22. Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-two
Wilder Lee
I ’m a goner.
Completely obliterated.
My hand smooths down the bed between Remington and I as I watch her eyelids flutter in sleep.
We dropped into bed as the night turned dusky shades of blue with the rising sun.
There’s a real chance all objectivity is lost.
Even when I know that Grady is keeping something from me, past affections have roared back to life. The pain of his past betrayal isn’t wiped from my mind, just gagged currently.
Grady moans lightly rolling onto his back, pulling Remi onto his chest. I’m content to watch from a distance, since sharing a bed is uncomfortable for me at best. I will myself not to leave for a solo slumber. Years of sudden ‘episodes’ conditioned me to seek solitude instead of company.
I’d been determined to keep fighting the growing attraction to Grady and Remington. Knowing that the craving would only grow uncontrollably, if I gave in. I wasn’t wrong, I may never have another orgasm on my own again.
There is no chill way to approach this. They’re mine now. I’m not letting go, they can’t make me. The fight is leaving me, trying to hold them off–it’s over. Can I hang onto them? Grady is going on tour; Remi tells me every other day she’s going back to Florida for art school at the end of the summer. While I go back to a job crunching numbers in a slightly larger town north of here, they’ll be at a great distance. But without them, it won’t be a life I’d relish in the least.
Do Charlie or Cal ever consider that? We may be a season of her life, and not forever. A happy for now… the thought is pulling me down a dark hallway filled with fears, weighted down by unanswered questions. As Remi, then Grady drift off, the room door opens a crack, one or both peek in. They’re watchful, protective, and their concessions about me… astonishing. Considering they would’ve gladly run me down in a vehicle weeks ago, the progress gives me a degree of hope. That they will come around to my side completely.
Who on our ‘suspect list’ should I be worried about? Fuck if I know. None of them? The unlikely case of coincidence is possible… there may be no link. All those misgivings, the visions, the strange fucking happenings… I want to convince myself it’s nothing.
Even if I know it has to be something.
Remi squirms, a breathy laugh escapes as she snuggles in more tightly to Grady. Squinting I lean closer to her, she’s drawn an elaborate picture on the side of her hip with one of the Sharpie’s she carries with her at all times, usually tucked in a pocket, or clipped to her shirt.
Each of our names are weaved and wound together in a picture as intricate as a mandala. Birds in flight, frogs, wind, or water. It’s fascinating and beautiful. As quietly as I can I find my pants in the sitting area of the suite, slipping back into bed with my phone that I’d grabbed from a pocket. I snap a picture to keep.
I’d log all her drawings, note all the funny blunt things she spouts, take photos of every costume change… because deep down I know we’re doomed. No one this special will stay. Life’s taught me not to expect happiness. Between her sparkle, and the shine of Grady’s musical talent… I’m just a liability.
But I’m not letting go, and I won’t.
Submerged in water, a shadow passes over me.
The fight to keep my eyes open.
Burn of my lungs, the clawing panic
“Remember…” the voice is muffled fading in and out, “Water… cleanse…”
Kicking with everything in me to break free from whatever is holding me down, my neck starts to feel pinched.
No, no, no…
Suddenly, I’m falling… jarred as I hit the ground.
Smell of fragrant lilacs, the pebble stone path
I would know where I was by the dizziness alone, I’m laying in Lakeside Park…
Try to turn but my limbs won’t cooperate.
Nauseated I wretch, squeezing my eyes closed.
A distant voice is calling for someone… it gets closer.
Closer… it’s a female voice.
“Mia? Mia?”
A splitting headache, and scraped side await me as I groggily pull out of the seizure, spell, whatever the hell this is. Charlie is next to me, his face pale, holding a washcloth out to me. “I heard you fall.” He sits back on his heels. “Wilder… wh-why were you saying the name Mia? Mia Kelley? What were you seeing?”
I can’t answer that… the visions are never clear in their message, and I don’t know if I trust him yet.
Hadn’t realized I was repeating anything until he questioned me. Is that who the voice is calling to?
Mia Kelley was the second person to drown almost nine years ago, that first summer three years in a row that Lake Hollow was the scene of tragedy. Homecoming queen, mayor’s daughter, graduated with honors, and was going to move away to attend Cornell in the fall. Until she died in front of The Bends the summer after I’d turned thirteen. No reasonable explanation.
The town was shocked, but no one was talking about foul play. A terrible tragedy. Her father, the upstanding Catholic he is, took her death as a ‘sign’ that she was up to no good. Disgusting, in retrospect.
Struggling to sit up with shaky and sore muscles, Charlie hooks a hand under my arm to help. “Thanks.” I wince with the motion, putting a hand out to hold the door frame of the bathroom where I fell in the suite. “Didn’t mean to wake anyone up.”
“Don’t worry about that.” His brows furrowed, he folds his arms over his chest, backing up to lean against the top of the couch. “Have your seizures always been this bad?”
“Literally the bane of my existence, man.” A combination of a passionate night of exploration and the violent grip of the convulsions make my steps slow, walking to the chair nearby.
Cal closes the main suite door behind him, a drink holder full of coffees in one hand. “Mornin,’ you look a little worse for wear this morning.” He laughs to himself.
He’s not wrong.
I’m seeing more of the Cal I remember. Last night he was cutting us all up at Grady’s party by playing cartoon sound effects on his phone when Skip passed by. Remi has been good for him, and likewise from what she’s said he puts her uncle in his place. He tells us a story from the last game he was coaching while passing a coffee to me, he adds with a wink, “I’ve confiscated the toy bag. It’s mine now.” We’ll see about that. Remi won’t let that stand.
He sits on the sofa making a face. “What the fuck.” Holding his hand up moving his fingers around. “Christ, this better be fucking melted candy.”
Taking a sip of my coffee to hide the smirk spreading on my face, I watch as Cal bitches to Charlie about the muck he sat in.
Remi makes her way from the bedroom, a worn looking orange and blue Lake Hollow Sturgeon’s baseball T-shirt hangs halfway to her knees, C. Truitt on the back. Rubbing her eyes, she yawns and stretches. Fucking adorable as usual. Charlie is quick to give her a coffee, kissing the side of her head, tenderly saying hello.
Both Charlie and Cal stand close to her, affectionate little touches, sweet words. I thought this would bother me more than it is, but she deserves to be loved this big.
A sensation creeps up on me. It’s rare that the impressions or feelings come to me, and it’s the first time happening after a vision. Danger, pulse pounding urgency. My hand shakes as I’m setting the to-go cup down. Meeting Remi’s eyes, I watch as her smile turns to a look of concern, and I know without a doubt immediately.
Her life's in danger, getting rid of the necklace made no difference.