Haven

16. Senseless

WARNING - Language Alert

The phone was ringing.

Norah could hear it in the kitchen, the shrill tone sounding like a marching band parading through her head. She tried to open her eyes but they were stuck together with sleep and tears.

Her head continued to pound and she decided against opening them in the end. The thought of light was enough to make a whimper pass her lips. The memories of last night scattered in her head, refusing to piece together and she caught snatches, unable to determine what it was that had happened. As the phone finally stopped ringing, she started to wonder why Rylan hadn't just answered it and froze.

Rylan was gone, and Daniel was -

As one, the memories surged forward, crashing together in one large cluster and she was bombarded with the horror that had been the night before. Her chest tightened and pushing through the pain, she opened her eyes. The daylight shone dimly through the curtains. It was enough to make the throbbing in her head hurt more, but the pain no longer seemed important.

Daniel was dead.

She had killed someone.

She didn't know what to do. She felt detached from the events, as if she were no longer the same person. Numbly, she sat up. The world swayed and she held her head, stumbling to the bathroom. Running the shower, she stripped off her clothes, the smell of salt and dirt clung to them and she gasped when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Bruises lined her stomach and ribs, from Daniel's fists; they were an ugly red and purple that marred against her pale skin.

Looking higher, her face was a mess. Covered in dirt, she saw a bruise along her hairline above her left temple. The skin around her eye felt tender as she touched it, but it wasn't swollen. She was lucky in that aspect.

Stepping into the shower, she let the water run over her. Even though she knew the night before had happened, it felt like nothing more than an awful dream. She didn't want it to be real. Scrubbing the dirt and grime from her battered body, she knew what she had to do - she had to turn herself in. She had made Adam do it, and she had to follow her own example. Daniel had been a monster, but murder was wrong and she couldn't live with the guilt of knowing she had ended someone's life.

When she finished showering, she got changed and arranged her hair to hide the bruising. First, she would go to the cliffs. She knew she should go to the police station first, but something inside her needed to see - needed to know that it hadn't all been a dream. That she had become the monster.

Grabbing a pair of sunglasses, she downed two pain killers and trudged outside. The air was warm, it was going to be hot day. Norah didn't like that. When a protagonist had done something wrong in a book, the day should be miserable, rain pelting down on the ground to symbolise their grief and despair.

This isn't one of your stories, Norah.

She flinched as Rylan's words came back to haunt her. He was right. This wasn't one of her stories, if it was, she could simply go back and rewrite that whole scene, pretending it had never happened. There were no rewrites in real life.

Climbing in her car, she breathed deeply, her head still causing her grief. The pain killers hadn't kicked in yet, and she hoped they did soon. She didn't think she would get anymore once she turned herself in. The town was already bustling with tourists as she drove through. She wondered if the word had spread that a body had been found - she assumed they had found the body by now. Someone had to have seen the car lights last night. She hadn't turned them off - she hadn't done anything other than push a man off a cliff.