Secrets

08| Back in the apartment

What the hell is happening? She looks around and then down at herself thinking she imagined going to Jade's house yesterday. But Jade's oversized shirt and loose pants she's wearing proves to her that she was there last night. So how in the world did she get here?

She frantically searches for her phone all around her but to no avail. A horrible thought suddenly crosses her mind, leaving her on the verge of hyperventilating. What if...what if I did something to Jade before coming here? What if I did to her what I did to Ori?

"Oh no no no no no..." she keeps muttering as she gets on all fours and crawls on the floor. She needs that phone, desperately. As she leans closer to the ground trying to reach out for the tiny gap between the couch and floor, her doorbell suddenly rings making her jump.

"Oh my God, Jade." She cries in relief and laughs through her tears while running to the door.

But as she swings it open, the person standing in front of her is someone she never expected to see.

"Owen?"

He rubs the back of his neck as he stares at her warily. "Uh... Sorry. I just-- Jade called me and I was worried about you."

"Jade called you? Right now?" She lets out a short laugh of relief as he nods. "So she's okay?"

"What? Of course she's okay. Why wouldn't she be?" Owen focused on her face and his confused expression turned into worry. "Are you okay? You've been crying."

"Oh, I-- yeah," she stuttered trying to come up with an explanation. But wait, why would I lie it to him? This is Owen, standing in my doorstep because he was worried about me. This guy, the same guy I've been friends with for a whole year and who I've liked for pretty much the whole time we were friends. He's here to listen and be there for me.

She opens the door a little wider. "Do you wanna come in?"

He nods and steps inside, his eyes instantly snapping to that corner he found himself at that night. "Uh, Ruth...I want to uh, apologize about last week. I don't know what came over me and-- you saw I wasn't that drunk. But something took control of me and-- God I must sound so crazy to you right now."

"You? Crazy?" Ruth laughs bitterly as they sit on the couch next to each other. "You haven't seen what I've been experiencing."

"Jade tried to tell me this morning but nothing she said made sense to me. And then she told me to go to your apartment and check up on you because you suddenly left her house without your phone. She sounded really worried and I became worried about you too so I rushed to get here as soon as I can. And looking at you now it seems like we were right to be worried. Why are you crying? Did something happen?"

Even at this time of distress, her heart flutters as she looks into his eyes filled with worry. And then she starts explaining everything to him. Not even caring if she sounds crazy at this point, she even tells him about Ori and the mirror.

"Wow," he breathes out, and she closes her eyes waiting for him to tell her she's crazy and run out of there. But she suddenly feels his arm around her and snaps open her eyes. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you," he says quietly.

A smile forms on her lips as she leans into him more.

"And I'm really sorry that I shut you out all week. I was just-- I didn't know what came over me that night but since I found myself pulling your hair like that I thought you'd see me as a pervert and-- I'm really sorry. I still don't know what happened to me. It's the weirdest thing I've ever experienced."

"I understand." She nods against his chest. They pull away after a moment and she smiles at him. "Thank you so much for being here. You have no idea what it means to me."

"I care about you, Ruth. You know that, don't you? So you don't have to thank me okay?" He smiles back at her and his hand reaches out for hers. "I'll be with you all the way. You'll get the help you need and be okay again. I'm sure of it."

Ruth wonders how he'd react if she told him about Jade and how something possessed her last night. That's the only part of the story she left out so he wouldn't freak out. He thinks it's all in her head and she wants him to keep thinking that way until she figures out what's really going on.

"You're right. I'm planning to go back to my parents for a while and...get professional help."

He nods and she starts to get nervous from holding his hand this long. "Uh, did you eat breakfast?" she asks while pulling her hand away to stand up.

"No, Jade kinda woke me up and I just threw on some clothes and came here." He admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

A smile forms on her lips again as she realises how much he really cares about her. "Okay, I'll be right back with something to eat."

She walks into the kitchen and takes a few eggs out of her fridge. She can't get rid of the smile on her face as she prepares breakfast for the two of them.

***

Her hand traces the side of the knife and the blood covers her fingers. The water is running from the tap, slowly washing the blood off the knife.

Wait, what the fuck?

She stares down at her hands in confusion. What is she doing in her bathroom washing blood off of a knife? She gasps and checks her body from top to bottom to make sure she hadn't hurt herself. Nothing. There's not even a single cut on her body.

She looks up and comes face to face with the mirror. The hoodie is gone but she can't see her refection at all. There's nothing reflected in the mirror, not even the door behind her. The mirror looks like a normal glass now.

Her heart beats faster and faster as she tries to remember what happened. And then the bloody knife slips from her shaky hand and drops to the floor as the last thing she remembers doing comes to her mind. She was making breakfast for Owen and her.

Owen.

She throws the bathroom door open and runs to the living room. Please be okay, please be okay, please be--

Her whole body freezes as her eyes take in the sight in front of her. Right there next to her couch, Owen's body lies on the floor surrounded by his own blood.

Her legs give out from underneath her and she drops to the floor. "Owen?" she calls out, her voice barely audible. She crawls on the floor until her hands touch the blood surrounding him. She stretches her hand and checks for his pulse as if the several knife wound on his chest and stomach weren't proof enough that he's dead.

Owen is dead. And she's the one who stabbed him to death.