Chapter 43
Leo
Mouth dry.
Body wet.
I was dreaming I was in the sea. Drenched.
I’m still under the fucking boiler. Head spinning like someone stuck a drill into my actual ear hole and left it on – churning my brain into pulp.
I fumble around the floor for the tablets, feel the foil sleeve and take another two.
They won’t go down. I crunch, the bitterness exploding across my tongue.
I look out of the slatted wooden doors in front of me.
What time is it? Not a fucking clue. It’s still dark. Isn’t it?
Did Ronan come in and take dick pics? Did that happen?
I dunno what’s real. If he did, they weren’t for her.
I know that much. I push at the cupboard door so it opens with a click, cool air hitting me.
I stand up quietly and see Mallory’s mum’s electric toothbrush on the sink.
She must have come in at some point. I need to get out. Back to the shed. I’ll detox in it.
I have the lorazepam.
It’s still dark.
I go into the corridor, trying to move like a shadow, fast and quiet, down the stairs and into the hallway. The kitchen is to the left. I step down onto the wooden floor.
This kitchen.
Fucking mental how nice it is. I can kind of see her in it. All together. Perfectly placed, but a little bonkers. There’s a warmth to it. I close my eyes and let it move into me. It’s nice. I feel something. Excitement. Hope. It’s weird.
I need to get out the back door, get myself together in the shed. Where’s the key? I tiptoe round the kitchen island. There’s a laptop on it.
It’s open. Plugged in. It’s on. The screen is unlocked.
I shouldn’t look.
But I do.
An email thread is open. To a man named Stan.
Slay: A Novel.
I open it, and I begin to read a story. A story of a boy named Liam, and a woman named Mandy.