Misguided Ghosts

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Eight – Ed

Caleb looked up at me icily, his fingertips brushing against his split lip. A small smile twitched his lips, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. He remained on the floor, frozen in apparent shock. I towered above him, my hands curled into fists, my breath coming out of me in heavy pants, every part of me trembling.  Jared put his arm across my chest and pulled me back while I fought against him, desperate to hit Caleb again, to hurl my fist straight into his face, cracking his nose, sending blood spurting-

“Come on, man,” Jared said. “Stop it,”

I felt my body go limp and I suddenly felt drained, like all the energy had been sucked out of me.  Looking over at Tay, I realised what I’d just done. Her eyes shone with tears, her lips parted and her face devoid of colour. My gaze dropped to the cuffs of her hoodie, where I could just see the tips of her fingers. Her hands were shaking. I’d scared her.

“Tay-” I began, but I stopped when she sucked in her bottom lip and sank her teeth into it. Then, without even realising what I doing, I heard myself say, “I used to be all you would need,”

Unable to understand what I had just said, I wrenched myself from Jared’s grip and ran back to my car.

When I got home, I collapsed onto the sofa, wishing for nothing more than to melt into the cushions and disappear. I’d be more useful as a sofa, because then I might be of use to someone and have a purpose. And people loved a comfy sofa.

I must have drifted off to sleep, because when Rodent hopped up onto the sofa and began licking my cheek, mewing softly as she did so, I jumped.

“Rodent,” I groaned. “That’s my face,”

I rolled onto my back, letting her settle on my chest like she usually did. I scratched the base of her neck, making her purr contentedly as my eyes roamed the ceiling, searching for answers.

“Nice punch,” Caleb said, peering out of the French doors.

“You know,” I said, not moving from the sofa, “I do have a door buzzer.”

He shrugged. “Nowhere near as fun,”

“What do you want?”

I could tell that he was smiling. “To help you understand. After all, you were right. Once upon a time, all your darling Tay needed to keep herself on the straight and narrow was you. But now? Now, she needs to listen to me. And when she doesn’t, I’ll give her a little push in the right direction. Besides, even when she does listen to me, which has yet to happen, she’s going to do it to herself,”

That was all it took to get me up from the sofa, slamming him against the nearest wall, my hands gripping the front of his shirt. “What are you doing to her?”

An image flashed through my mind. Tay’s stomach, thighs and arms, all covered in one word. Mine. His own mark, embedded into her skin. And wherever he hadn’t marked her, slashes oozed blood. Slashes that Tay had put there.

“Of course, what she did to herself has yet to happen, so what you saw is a rough approximation of what she’s going to do,”

I let go of him and began to pace while he slumped against the wall, laughing. I grabbed fistfuls of my hair and growled to myself. How could I possibly stop her, after scaring her so much? And Tay could put on a much better act than anyone, so she could lie to me, Jared and Liam and none of us would be any the wiser. Letting go of my hair, I turned back to him.

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“Why her?”