Swooped | ✓

Chapter 36: A Feather in One's Cap

"Honey, if you need concealer to cover up those badass bruises, just tell me," was the first thing Gia said to me after crushing me in a hug the moment I opened the door.

"Thanks, Gia, but I look great in purple, didn't you know that?" I said, grinning a little as my friend laughed. 

"We were so worried about you, though!" Geoff cried, draping himself over my shoulders as he squeezed me half to death. "We saw everything on the news and wanted to see you, but we figured we should let you rest. But, ah, it's good to see that you're doing okay now."

"Yep, I'm doing pretty good now, actually," I said, glancing at Milo, who was watching from across the room with a small smile on his face. My condition had been improving, slowly, but improving nonetheless. My emotions seemed to be settling down, at least to a point where I could control them a lot better. I could tell that Milo and Lark were still tip-toeing around me slightly since we weren't sure what could trigger me, but they had relaxed a lot when I started joking around like normal.

Normal.

Things were better, but they were far from normal. I had decided that I wanted to see the doctor about everything soon, but I was already starting to get an inkling as to what was going on inside my head. When we were lying in bed one night, Milo and I hard searched up my symptoms on the internet - or, well, Milo did as I moulded myself to his side, watching his screen as I rested my head on his chest. 

Though neither of us were doctors, we had found something that seemed to fit - albeit not perfectly, but close enough that we were pretty certain this was what was happening. 

Borderline personality disorder, we thought. 

Milo had read some of the things written on line out loud to me as my eyes glossed over with tears. I didn't know if they were tears of sadness or fear or relief, but maybe a mixture of all three. Sadness, because putting a name to it only confirmed that yes, I had a problem, that I wasn't 'normal'. Fear, because it seemed like my issues would probably make me do things that would hurt the people I held dear, even if I didn't want to. But relief, because it could be treated. I could be helped, and I could get better. 

I didn't have to drown forever.

So, that night, I cried and cried into Milo's chest as he held me.

"We can get through this together, okay?" was what Milo kept whispering into my ear as he rubbed my back, etching them into my skin.

Milo kept saying it, over and over again, until I found myself saying it. I hoped that if I kept saying it, I would start to believe it.

"But do you know what's going to happen with that whole thing, Culver?" Geoff asked as we all congregated in the Nest. Gia and Geoff flopped onto the beanbags alongside Lark, while Milo sat in his rolling chair with me settled in his lap. "The news has only reported on the attack, but there haven't been any updates. The police just said that they're investigating it."

"I don't know, to be honest," I said, sighing. "We sent the police the video captured from my goggles, but the guys were masked. Lark's mum told us that they're analysing their voices, amongst other things, but they haven't come up with anything yet."

"Yeah, I've been liaising with my mum, but there isn't much to go on, apparently," Lark said. "They did get a hit from ballistics, though. Remember that dead person they found floating in the river a month or two ago? Well, the bullets matched those found in that body. They hadn't thought that the cases were related - as in, the murder and the missing homeless people - but now they're sure."

"Wait, the dead person wasn't one of the missing homeless people?" Gia asked, and Lark shook her head. "Serious? That's what the news said..."

"Yeah, my mum said they're keeping this all hush hush, and wouldn't clue me in at all, until Black Dove here got involved," Lark said, smiling around my hero name. "Milo, do you want to get the pics up on the screens?"