The Incubus

Chapter 7, Scene 1

'Did you tell him?'

Rebecca looked up at Justin with a blank expression on her face. 'Huh?'

'Did you tell him?' Justin insisted.

'Tell whom what?'

'Simon,' he said with a slight irritation in his voice. 'Did you tell Simon about the thing I told you about my past?'

'What thing?'

Justin clenched his teeth. 'Remember how I told you about my past that night we went out?'

Rebecca thought for a few seconds and then her eyes widened. 'The abortion thing?'

'Yes. Did you tell Simon about it?'

'Of course not,' she said. 'Why on earth would I talk to someone I barely know about something so intimate?'

'Well, if you didn't tell him, how does Simon know about it?'

'He knows?'

'My question wasn't whether he knows,' Justin snapped. 'It was how he knows.'

Rebecca's defences shot up. 'What makes you think that I would know how he knows?'

'Because other than myself and Sandra, you're the only other person on earth that has this information.'

Rebecca flinched as if she'd been physically struck by Justin. 'Do you really believe that I would tell anyone about it? Is that the level of faith you have in me? Is that the level of trust?'

Justin didn't answer. He pursed his lips together and raked his fingers through his hair.

'Is that how well you know me, Justin?'

'I don't know what to believe anymore, Becky. I don't know who to trust and what to believe.'

'If you can't trust me,' she said and moved closer to him. She embraced him in her arms. 'Then you can't trust anyone.'

He returned the embrace. If felt so good to hold her again. He smelled her hair. Fresh shampoo. That two-in-wonder with the conditioner worked into the formula. Wild flower extract for that nostalgic smell of home. Justin was home. He was with the one person that fulfilled him in every single way. But there were too many unanswered questions; too many weird things happening. 'You're right,' he said. 'I guess I can't trust anyone.'

Rebecca broke away from the embrace. 'Does that include me?'

Justin didn't answer.

'Are you seriously implying that you can't trust me?'

'I don't know who to trust anymore, and your behaviour sure isn't making it easier for me.'

'Without trust, there can be no relationship,' Rebecca said. 'I might just as well move to my parent's place.'

'Fine,' Justin said. 'Go to your parents then! It saves me the trouble of moving out.' He walked from the room and sighed a loud Sheesh! as he slammed the door behind him. Rebecca sat there for a moment, replaying his words in her mind. A moment later she broke down and cried.