by Nicole Thorn
Manny and I looked at each other. I shrugged. “I don’t have any better ideas. I’m not...” I trailed off but didn’t say anything else. I wasn’t used to dumping bodies, and I’d already done it once today. The look of astonishment on my father’s face flashed before my eyes. Then the way he fell.
I stared at the bodies around me, marveling at how things had changed in one day. On Saturday night, I’d been sleeping with Manny in my arms, feeling her warm skin all against my own. Monday morning, and... I stared at everything and felt kind of sick. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself.
Manny took my hand and held it tightly.
“You okay?” Merry asked me, nudging my shoulder gently. Manny didn’t seem bothered by it, so I had to assume that she was all right with Merry touching me. “You know they had to die, right? They wouldn’t have stopped this shit until something really awful happened. Unless... did something really awful already happen?”
I opened my mouth to say something but Manny beat me to it. “Yes, but that’s all I want to tell you.”
Merry nodded. “Fair. You don’t know me all that well. Why don’t the two of you head out, and I’ll start working on these corpses before a neighbor peeks out their window and sees something they shouldn’t.”
“Why did you help us?” Manny asked.
“I don’t need a reason to kill someone,” Merry responded lightly. “But I had to pretend to be their friend for a couple of weeks, and let me tell you that these bitches deserved to die. All of them. But hey, in a couple of days, I’ll give you the whole story. Off with you.” She waved at us, and I took Manny back to my house.
She stayed the night, and we slept in my room, holding each other. I dreamed of eyes filled with blood, of an angry voice that shouted accusations at me. Asking me why I had done something so... thoughtless.
X
“What was this one for?” Manny asked, holding up another knife. The two of us sat in my father’s office, on the floor. I hadn’t gone to school the entire week because the police hovered around the area. They had questioned Manny because everyone had said that she was my only friend, or that we were ‘screwing’, or some variation of that. She pretended that my father had been a very nice man.
After they had questioned me for the third time, I had left, and I hadn’t returned. The phone rang constantly, until I finally turned it off. News vans had driven around my house in a slow parade, and I had hidden out in my father’s office before Manny showed up. There were no windows that faced the front of the house, and the news people couldn’t get into my backyard.
It was the safest room.
When Manny found me, she had set out on a mission to distract me. I had drawn all over her skin, until my pens had all run dry, and there wasn’t a single part of her that didn’t have ink, except for her face. Even that had two small designs in the corners of her eyes. I did comedy and tragedy masks. Both with tears running down their faces.
I looked at the knife she held, frowning. “That was to reopen wounds,” I said. “It’s just dull enough that it won’t cut deeper unless you put a lot of pressure on it.”
Manny set the knife down. “Why did he use it on you?”
I thought back, and finally remembered. I put my finger on the scar that ran across my side in a jagged line. “It was this cut,” I said. “He gave it to me because I had invited some kids over for my fifth birthday. He said that it was rude to invite people over for a birthday party that would never happen. I could either take the cut and have the party, or tell everyone that it wasn’t happening.”
Manny stared at me with big eyes. “Was the party that important to you?”
“I had been reading a book about a birthday party,” I said. “Everyone they had loved the most had been there, and I thought it looked nice. To have that many people around that loved you. I thought it would be fun. I took the cut, and Dad let me invite anyone I wanted over, so I invited all the kids my age.”
“Was the party nice?”
“Nobody came,” I said, frowning. “Dad let me have the cake all to myself. I thought it was a treat, so I ate the entire thing. I got sick.”
Manny sighed, setting the knife down. She came over to me and sat in my lap, resting her cheek against my bare shoulder, running her fingers down my chest, over every single scar. “I could get rid of them for you, if you wanted,” she said. “After the cops go away, I mean.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want that.”
“Why not?”
I didn’t know how to answer her, so I did the best I could. “Who would I be without the scars?”
Her palm flattened out against my chest. “You would be Becket.”
The doorbell rang again. It had been going off every five minutes for days. We weren’t sure how Merry did it but our classmates’ deaths had been covered up. Jade had been found hanging in her room from an apparent suicide. Somehow, notes had been found in Hel’s and Julian’s handwriting, saying they had run off together. Ricky got into a tragic car accident that killed him. Crimson and Derrick’s bodies hadn’t been discovered yet, and I still waited for that to happen.
It was all very suspicious but they hadn’t pinned anything on us, yet. The reporters just wanted to know what happened to me, and they were incessant in their attempts to find out.
“Do you want me to chase them away?” Manny asked.
“No,” I said. “They will only put you on TV again.”
She sighed. There were videos of her coming to my house. She had kept her head down, and ran through the door but that hadn’t stopped people from getting the videos. What had was Manny flipping the camera off. They couldn’t use that footage, and she had put her finger right over her face, making it impossible to use her at all.
“Are you certain?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, stroking her hair. “Are you certain you want me going to the charity event tonight? There is a chance that the cameras will follow me.”
Manny’s hands drifted down my stomach, and over more bumps and jagged lines. “I wouldn’t be going if I couldn’t take you with me, Becket. Give them a few hours. They never stay after dark.” I laid down on the carpet in my father’s office, with Manny stretched out on top of me. Her ear was right over my chest.
The doorbell rang again. Manny tensed.
I tightened my arms around her.
“It would be easy for me to get rid of them,” she said. “I supposedly have this entire town in my back pocket. It’d be so easy.”
“But you’d have to get dressed,” I said.
She looked down at herself, then down at me. “You make an excellent point.” We laid there for nearly two more hours before the reporters finally left. Manny popped up on me, and then leaned down to give me an exaggerated kiss. “I have to go get ready now. I’ve appointments with hair people, all kinds of things. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to pick you up, though.”
“Okay.”
She got off me, and I rolled over to lightly lace my fingers around her ankle. She stopped to look down at me, her eyebrows raised. “I’ll miss you,” I said.
She smiled. “I’ll miss you too.” Manny hurried into her clothing. I stayed on the floor for a few moments after she left the house but I had promised her that I’d get dressed up for this event, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. Especially since we had gone suit shopping together on Wednesday, and the reporters had found us.
I wanted them to go away. It would’ve been easy to kill them but I didn’t like that thought. They kept trying to nudge their way between Manny and I, though, and I hated that even more. I would not let them take her away from me. Nothing would.
Time ran out for me to lay around. I showered and changed into the tuxedo. The bowtie it came with proved to take the most time, since I hadn’t tied one of them in nearly a decade. When it was finished, I stared at myself in the mirror. I felt strange. I’d been in this house for nearly a week, alone. I had fired the maid - or Manny had - because w
e both agreed having her around was too risky. After that, I had to cancel all my father’s clients, which meant hacking into his email account.
I couldn’t keep this up. Eventually, someone would notice that my father wasn’t here. Eventually but that wasn’t today.
My phone pinged, and I picked it up. Manny had texted, saying that she was outside. Night had officially fallen when I stepped from the house and took a look at the limo sitting at the curb. I walked towards it, rather cautiously, not entirely sure that I saw correctly. Then Manny pushed the door open and leaned out.
I stopped and stared. “You are... very shiny.”
“Yes. Yes, I am,” Manny responded. She wore a green dress that matched her eyes almost exactly. It was floor length, with so many ruffles that she crinkled when she moved. On her wrists, throat, head, ears, and fingers were jewels. So many that it distracted my eyes and made me want to look away. “It wasn’t my decision,” she assured me as I climbed into the limo.
Once seated, I stared at the drawings that she had on full display and smiled. “You kept them.”
“I wouldn’t let them scrub them off me,” Manny said. She touched the pictures at the corners of her eyes as if they were precious. My chest felt lighter just at the sight. I wanted to thank her for caring so much but thought it would sound weird. I settled for holding her hand and looking out the window with her. I did not like the gloves she had on. It kept me from her skin.
Manny apparently agreed because she stripped off several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds, and removed the gloves before returning the rings. “That’s better,” she said, sliding her hand against mine.
“Much.”
The driver pulled up in front of the Museum of Gems and Metal. Manny and I stepped out, and I walked her to the door. The man blinked when he saw us coming but Manny only smiled at him and handed over her invitation.
“Miss Hodkin,” the man said, surprised. “Your parents and brother have already arrived.”
“Thank you for informing me.” We waited another moment, and then Manny continued. “Can my date and I go inside now?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, of course,” the man said, handing her the invitation back. She tucked it into the most useless purse I had ever seen. Small, bejeweled, with a thin strap. It fit two things, and one of them was Manny’s phone.
The inside of the museum was nearly as shiny as Manny. It had displays of jewelry everywhere, with little placards that said where the items had come from. Security guards roamed all around the place, making sure that everyone knew they were there, and signs were posted saying that touching the glass would set off alarms.
Manny futzed with her dress, and sighed. “I hate this.”
“I know,” I said.
She slid her arm into mine again, and we followed the sounds of tinkling glass, gentle laughter, and talk of money to the ballroom. It had been rented out for this event, and it appeared that every metalworker in the state had shown up. I could see several jewel workers, as well. They stood around, making deals and sparkling so brightly under the lights that it was hard to look directly at anyone. Manny was the most conservatively dressed person there.
“Wow,” I whispered. “You go to one of every five years”
“Unfortunately,” Manny whispered back to me. “It’s the perfect excuse for all these people to stand around making deals and business acquaintances without being obvious. Not to mention the tax benefits. The first one of these my parents dragged me to, I was six. I broke a glass.”
I squeezed her hand and looked at her. “What did they do to you because of that?”
Manny wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Nothing. Come on. We’re clogging the entrance.” I let her drop the subject and drag me into the ball. I refused to let go of her hand, and she held onto mine just as tightly. She led me over to a table serving food and drink. They offered us both champagne, which we declined. Then they offered us wine, which we also declined. Eventually, they handed us water, and Manny surveyed the strange offerings that littered the table. “I... don’t see anything that’s not some kind of dead adolescent fish,” she said.
“That’s okay,” I told her. “I’m not all that hungry.”
“We can pick up something on the way home, ruin our clothes, and have sex in the back of the limo,” Manny offered.
“That sounds nice,” I said.
She turned to smile at me but her eyes slipped to the side, and the humor drained away. I turned around to see her parents bearing down on us. At first, they had pleasant expressions on their faces. Then they saw me, and those expressions turned cloudy, fast. Her brother hovered right behind them.
Manny’s father stopped, glaring at his daughter. “May we speak with you in private?” he asked.
“I don’t see why that’s necessary,” Manny countered, her voice even.
Her father’s face tightened. “Manny,” he growled. “Now.” He reached for her arm but she pulled back with a nervous glance at me. I focused on her father with all my attention. I couldn’t kill the man... but she hadn’t told me that I couldn’t hurt him if he hurt her first.
“Fine,” Manny said. She took my hand again, and we followed her family down a hallway, into an empty storage room. Her father slammed the door hard enough that everything in the room shook. Manny turned to face him with her head held high. “Something wrong, Dad?”
“I told you not to bring him!” The man jabbed an accusatory finger my way. I stared at that finger, and wondered if I could’ve broken it off before he realized what had happened.
“I brought him anyway,” Manny said right back.
Her father took a dangerous step forward, and then I was there, right next to Manny. “If you touch her while I am here, then you will make me break a promise. Do not do that because your death will be slow.”
He stopped, staring at me like I had grown a second head. “Make no mistake boy, I can make you disappear, and no one would be the wiser.”
“Dad!” Manny hissed. “Get away from him!” As she took a dangerous step forward, her father turned those burning eyes onto her. He snatched at her arm, and I moved to stop him. I wouldn’t kill him unless Manny said I could but I wanted to. I wanted to kill him for trying to hurt her, and for trying to separate us. For all the times he had hurt her in the past, I wanted his death to be slow.
Something crashed into the back of my skull so hard that the world went gray. The next second, I laid on the ground. All I could hear was this fuzzy ring in my ears and someone shouting. Manny shouting. I opened my eyes, staring up at her and trying to focus. I wanted to get up, to comfort her but I couldn’t seem to move.
Manny jerked to a stop. Her blurry image seemed to reach for me but she couldn’t touch me. I wanted to rise up and hold her hand but I couldn’t move a muscle. Then she started walking away. I watched her getting smaller and smaller. I couldn’t make it stop. Just like I couldn’t make anyone else stay, I couldn’t make her stay.
I laid on the ground like I had once sat on a bench, watching as someone I loved got smaller.
Got farther away.
No. I won’t let this happen again. My blood sang to me as it left my head, and I reached back to make it stop. I had to make it stop, or she would disappear forever.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Heartless
Manny
My father had my arm so tightly that I knew I would bruise. I couldn’t even feel it anymore. It reminded me so much of my time with Lane. He liked to hurt me until my mind was past feeling the pain. My mind focused on something else right now.
My mother had hit Becket. She smashed him in the head with something I couldn’t see, and I watched him fall to the floor, bleeding. My father grabbed me before I could get to Becket, and I could only turn my head and watch him bleed. I had no chance of getting away because everything about me was worthless.
I was dragged into a dark room until the lights switched on. It looked about the size of my basement, and with rando
m crates thrown around in disorder. I decided it was for storage but that didn’t matter to me. Nothing mattered but Becket, left on the floor alone. I couldn’t leave him alone...
Dad threw me against a wall, and my back pulsed with pain half a second after impact. My head didn’t hit anything, so there was that. I could still think clearly. That thing in my brain that screamed at me was happy for that fact.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Dad said through his teeth. His hands gripped my shoulders, holding me there while my mother watched us. “I told you not to see that trash anymore, and you bring him here? What kind of a child defies their parents like this? We do so much for you.”
What could I say to that? There was nothing, and I didn’t want to defend myself to him. I didn’t want to defend myself to anybody anymore. All I wanted was to go and find Becket.
“I love him,” I said quietly. It was the only thing in my mind.
“You love him?” my mother asked, disgust clear on her face. She took a step to us. “How can you love that thing? Anyone could look at him and see that he’s defective.”
Lane stood behind them both, grinning at my pain. He always grinned, always looked so smug. I wanted to smack the smile right off his face. Heartless. He was heartless, like the rest of them.
Dad took a deep breath as his fingers bit into my shoulders. I would be black and blue all over, thanks to him. Becket would be so upset. I didn’t want him to be upset.
“You’re being stupid,” Dad told me. “He’s taking advantage of you. He only wants you because you’re easy.”
I couldn’t believe that for even a moment. Becket loved me. He wasn’t capable of that kind of cruelty. Especially to me. If he burned down the world, I would be the one safe from the flames. I had no doubt in my mind.
I tried to shake my head. “He’s not like that.”
“They’re all like that,” Mom said. “And what else could he want from you? You have nothing to offer him or any other man. You snivel, you cry, you break at every turn. No one wants a burden like you on their shoulders.”