Memories

IX

AIN'T NO REST FOR THE WICKED

'There ain't nothing in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know, I wish I could
Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good'

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Thalia stepped out the back door of the club, already reaching into her purse for her pack of cigarettes. She pulled it out along with a lighter and brought a stick up to her lips. She cradled the flame as it burnt the paper and then put it back in her bag.

"You know, those aren't good for you," Thalia looked to the voice, and scoffed when she saw Andrew with his arms crossed. He was watching her, but it seemed more calculating and questioning than predatory.

"Hypocrite." Thalia mumbled as she blew out smoke. Andrew shrugged and pushed himself off the wall, making his way over to her. She tensed her shoulders at his approach. Andrew narrowed his eyes.

"You think nobody notices it when you do that." he said. "But I don't miss it. I know that stance. That defensive front you put on. So who hurt you?" Thalia recoiled a little at his question. She knew she hadn't been particularly discreet about her reactions to things, but the fact that Andrew had picked up the fact that Thalia had been hurt was something she hadn't been expecting.

"Excuse me?" Thalia asked, though she'd heard him perfectly clear. Andrew didn't repeat his question, and she only sighed. Thalia took another drag of her cigarette before answering. She needed the time to think.

"It's nothing, really. I got into the wrong sort of crowd back in California. Not willingly, of course." She added to Andrew's shift in glance. "They're the ones who got me into the drugs and stuff. I got myself clean before I came here though. I was planning to leave California once I turned eighteen, so I wanted to start over. No more drugs. No more dealing. Took a month, but I'm good now."

Andrew didn't say anything to Thalia's response, obviously not believing it was the truth, or at least the whole truth. He took the cigarette from her fingers and took a drag, before stomping it out on the ground. "That doesn't answer my question." he said, looking Thalia in the eye. "Who hurt you?" he repeated, slower this time.

"It's none of your business," Thalia said, taking out another cigarette and putting it between her teeth. "Now, I came out here to be alone. So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get back to that." Andrew left her, and Thalia was grateful, though she'd somehow hoped he'd stay.

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On Saturday, when Thalia was back at the Fox Tower, Dan hounded her with questions about how she was. If she was feeling alright. Did they give her anything? In the end Thalia just took the pamphlet for subjects and left the dorm. She went to sign up for her art classes, figuring she'd have to do it sometime soon. 

At practice the following Monday, she got a call during their break. She didn't even have to look at the caller ID. She knew the only person who'd call her.

"What do you want, Pig?" Thalia answered with a huff. "You do realise I'm at University now, right? And that I'm part of a sports team? That means practice. And practice means right now." Her teammates looked at Thalia oddly. She hadn't acted this way around them. Cold. Detached. She'd tried to be better with those sorts of things. But seeing Thalia act this way was obviously disorienting for them all.

"There's an investigation opening on Richard Spear for-"

"Don't you dare fucking finish that sentence, Phil." Thalia interjected warningly. "I know what you're about to tell me, and I don't like where it's going. So shut the hell up, and leave me alone." Thalia hung up and threw her phone on the ground. It didn't ring again. She ran her hands through her hair, messing it up, and started pacing the foyer.

"The hell was that, Thalia?" Wymack asked. She didn't answer, just kept walking. "Thalia, answer my question now, or I'll bench you for the next game." She rounded on him then.

"That'd be my first game you're benching me on, Coach." Thalia said, an evil smile on her face. She shook her head. "You wouldn't do that." Wymack raised an eyebrow and heard his own phone ringing. Thalia wanted the smash it into pieces, but she stayed where she was. 

"Coach Wymack, Palmetto State University. Say again?" Wymack said from his office. "One moment." Then he walked over to the men's changing room and kicked open the door. "Andrew Joseph Minyard, what the flying fuck have you done this time?" Thalia frowned.

"It wasn't me, it was the one armed man!" Andrew said from inside the changing room. There couldn't be a coincidence that right after Thalia was called, Andrew also got a call. 

"The Oakland PD want to talk to you." Wymack said, making Thalia's blood go cold. There was absolutely no coincidence. "So I'll ask again, what have you done?" Andrew emerged from the changing room and walked down the hall to the foyer. Wymack followed him.

"There's an officer Higgins on the line wanting to speak to you." Wymack said. Andrew went stiff all over and took the phone out of his hands.

"Ah, Pig, why are you calling me?" Andrew said, that cheer back in his voice that only made Thalia freeze with realisation. Not only was Andrew a foster kid just like her, but he'd lived in the same house. Under the same rules. She needed to get out of there. She needed to breathe.

"I can't be here right now," Thalia said as she inched out of the room. As she passed Andrew she took the phone out of his hand. "Stop trying to contact us, Pig. Neither of us will testify. So fuck off." Then Thalia hung up and smashed the phone on the ground in front of her, stepping on the shattered parts as she walked.

"Thalia!" Wymack called. Nobody else did anything, and Thalia didn't turn around. "Get back here! You're buying me a new fucking phone!" she didn't feel sorry for what she'd just done. "Andrew, go get her," Thalia heard. She knew Andrew wouldn't. He'd come to the same realisation by now. He was an observant person.

"Why would I do that, Coach?" Andrew said. Thalia didn't hear anything else as she walked out of the locker room and into the carpark. She broke into a jog and then a full on sprint. She didn't know where she was going, but ended up at campus. 

Thalia headed up to the dorms and to her room. She flopped on the bed, back to the wall as always, and sighed, closing her eyes. There would be consequences for her actions today, but she didn't care. She just needed sleep. Something she hadn't gotten much of in the past week, or the past year, really. 

It was hard to feel safe when you were always being chased. Always being followed by a past that you don't know about. That's how Thalia felt every waking moment. Like a deer in headlights. A rabbit running from a fox. She found it ironic, since she was technically a fox now. She just didn't feel like one.