Vain (The Seven Deadly 1)

I rolled the door back a few inches and stuck my head out to find it but was met with a hand holding it instead.

“Agh! Oh my God!” I panted. “Abri, what are you doing in here?”

My hand whipped out for the towel, wrapping it around myself before stepping out of the shower.

“I’m here for a chat,” she said, weirding me out.

“This couldn’t wait?” I asked, gesturing toward the room.

“No,” she said, exiting the door and settling herself casually across my bed.

I thanked God I had the sense to lay out my pajamas before I’d showered. I gathered them and went back into the bathroom to dress.

When I came back out, Abri was still there, proving it wasn’t a bad dream. I awkwardly rested against the guest wardrobe and towel dried my hair.

“I talked to Pembrook, my father’s lawyer, and he let me know your family could have any day this month on Ribbon Caye.” I thought this would help the clumsy silence that lay between us but it didn’t. “Dinner was nice,” I added, so desperate at that point I was reaching.

“When do you leave back to America?” she asked, stunning me.

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused.

“When do you return? To America? When is your sentence over?”

I was taken off guard. “Um, January thirtieth, a month after Christmas. I leave February first.”

“Another six weeks then,” she said, studying her feet briefly before making eye contact again.

“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word.

Without another word, she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

“What was that?” I asked no one.

I stood there, waiting, for something but Abri never returned.

I settled into my covers and laid my head down before getting up and locking the door.

I woke to Ian yelling in Afrikaans.

“Fine! Miskien sal ek kom nie terug ooit weer hier!” Fine! Maybe I won’t be coming back here ever again!

“Sê nie dat,” Henrik pleaded. Don’t say that.

“Ek is jammer, pa, maar sy is buite onredelik!” I’m sorry, dad, but she’s beyond unreasonable!

Loud footsteps resounded through the living.

“Simon?” Ian said. There was no response. His cell phone. “Can you come pick up Sophie and I in half an hour? Yes. Thanks, bro.”

The footsteps inched nearer my door. I threw off my covers and ran to open it.

On the other side, Ian was in mid-knock and out of breath from frustration.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Can you be ready to leave in half an hour?”

“Of course,” I said.