25. Teddy
TWENTY-FIVE
TEDDY
Ever since I was a kid, I never longed for the past. For those glorious good old days . When I think of my past, I think of watching my mom go through fucking hell every single day. She taught me how to do makeup, because I used to help her cover her bruises. I didn’t understand what they were from until I was a little older, but once I did, I stopped aiding her. Told her to leave that piece of shit sperm donor. But she never would, and I’ll never understand, just as I’ll never blame her for staying.
Nostalgia is a decrepit liar, painting the past in wide brushstrokes, muddying your view until you see the good and the bad becomes murky.
The theme of this year’s prom is “Time of Your Life,” like that Green Day song. And for the first time since I came into existence, I want to cement this night into my memory, want something to feel nostalgic towards when life becomes too heavy again, because I know it will.
It always does.
So as I pull Eden over the threshold and into the main gym, silver, glinting streamers swaying in the breeze as innumerable bodies dance to popular music, I grin. And with each shocked face that turns our way, my smile grows all the wider. Eden’s hand becomes sweaty in mine, but I give her a squeeze and glance down at her.
“They’re going to love ruining our lives on Monday,” she whispers, voice timid and just barely rising above the noise from the speakers. She glances up at me.
“So let’s fucking ruin theirs tonight.”
She beams, ethereal and radiant, more alive than I’ve ever seen her before. Cash sidles up to us, effectively ruining the moment as he tugs on his lapels.
“I’ll see you two at…” he checks his watch theatrically. “Eleven sharp. We have a long ride ahead of us, and I need to go find Brant’s girlfriend. She owes me a BJ.”
“Juniper?” Eden hisses. Cash just winks and strides off, and Eden turns her shocked and questioning stare up to me. I’m thankful this has distracted her from not wanting to be anywhere near these assholes. I only feel a little bad making her go to prom, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show everyone the girl who is mine .
“Hmm?” I ask, quirking my brow at her. She swats me.
“Teddy, you know. Tell me.”
“Didn’t think you were one for gossip, Miss Clemm.”
“That’s…this is not…”
I watch her flounder, my smile growing, the voices gnashing their teeth in preparation for tonight. I haven’t stroked my dick once since she asked me to fuck her. I’ll do my best to hold back tonight, but I doubt I’ll be able to completely.
She’ll just have to be a little sore tomorrow morning. And the next morning. I’ll lick it better, though, and bottle the tears she cries.
She stamps her foot in annoyance, bringing me back to reality, all of my fantasies evaporating, and I wink at her.
“Cash will share when he’s ready. But he is smart, and he may have…blackmailed her.”
Her pretty little mouth pops open in shock. Before she can pester me for more answers I’m unwilling to give, Brant strides up to us, shock on his face before he full-on belly laughs, everyone in our vicinity pausing to look. Again.
“Look, everyone! The freaks made it!”
No one truly reacts to his antics, other than to whisper or give us glances of disgust. He turns back to us, still laughing. “Shouldn’t you two be jumping off a bridge or something right about now?”
“Nah,” I say, squeezing Eden’s hand and pulling her past his taunting face. “But if you’re not nice, Branty boy, I’m sure karma will be pushing you off one.”
He stares after us in confusion, one too many hits taken to his poor brain. Dragging Eden to the punch table to help soothe more of her nerves before I ask her to dance, the eyes of all the chaperones lining the wall now stare at us in surprise. Dick’s beady little pupils glint with annoyance as they catch sight of us, but he bought my lie about being into Cash easily. Heard him discussing it with Daniel, saying how despicable being homosexual was.
Funny, that he hates what he is.
“Punch?” I ask, but Eden is staring out at the dance floor, her body tense. She’s terrified of their judgment, their jokes, their pranks. I can’t blame her. Fuck, I even blame myself, but now she has me in her corner. Now, we’re almost out of here, and she won’t ever have to worry about petty shit like this again.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing yet though.
She glances at me and nods, biting her lip. Fuck, she’s so stunning, even better than the image the voices made for me when I fantasized about this night. The dress hugs her petite frame, her makeup accentuating those violet eyes until they shine like gems, her hair pinned back but curling around her slender face and cascading over her pale, bare shoulders. I’m about to tell her again how beautiful she looks, but my eyes snag on Miss Goss.
“Teddy,” she says, eyes terror-stricken, decorative scarf encircling her throat. Good . Seems my threats didn’t fall on deaf ears. The smile that paints my lips is evil in nature, as vile as the snake that seduced Eve.
“Miss Goss. Do we have another meeting next week?”
She trembles visibly, her wide eyes flicking between Eden and I. Deep, sick satisfaction pools in my gut, and the voices pace like obedient soldiers, patient now that they know I’ve set a date for her death. It will be bloody, and beautiful, what I have planned for her. She’ll be alive for most of it.
Unless her heart gives out.
“N-no, no, we’re done with our…meetings.”
I smirk.
“Shame. I hope you enjoy your summer, then,” I say, choking back a laugh as she sputters and reels at my subtle threat. I love toying with my victims beforehand, if I’m ever able. She just nods shakily, eyeing Eden again before she rushes off. When we’re alone, I can feel my little ghost’s eyes on me.
Ladling punch into two clear plastic cups, I hand one to her and avoid her gaze. Her tone is deep and slightly accusatory when she speaks. “What the hell was that about, Teddy?”
Taking a sip of the punch, I raise my brows.
“What was what about?” I tease. This girl will learn all of my darkest, most vile secrets. The voices ache for the day she watches me hunt and kill. To fuck her over a cooling corpse? To satiate my bloodlust with killing and fucking? It has to happen. She’s not afraid of abandoned buildings, or ghosts.
So I doubt she’d be afraid of watching me kill for her. I know her secrets run as deeply and darkly as mine, and therefore know that before this lifetime with her is over, I will kill in her honor. The voices can’t wait to give her such a gift.
“Teddy,” she growls again. Reaching up, I press my thumb between her furrowed brows and smooth the worry lines away.
“Eden, if I have to earn your secrets, then you have to earn mine.”
Her shoulders deflate. She’s resigned, but she isn’t happy about it.
“Fine,” she grumbles.
“Now,” I say, holding her gaze. “Let’s dance and pretend we’re normal for a little while longer, deal?”
Smiling with a shake of her head, she says, “Deal.”
We roll to a stop just outside the wrought iron gates of St. Ignatius. In the bluish light of the full moon, the stone edifice looms into view. At night, the asylum takes on an even more eerie edge, as though in the darkness, evil is given a chance to seep forward.
Cash drums his fingers on the steering wheel incessantly, his fear palpable.
“I don’t think I can drive back through those woods alone,” he whispers, because whispering just feels right in the shadow of this building. Eden leans forward from the backseat, grinning between us, unperturbed in the slightest. I think I love her.
“It’s only scary if you let it be, Cash.”
He glares at her through the rearview mirror.
“Says the little witchy freak,” he grumbles. With a chuckle, I grab my duffel bag filled with supplies.
“Help me get the sleeping bag?” I ask Cash. His widened eyes turn to mine.
“I am not getting out of this fucking car. I heard a child giggle here this morning, Tedster. Nuh uh. I don’t fuck around with that shit.”
Eden, unable to resist teasing Cash, says, “Oh, that’s just Lily. She’s actually very sweet.”
Cash is dumbstruck, but fire ignites my veins, for even if it was a joke, she’s just somewhat admitted she can see them. I’ll have to press her on that more later, because I find it fascinating and really fucking hot that she can speak with the dead.
“Get out, both of you.”
I slap him on the shoulder. “Thanks. We owe you.”
“Yeah, you fuckin’ owe me, weirdos,” he mumbles as I help Eden out. We pull the bags from the trunk, and I wave to Cash, his tires kicking up gravel as he whips his car around and speeds away. The glowing red of his taillights bounce down the road, two demonic eyes winking at us through these hallowed woods, until we’re both alone with the ghosts.