Decipher | Watty's 2017

LXVI. Bedevil

Bedevil

/bəˈdevəl/

verb

cause great or continual trouble to

Luke's arms were around me as we lied in our tiny bathtub together, his hands running through my hair as I relaxed fully into him. He hadn't asked a single question after my mental breakdown earlier and that had spared me the trouble of remembering it then; however, now it was running through my mind on a continuous loop.

Janice almost shot me.

That was the only thought consuming me as I stared at my pruning skin, aware of the water becoming cold around us. As Luke began to get out, my hand reached to pull him back, not wanting to feel alone until he had heard the full story.

I was sure that Michael had informed him of the logistics such as me not being hurt, someone pulling a gun, and that same person shooting it where my body had been, but besides that, neither of them knew anything.

"I want to talk about it," I whispered, hoping that Luke had heard my small voice. Judging by the sigh emitting from him and his body returning behind mine, he had and he was worried about me.

"I don't want you to have another breakdown," he said, brushing my hair out from behind me so he could be pressed firmly up against me. "I can't take another one of those." His voice sounding broken, almost as if the breakdown affected him more than it did me.

My heart swelled at his caringness but I remained strong and shook my head at his pleas for me to not relive the moment. "I need to," I told him, craning my neck so that I had the ability to face him for my next sentence. "I can't be the only one that knows what happened in there." My body felt light as I relaxed once more into Luke, allowing him to embrace me in his warmth and protection. "Last time I held something in I wasn't myself, and you don't deserve that," I finally admitted, feeling a weight fall from my shoulders as he let out a huff of air, still not warming up to the idea.

"Okay," he said gently, moving my blonde hair in between his fingers to play with it as he always did when he had the chance.

I let out a deep breath, bracing myself for both my own and Luke's reaction the incident that happened only a few hours ago.

"Janice came by to check on me and I knew something was off about her, just in the way she spoke, you know?" He nodded, following the story as he rubbed my arms gently. I swallowed the lump in my throat that was building before I continued on, my heart beating uncontrollably fast as I remembered her throwing that ball up against the wall at a steady pace, not speaking to me at all.

"She was asking about how I deciphered the Code and I was telling her, but she got bored with that right away," my voice quivered slightly as I relived each moment, remembering every little detail so vividly.

"So she left?" Luke asked, confused as to where the story was going.

"No," I breathed out, feeling his body tense from behind me. "She stayed and just sat there with a ball, throwing it against the wall." My throat closed up as I thought of my question that set her off, regretting ever speaking in the first place.

"She was so quiet and I just wanted to know what was wrong," I babbled, spilling information that I didn't even think I knew. "She had like a robotic voice and everything she said would cut right through me, and I knew I should've stopped," my voice shook as I imagined being there in the stress of it all. The way I kept trying to talk her down, her yelling that only seemed to magnify with each word I spoke. "If I would've stopped then this would all be fine!" I screamed, falling apart in his arms again as his biceps tightened around my tiny frame.