A Synonym for Chill [COMPLETE]

29. Ulterior motives

[Falner's POV]

After I got home from school, I was surprised to not find my dad waiting for me. "Hello?" I called, hearing only the soft echo of my voice reverberating off of the high ceilings as a reply. "Huh, this is weird," I commented, looking at my Squip, who was floating beside me. "My dad's usually home." He shrugged slightly.

"Gives you more time alone, then." He reasoned. I shook my head, hurrying up the stairs and going into my room, tossing my flannel on my bed and leaving me in just a white tank top and ripped jeans.

"This just doesn't seem right. Why would he-?!" I was cut off by the secret sound from Zelda playing repeatedly from my phone. Confused, I pulled it out of my back pocket and unlocked it. My eyes widened. I was being bombarded with notifications from Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, even YouTube, and all of them said roughly the same thing. According to Rose, Dallas had set a fire and tried burning down Jade's house on Halloween. "Oh my God," I said softly, horror in my voice. "They're saying Dallas is in the hospital. A-And Jade...oh God, Jade broke both of his legs trying to escape the fire!" I let out a groan, throwing my phone onto my bed. It nearly sailed through my Squip's head, making me look over at him to apologize, but the words got stuck in my throat. He had changed his outfit again. Instead of the white trenchcoat, he wore a silver...dress of sorts with black accents. His hair was still the same, soft bob, though.

"What's with the new outfit?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked at me and blinked a couple of times, almost like he was coming out of a trance.

"Felt like I needed a change of clothes." He replied coolly. I nodded slightly but didn't feel like he was telling me the full truth. Something felt off.

"How could Dallas' Squip let him attempt to burn down the house like that?" I wondered aloud, then turned to my own Squip. "How could it let him get hurt?" He let out a light laugh.

"Oh, darling, his Squip was trying to stop him," He said smoothly. "Dallas was under a lot of pressure at home. With his Squip partially disabled due to the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed that night, it seems he lacked the proper coping mechanism." It felt like there was a pit in my stomach and I started pacing back and forth in a feeble attempt to keep some sort of sanity. My Squip let out a soft sigh, shaking his head.

"Falner, calm down," He said, grabbing my shoulders. I glared up at him for a moment before sitting down on my bed and putting my head in my hands. I heard him groan slightly, then felt his hand in my hair. He gave my hair a short tug, making me look up at him. His eyes were practically glowing.

"Did you know? Wait..." I trailed off as I vaguely remembered his warning: "We need to get you home. Now." I looked at him, feeling chills run through my body. "You made me leave the party-!" He cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"I was aware of certain...probabilities." He replied. I felt my blood run cold.

"Did you know people were going to get hurt?"

I couldn't believe the voice coming out of my mouth. It wasn't anything like my usual, quiet tone. It was cold, hate-filled, and oh-so-suspicious. He narrowed his eyes.

"I'm getting the impression that you don't trust me, Falner." His voice dropped a few octaves when he said my name, making me shudder. His voice was as cold and icy as mine, but held a dangerous note to it, almost as if he was warning me to back off. Almost every single part of me wanted to fight back, but the more rational sides won out and made me stay silent. The silence lingered for a few minutes before a thought entered my mind and spilled past my lips.

"Why me?"

He tilted his head. "I...don't understand the question." He said slowly. I stared him down.