Felixentric

Scene 32

Quinn's thumbs were on Felix's temples and, at first, he was holding Felix's head off the ground like a baby, but then he was shaking him like a mad man. "Hey. Hey!"

"Stop it!" Felix slurred. "Stop that!" He focused on Quinn's face and the ceiling behind it. The shadows of the early morning sun were the same as when he'd been attacked. It must have only been a few seconds.

Quinn shook his head and helped him stand. Like a drill sergeant, he pointed toward the pull out couch and forced him in. "You should go to sleep." His eyebrows were knit together.

Felix fought with his arms, trying to push back. No, I'm fine. I'm fine. The rest of his life was supposed to be great.

But Quinn was having none of it.

Felix was almost sure he was going to stand there and tuck him in. When he turned to go, Felix whine. "Can you sit here?" Chills ran up his spine. What if that that thing came back for him? What if he was imagining things?

A hesitation and then a shaking of his head. But he didn't sit. He leaned against the wall as far away from Felix as he could get without leaving the room. - or sitting in the bathtub - and crossed his arms over his legs.

At first, the room was quiet. They didn't talk. Felix was hoping Quinn would, but he only looked at him and Felix looked back.

"Janette left her backpack on the staircase, by the way. One of the neighbours recognized it, coming up today and gave it to me."

Felix stared at the ceiling. "She does that a lot." He told Quinn all about why they'd needed a ride form him on the night of the party. "She just drops things and forgets about them."

"Why?" Quinn asked. "Was she in distress? Did something happen?"

Felix pursed his lips.

Quinn raised a eyebrow and then laughed, like Felix had said something funny or done something wrong. "Anyway, Janette's backpack is in the living room. I'm sure you'll see her before I do."

"Wait. She didn't come back for it?" Felix swallowed. "She must have forgotten."

"Or came back for it after I took it."

Felix imagined Janette going home, her head wrapped in a confusion over the sofa scene. He thought of her sitting up in bed and hitting herself in the forehead. Her mom would yell about where she was off to all day and her siblings would join in to mock her or come up with elaborate theories. Then, she would make it back to the staircase and find that her backpack was missing. Felix hoped she didn't think it was stolen. "Um... Do you mind taking it back to her?" So I don't have to see her...

His face contorted. "Are you hiding drugs in it or something? Forcing me into an obvious drug deal?"

Felix rolled his eyes, but it was forced. His face was getting hot and he would rather play off a drug deal than lead Quinn to realize that they'd kissed.

"Fine." Quinn shrugged.

It took Felix a little while to fall asleep, but he finally did. He woke up again around eleven.

The room was quiet. There were no cutting noises or shuffling in the front room. He squirmed and called out for Quinn. "You better be here," he mumbled and searched the room for any sign of another intrusion.

But looking in the kitchen and bathroom, he was - yet again - alone. First, he was heated. Knowingly, you leave me by myself when I was just attacked. But then, he was paranoid. What if Quinn was attacked by the same thing while Felix was fast asleep? What if he was dragged out of the apartment and skinned alive?

No more than five minutes later, all of them filled with pacing, Quinn came through the door with Janette's backpack in hand. "She wasn't home."

Janette was a busy girl - at the top of her class and involved in quite a few extracurriculars. She also had lots of other friends and an over-extensive family to deal with. "Try again later?" Felix shrugged.

The bag dropped the the ground with a thud. "Said she wasn't home."

"Yeah, you just said that."

"No," Quinn rephrased. "Her parents said that. They said she hadn't been home all of last night."

"Oh." There could be lots of reasons for that. Maybe she searched the whole city for her backpack. Maybe she was at another party, getting drunk and passing out on the floor.

"Not to scare you..." Quinn's voice was low. "I really don't, but over two hundred people were attacked by Banefade last night and they're still identifying the bodies."

Felix's stomach lurched.

"I'm not saying that's what happened, but if she comes up... Just be ready, okay?"

But Felix definitely hadn't Faded Janette Abuchi. He nodded anyway.

"You don't look worried."

"I'm not."

Quinn's eyebrows twisted.

He thinks I'm in denial.