Finding Finn Reed

VI

Someone was knocking at my door. I shot up from bed, I had completely forgotten about the outside world. It had been roughly two and a half weeks since Finns death, and I've been incased inside a small room, with little to no light. I was spooked by the knocking. At first, I thought it was my parents. After I had told them Finn died, they asked me to come stay with them for a while. "This town is beautiful Melanie, there's no rain, and the sun is always out" my mother had said to me over the phone. After that, I began to pack everything back into boxes, there was no point in staying in Intemilly, it was just too painful.

I ambled my way over to the front door, and without hesitation, I unlocked the door and opened it. A tall man stood before me. It was Atticus, the man from the police station. "Atticus? What are you doing here?" I asked. Atticus looked at me and smirked, giving me chills that raced down my spine. With no regard to curtesy, he let himself in. He looked around in amazement, all of the boxes that I had piled were ready to go; about a total of two hundred and some boxes all stacked neatly. "You renovating?" he asked, still in amazement. I let out a sarcastic laugh, "Hardly" I said, "I'm leaving." Almost instantly, Atticus turned around and looked at me, his face in shock. "Leaving? Where? And why?" he asked. "I really don't think it's any of your concern" I tensely said. I proceeded to walk into the kitchen, "Why are you leaving so soon?" he asked again, now walking into the kitchen with me. "Would you like some herbal tea? I bought about a dozen boxes and seeing as how it's just me now, I can't seem to drink these fast enough" I said, ignoring his repetitive question. Atticus shook is head, and I began to make tea for just myself. The scent of black tea filled the room, giving off a tranquil ambiance.

"I would have put on my face if I had known you were coming, you'll have to excuse my appearance" I bitterly said. I made my way over to the dining table, and sat down on the opposite side of where Finn sat. "It's fine" Atticus said, "I didn't come here to bask in appearance" Atticus now made his way over to the dinning table as well, taking Finns chair. My eyes shot up and out of old habit, I panicked. "You can't sit there!" Atticus jolted his body back in surprise. "I'm sorry, Finn always sat there and just flipped through his old magazines, it was out of habit I'm sorry" I apologized. The idea of someone else sitting where Finn sat upset me, I didn't ever want to see somebody sit where Finn sat.

Atticus apologized, and took the seat next to Finns chair. I took a deep breath, and began drinking my black tea. "Why'd you come?" I asked, getting straight to the point. I wasn't in the best of moods, and surprise visits never sat well with me. "You've been ignoring my bosses phone calls for the past two and a half weeks, we've been trying to get a hold of you to discuss Finns dea-" I immediately interrupted Atticus, I already knew what he was going to say, and I was finished discussing details. "Did you burry him?" I asked. "Yes, but that's not really why I'm her-", "Then the details have already been discussed, thank you for helping me" I got up from my chair, and walked towards the front door, opening it. "You can leave now if you don't mind, my parents should be here in a couple of hours." Atticus got up and began to walk towards the door. However, he tripped, knocking over one of Finns boxes. The box tore open, and many of Finns belongings came out, most particularly a picture of us. Atticus bent down, and picked up the picture.

"You looked happy in this picture, what happened?" Atticus asked, holding the picture up to me. "I saw my bestfriend get killed, it can change a person." With a hand motion, I pointed out the door, and Atticus proceeded to walk out the door, but then paused for a moment, and turned around to look at me. "I thought you said you two were on the phone, and that he had died before you arrived at the scene" he said, my entire body froze. I had forgotten about the fake cover up story I gave Atticus. "I don't remember what happened all that well, It's been a rough few weeks" I said, now pushing Atticus further out the door. "I beg to differ, considering you're so eager to leave this place. Did the death of your lover shake you up that bad?" I slapped Atticus after he said that. Resentment fueled my veins, the fact that Atticus acted like he knew everything made my body boil. He stood still now, slowly raising his hand to his now red cheek, and proceeded to laugh. "What the hell is so funny? You think you know I'm going through, but you don't, you don't know anything!" I shouted. My fists were now shaking, and I could feel tears beginning to form. What had angered me the most, was despite my emotions, despite how I was feeling, Atticus just stood there, impassively staring back at me.

Atticus said nothing, and was outside my door that I had slammed in front of his face. "Go away, don't ever come back you asshole!" I shouted. I began pacing back and forth, unsure of what to do next. So much anxiety filled my body, I began breathing fast. "I don't know what your problem is" Atticus said from behind the door, "You could always just go back and do something about it." Suddenly, my anxiety and anger froze, and my heart beat slow. I had mumbled something under my breath, "What was that?" Atticus asked. You could always just go back and do something about it, his words began to echo, my head began to feel cloudy, my body weakened. "What did you just say?" I mumbled again, this time making sure Atticus heard me. "If you let me in, I could explain it better" he replied. "No way in hell, just forget what I said, go away!" I yelled, banging my fist on the door. Atticus laughed, and clapped his hands together, "You're turning me down? That's a shame, I could have told you all about who you really are, and the potential you have" Atticus began to walk away, his words echoing though the halls, "Come find me when you're ready to save your lover again."

Come find me when you're ready to save your lover again Atticus' words sharply rang in my ears, so much that it brought me down to my knees. Who was that man, and how'd he know about my flashes? I was afraid to chase after him, but something inside my head told me to look for him. Without a second thought, I ran as fast as I could, through the apartment halls, down the stairs, and finally at the front door, where Atticus stood, waiting. "Who are you?" I asked, catching my breath. Atticus smirked, his hands tucked in his pockets. Who was this man, really? "I asked you a question, if you don't tell me I'll-" he cut me off with a maniacal laugh and said, "Is that really all you wanted to ask me? Who I am? What about Finn, hm? Don't you want to go back, don't you want to save him?" he asked. "How would that be possible, there's no way I can do that" I replied. Atticus laughed again, "What, did you think those 'dreams' of yours were just apart of your sub conscience? Newsflash, those were timelines. Timelines you created. It was all real, and I was there every step of the way, watching you." Suddenly Atticus had a dark tone to him, I began to feel a malignant presence, however I shook it off and began speaking.

"How is this all possible? I don't understand, I just.." I was lost in thought. This felt like one of my dreams, but it was real. This was all happening. "At first I was skeptical about it too, but then I realized that you, Melanie, were special. Like me." he said as he approached me. "You don't know this yet, but your entire life is based off a lie, you're not who you really think you are" he smirked. This man before me, this god awful excuse of a human being was now beginning to tell me that my life was a lie, and yet I felt compelled to believe him. There was definitely something off about last few years of my life, I just never wanted to admit it. I began to stutter a  bit, fear began to consume my body, and Atticus kept getting closer and closer. "What am I then?" I asked. Atticus and I were about an inch apart now. He bent down to my ear, and whispered "You're a god, Melanie Abner."