself free from her grip, making the chair behind me fall, "Let me go, you're hurting me," terrified to see how fast her personality had shifted.

No, this isn't Quinn. It can't be.

"Fucking hell you bitch! I just asked for some and you wouldn't give me any! Maybe I should call Ethan and let him know you paid me a visit!"

Just then Tadashi broke through the door and like a speed of lightning, he yanked Quinn's arm away from me, using so much force that he brought her down in one move, arms around her back with the weight of his knee pressing her down as she writhed beneath him.

Tadashi and I exchanged looks.

"We need to send her to a hospital," I said, despite the shock. Deep down I knew that she wasn't herself. "She needs all the help she can get."

Caelus, still nursing his injured arm, exuded a sense of quiet authority as he lounged in Stella's office, surrounded by the remnants of scattered papers and the glow of a computer screen casting an eerie light. His attire, though casual—a simple white t-shirt paired with dark blue sweatpants—did little to soften the tension in the room.

"You both seemed to have misplaced your phones," Caelus remarked dryly, his gaze flickering between Tadashi and me. Tadashi, offering a strained smile, exchanged a glance with me, a silent acknowledgment of the situation.

Caelus's icy stare bore into me as he addressed me directly. "We had an agreement, Zanya. You were supposed to answer your phone whenever I called."

Emotions churned within me, a tempest of frustration and resentment threatening to consume me. "Ethan Calbert. He might be the one you're after," I interjected, my voice edged with a hint of defiance.

Caelus's displeasure was evident as he turned his attention to Tadashi, a silent reproach lingering in his gaze. Tadashi, visibly uncomfortable, offered no explanation as I confronted them both.

Closing my eyes, I took a moment to compose myself, the weight of uncertainty pressing down on me. "You two have been looking into him," I said the truth and none of them denied. "So?What did you find?" I demanded.

Tadashi's sigh echoed the weariness of our fruitless search. "He's gone off the grid. He was the only one with a record of stalking your classmates, including you."

A bitter taste filled my mouth as I swallowed back a surge of fear. "Hailey. My friend. I assume you know her. What did you discover about it?"

Their grim expressions spoke volumes. "Suicide. No foul play," Caelus stated matter-of-factly, his tone devoid of empathy which made my jaw tick.

"But Quinn believes she was murdered. Maybe by Ethan," I countered, desperation creeping into my voice.

Caelus's response was cold, clinical. "She's a drug addict. Are we blindly going to trust her words and act on it?"

"How do you know about her addiction?"

Caelus faltered, his mask slipping to reveal the vulnerability beneath. I met his gaze, searching for answers in the depths of his icy eyes. "You two talk it out. I'm going," Tadashi immediately backed out, his departure leaving an uneasy silence in his wake.

As I found myself standing before Caelus once more, the man who had pledged his life to mine, I couldn't shake the feeling of déjà vu. Every word he had uttered now felt like a lie, every promise a hollow echo. My heart, already bruised from the previous revelations, now ached with the weight of this new deception.

The knowledge that he had been aware of her struggles, her addiction, yet had remained silent, cut through me like a blade. It wasn't just anger that simmered beneath the surface; it was a profound sense of hurt, of being let down by those I had held closest. Who else knew what I didn't? Tadashi? Stella? My brother?

Each moment replayed in my mind, each omission a fresh wound reopening old scars. And amidst the anger and hurt, there lay a deep-seated confusion, a desperate longing to understand why they had chosen to keep me in the dark.

Everyone chose to keep me in the dark.

"I can't believe you kept this from me," I finally spoke.

Caelus met my gaze, his own eyes clouded with regret. "I never meant to hurt you, Zanya. I thought I was protecting you."

"Protecting me?" I scoffed bitterly. "By lying to me? By making me look like a fool?"

"It wasn't about you looking like a fool," he insisted. "I just didn't want to burden you with Quinn's problems. I didn't want to drag you into it."

"Dragging me into it would have been the decent thing to do," I shot back, my fists clenched at my sides. "Instead, you let me stumble blindly, unaware of the truth."

Caelus sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging. "I know I messed up, Zanya. And I'm sorry. I should have trusted you enough to be honest from the start."

"But why didn't you?" I asked, my voice softer now, tinged with hurt.

He hesitated. "I thought if I could handle it on my own, it would be better for both of us."

I shook my head, "You don't get to make that decision for me, Caelus."

"I know," his voice was thick with emotion. "And I promise, from now on, I'll be more open with you. No more secrets."

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my racing heart. "I want to believe you, but trust isn't something you can just earn back overnight."

Caelus shot up from where he sat, his good hand reaching out to my wrist, pulling me with him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, a mix of confusion as this weird feeling in my stomach came to life.

"I'm going to make it up to you," he said, his tone firm yet gentle.