Twenty-Five
Skye
Present
Something in us has broken.
We sit in silence, saying nothing.
Because there is nothing left to say.
Storytime is over.
I have no desire to talk. To reflect. To go down memory lane and feel even more shit about things.
Fay sits in the corner of the room, staring vacantly ahead. She’s detached, and I’ve joined the club.
Britney doesn’t return, and when the door swings open for a fleeting second, we don’t even react. A tray is slid into the room before the door closes, the key turns, and then nothing.
My movements are robotic as I shuffle to the tray. There are two plastic bottles of water and two sandwiches. Fay joins me, and we drink and eat without tasting.
“What do you think they’re doing to her?” Fay mutters flatly.
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough when it’s our turn to be dragged from here kicking and screaming.
Once I’ve finished eating, I move to the other side of the room and curl myself up in a ball in the corner. It’s so easy to fall into depression, to want to be swallowed whole by the darkness. But if I’m going to feel like shit, I’d at least like to cry, except my eyes are dry, and I’m more agitated than depressed.
“I hate this,” he growled with disdain. “I fucking hate this, Skye.”
I shut my eyes and breathe through the memories—the whispered confessions in my ear, the private conversations spoken in passing.
“You’re waiting on Hunt, aren’t you?” he asked, knowingly.
I smiled sheepishly. “Is it that obvious?”
He watched me for a moment. “You love that boy. I see it.”
I nodded. “I love him.”
Now his gaze looked thoughtful. “More than that Itani boy?”
I purposely didn’t tense. “I love them the same.”
He made a thoughtful sound. “How does that work?”
I shrugged now. “I wish I knew.”
“But your heart…it feels full for the both of them?”
I nodded, swallowing hard because these talks never ended well. “Yes.”
I shake my head—that was so long ago.Years.So much happened since then—
Fresh pain flares through me, like I’m suffering from his absence all over again. But I’ve come so far, haven’t I? Maybe…Maybe I have not been deceived. Maybe I’m just frightened, and my flight response has kicked in, yearning for old familiarity.
“I need to tell you something,” I whisper to Fay.
She looks up from the tray, waiting.
I search for the words, looking around the room, wondering if it’s even safe to speak candidly here. “I know—I think I know where we are…”
She continues to stare at me, but her body tightens. “Where are we?”
I suck in a breath and let it out slowly. “We’re in the Dungeon.”