Barely Dead

☠ n i n e ☠

☠ n i n e ☠





 

The phone slid out easily from Gunner's pocket. He was still leant against the bathroom door. He managed to calm himself before dialing the number he memorized. He held it to his ears with shaky hands. He quietly explained the situation, hoping whole-heartedly that Libitina would not bear witness to this call. 




"Quietus, listen, do you remember my first?" Gunner whispered on the phone, his eyes wide. Quietus spoke in a muffled voice, "Yeah?" It was a bit difficult for Gunner to hear what he added after words as he heard a woman swearing and a car honking. Adriana. 




Gunner took a pause and a deep breath before continuing. "Do you remember her name?" 




"Yeah." When Gunner didn't respond, Quietus realized he was asking for the name. "Oh! It was Alicendra or something," Quietus monotonously said. Gunner flinched - no, not mentally, he physically flinched further into the door like a turtle would its shell. He expected the answer, he was just hoping it would be anything but Alicendra. 




There was still the hope that Alicendra was a popular name and there was another one. 




"You wouldn't happen to remember the last name too, would you?" Gunner added, closing his eyes tightly. His stomach did somersaults, and with that, his head was so light that he was positive it would float off. 




"Kerra-oh no," Quietus cut himself off, realizing where Gunner had gone with this conversation. 




That one hope Gunner had? 




It was gone. Dead. Quietus just murdered that little shred of hope. 




And that wasn't the only thing he murdered, apparently. 




"As in her? Libitina?" Quietus slowly asked. Gunner nodded stupidly on the phone, until he remembered that Quietus couldn't see him.




"Yeah," he weakly murmured. "Her mom. What an unfortunate coincidence-"




"It's definitely not a coincidence, Gu-" Quietus tried to say, cut off short by a knock on the bathroom door. Gunner hung up immediately and sprung to his feet. 




"Gunner, are you okay? I hear you whispering... is everything alright?" Libitina asked from the other side of the door. Gunner creaked the faucets on. He wasn't prepared for them to run like waterfalls and splash all over his shirt and face. 




Great. 




"I'm fine. I'll be out in a sec," he confidently assured Libitina, despite the guilt pooling in his stomach. He wiped his hands on his already wet shirt before opening the door. Libitina was there, smiling.




"Everything good in there?" she asked again, noticing the hand marks on his shirt. "You know there were paper towels under the sink, right?"