Page 55 of Firefly
Not through Hillcreek Bay.
Not even when my lungs start burning.
Tears stream down my face while I fumble my phone from my pocket and call Bianca. She answers instantly.
“Babe?”
“Please pick me up,” I choke out breathlessly. “Please.”
Her voice changes immediately. “Where are you?”
I glance around wildly while sprinting down another street. “Near the east gate.”
“I’m coming. Stay where you are,” she says, and the line goes dead.
Ten minutes later, Bianca’s Jeep screeches around the corner, and I practically throw myself inside.
The second the doors shut, I burst into tears.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Bianca says quickly while grabbing my face gently. “What happened?”
“He tried to send me there,” I sob. “He actually fucking tried.”
Bianca’s face goes pale. ”To Brimstone House?”
I nod.
“Jesus Christ.” She immediately locks the doors and speeds away from the neighborhood. “Fuck that. Absolutely the fuck not.”
Fresh tears blur my vision while I curl into myself in the passenger seat. “I’m scared, B.”
“I know.” Her voice softens. “But you’re okay now.”
Am I? Because my entire life feels like it's collapsing around me lately.
Silence stretches for a minute before Bianca finally glances over carefully.
“So…” she says, taking a deep breath. “Hayden.”
Just hearing his name wrecks me again. I wipe angrily at my tears.
“Don’t.”
“You know we need to talk about this. He’s fucking alive, babe. Alive,” she says as the tears fall helplessly down my face.
“I know. I fucking know. And I don’t know what to do about it. Fuck. I don’t know how I feel about it other than… joy… pain… relief… but—B,” I say, and she reaches for my hand squeezing it.
“It’s okay, O. You still love him.”
It isn’t a question.
But I can’t help but feel sadness for her. Hayden may be alive but Justin… her twin… is still gone. It’s just not fair.
I stare out the window helplessly while the sun begins to set and the street lights turn on. “He looked at me like he hated me,” I whisper, and Bianca snorts.
“Girl. That man looked at you like he wanted to fight God for breathing near you.”
A broken laugh escapes despite myself. Then sadness crashes back in immediately.
