Page 57 of Devious Obsession
She nods and steps back to let me pass.
Showering makes me feel more human, at the very least. I comb out my hair and take my time getting dressed, but all I’m really doing is procrastinating the inevitable. As soon as I go out there, Thalia’s going to give me a slice of pizza and break my heart.
If it didn’t have something to do with Steele, she wouldn’t have taken me back here.
So, what did he do?
Or, better question: what didIdo?
I try to think, but my memory is frustratingly hazy. I remember playing the piano. And… he came in. I think I kept playing while he sat there watching me, and I didn’t like it. I felt too hot in my body.
I drag my fingers across my abdomen, pulling up my shirt. There are scratches there. My nails are jagged from picking at them—a nervous habit my mother tried to break. Did I try to claw my own skin?
Did I rip my shirt?
I shudder.
The smell of pizza reminds me of my empty stomach, and I quit procrastinating. I head out to the living room, where Thalia’s curled up on the couch. She has a Christmas action movie rolling the beginning credits. Wordlessly, she hands me one of the plates from the coffee table. It already has two slices on it, and I take it from her.
She grabs her own, and we eat in silence.
Then she mutes the TV and turns to me. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
She sighs. “This video was posted around lunchtime. It’s been passed around…” She opens her phone and hands it to me.
I click play, my heart in my throat. It’s me. Very clearly. I’m leaving the Administration building, hunched like I’m afraid. My steps are short and fast, and I keep glancing over my shoulder at whoever’s filming. My lips move. Then…
My chest tightens.
It cuts to a new clip, and I’m screeching, screaming at nothing and ducking like I’m being attacked from above. In the center of the quad, with peopleeverywhere. It cuts. I’m sprinting down a path between buildings and off campus, the filmer following me. Eventually, I fall and curl up into a ball. I’ve got tears streaming down my face, and I scratch at myself. My stomach, my arms. There’s another minute left of the video, but I set the phone facedown between us.
I’m going to throw up.
In fact…Yep. I sprint to the bathroom and barely make it. My throat burns, and I sag back when the spasms stop.
“Shit, I should’ve told you before pizza.” Thalia hands me a bottle of water.
I crack it open, then freeze.
The sound…
“What?”
I look down at the bottle.
“Steele…”
She kneels beside me and waits.
It sounds insane. “Steele came into the music room, and he gave me a bottle of water. I drank it, and that’s when things get fuzzy. Did he drug me?”
I shudder.
He wouldn’t, would he? I mean… no, actually, hewoulddo that. But I have no idea why.
“They’re saying you had a psychotic break,” Thalia whispers. “But if it was drugs—”
