Chapter 13
Author: Kei
last update2022-03-01 18:59:26

"Reniella De Vega?" He sneered, looking down his long nose at me. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent and I was glad he had lost sleep over Ross's adventures. "Jesus, you two. Stand apart for Christ's sake, you look like lovers or something." 

The bitterness in his voice, I assumed, was directed towards me. It was probably because I was poor, far from perfect for his little boy. If I thought Zobel boys were all the same, their parents were even worse. Mr. Rivera had always been a grumpy bastard. 

"Get inside now. You better be quiet, I'm warning you. If you wake your mother up, I swear to God, Ross. You hear me, boy? We'll talk about this later." The big man hissed through clenched teeth. He placed a strong hand onto Ross's shoulder and with a swift push, he rushed his son into their home.

Mr. Rivera and I watched Ross's retreating figure as he traveled deeper and deeper into their house. Only when he was truly out of sight did the man turn to me. His eyes gave me a once over, hiding his emotions behind the hard expression. 

"I know you mean well, Reniella, but stop following him around. Ross's a fragile boy, he gets attached easily and I can see it in the way you stand, you're just like Avery. When you leave, it'll cause more damage than necessary. I hope you'll be wise about it," he suggested. His voice was deathly monotone and scarily controlled but my anger boiled. How dare he speak to me like that. I wasn't going to leave as my mother had. I could never be like her in that aspect. 

But, I didn't argue. Instead, I turned around silently and retreated to the car knowing that that had been the second time in one day I'd been compared to my mother. 

I fell deflated into the vehicle. Raven had already fallen asleep by then. With her mouth agape, she rested her head against the glass of the window as soft snores escaped from her lips. I turned the music down slightly and made sure it wasn't too heavy metal so as not to wake her up. She'd had a rough day and deserved to sleep for a bit. 

I could feel Deshawn behind me strongly. It felt like heat from a fire and it hit me in the back as I drove. Try as I might but I couldn't concentrate on what was going on in front of me, my body was hyper-aware of him behind and it turned my cheeks a light shade of scarlet. I could practically feel his deep breaths on the back of my neck that bred the earthquake of goosebumps. 

I ignored it, though. I didn't talk to the boy or feed into this paranormal reality I thought impossible just three days ago. 

I shook Raven awake when we arrived home and by now I was wide-awake. She, however, was the opposite. I had to lug her to the front door and while fishing the keys out of my pocket, Raven groaned and mumbled inaudible nonsense in my ear. 

Half-awake, I dragged her up the stairs quietly and made sure she took off her makeup. As the designated best friend, it was my job. I gave her some pyjamas and discarded the weed-smelling dress into my washing basket. Making sure she'd drunk some water and taken a tablet, I settled her into the other side of my bed. Raven crumpled up into a ball and fell straight to sleep again. If her mother could've seen her, Mrs. Galan would have freaked out. I just hoped her hangover wouldn't be too extreme. She was a lightweight and usually, after a night out she looked to be on her death bed the next morning. 

My mouth had been shut since arriving home but my mind was wide awake, crawling and desperate for answers. About Deshawn, Amalia, Taron, Ross, Anything. 

I turned off the lights and fell into the place beside my best friend, releasing a breath. Her snores filled the silence and the stream of light from the street lights outside highlighted my fingers as I lifted them into the air. 

"Deshawn?" I called knowing he was there somewhere. 

A hum buzzed through the silence in response, coming from the ground below. Carefully, as not to wake Raven, I turned on my stomach to look down at Deshawn on the floor beside my bed. He rested comfortably with his hands behind his head and eyes clamped shut. 

"Amalia wasn't exactly bothered by the fact that you'd died," I commented. 

His eyes opened lazily where he lifted a brow for me to continue. 

"I mean, something must have happened, right? Taron said you said stuff about her, it clearly still haunts her. So what did you say to her that stung enough to not mind you dying to get rid of it? What did you do to Marco too? What happened that would lead to your best friend saying something so horrible?" I said barely above a whisper. My voice carried carefully to him on the floor and his lips pulled down into a frown. 

"Some people just aren't on your side to begin with. I think she would've been grateful for my death regardless of what I had said." 

"But what did you say?"

He sighed. His eyes swirled with a blazing emotion. It could've been sadness, regret or surprise, I wasn't sure. Each one clouded over the other until all I could see was the warm honey-brown colour. 

"For us in Zobel, money means nothing. We've all got too much of it to make a difference. Our currency is secrets and, believe me, that girl had a lot of them. She was drowning in them. She told me anything and everything." He lifted himself into a seating position. Crossing his legs, he leant against my wall and began clicking his fingers into place.

"When we broke up, I was bitter. I'm usually pretty laid back but she does something to me. She drives me crazy and not in a good way. Every time I pull away, she comes right after me all over again and I don't have the heart to say no. It's a bad habit. After cheating on me with my best friend, I went over the edge. I had to make sure she wouldn't come back this time because I couldn't trust myself to say no. So, I spilt some of her secrets. They were only innocent ones, I just wanted to scare her. I needed her to understand that if I felt like it, I could've exposed them all without hesitation. I needed that fear to play on her mind, I wanted her to know that I could ruin her life." 

Deshawn cowered in the shadows with his head in his hands as he rubbed away the guilt. I had to squint past the darkness to assess his every move. I needed to know how he genuinely felt about the situation. Did he truly care about the amount of distress he had caused Amalia? Would he have released all her secrets if he was still alive and allowed to? 

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  • Chapter 15

    I gasped back to reality, plummeting from the dream world and returning to my body. Within my hysteria, I fell off the bed and landed in a pile on the floor where Deshawn once rested. Where was he? What was that?"Now you know why I hate Marco," Deshawn admitted. I saw that he was sitting on the edge of my bed, a longing look plastered to his face as he looked down on me but I knew he was thinking about his ex-best friend.Both of my wrists each had the name, Reniella De Vega written on it. Perfectly centered and readable, not dreaming."I need to talk to him then," I stated. Marco had an obvious dislike towards Deshawn, a dislike I needed to explore."I'm not letting you talk to him when he could potentially

  • Chapter 14

    "I knew for a fact that Amalia and Marco had slept with each other because he was just as nervous as she was. He knew all the little secrets before I'd even said them aloud. While Amalia became quiet upon the release of her personal details, Marco was much the opposite. He came up to me, threatened me, pushed me. The Marco I saw that day was not my best friend. He was something else. Some white knight complex had taken over him, just another white boy trying to show off his new plaything. If he thought I'd do that to Amalia, he couldn't have known me all that well. I was just-"He cut himself off and lunged towards me before I could react. His hands found my cheeks where he cupped them roughly and my face was trapped in his grasp. His icy touch knocked the breath from my lungs and it felt as though I'd been knocked over by a car. My vision glazed over and all I could see we

  • Chapter 13

    "Reniella De Vega?" He sneered, looking down his long nose at me. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent and I was glad he had lost sleep over Ross's adventures. "Jesus, you two. Stand apart for Christ's sake, you look like lovers or something."The bitterness in his voice, I assumed, was directed towards me. It was probably because I was poor, far from perfect for his little boy. If I thought Zobel boys were all the same, their parents were even worse. Mr. Rivera had always been a grumpy bastard."Get inside now. You better be quiet, I'm warning you. If you wake your mother up, I swear to God, Ross. You hear me, boy? We'll talk about this later." The big man hissed through clenched teeth. He placed a strong hand onto Ross's shoulder and with a swift push, he rushed his son into their home.

  • Chapter 12

    She blew out yet another sigh and stared at me. It was like something had finally clicked in her mind and her eyes hardened. It looked like she'd finally seen me for who I was."Reniella, you're lovely, honestly," she bit out. "I'm not sure if you've been told this before but you just have this vibe around you. You've got these eyes and this little smile that makes people feel like they should confess their entire life story to you. But I can't risk spilling any more secrets than necessary, I hope you understand."She brushed me off and turned to her friends.Without kicking up a fuss, I put the can back onto the kitchen island and stalk off. My eyes were heavy and I didn't feel like investigating anymore. I couldn't go upstairs to any of the r

  • Chapter 11

    I stumbled around the home, avoiding friends and plunging into the unknown.I'd heard of these stories before. I knew about Amalia and Deshawn's relationship and how they'd walk into a party hand in hand but leave while screaming at each other. I saw Marco and Deshawn's friendship, two guys you either wanted to be or know. Then it all stopped and Deshawn died.I retreated to the foyer and wondered if they'd even turned up. If this party was for Deshawn, would they have risked it? Did their hate run that deep or was it a silly misunderstanding washed away by the seriousness of his death? If Deshawn hadn't have died, would they have made up?There were still so many people and I struggled to see above it all as my tiredness caught up with me. Eve

  • Chapter 10

    "So the obvious one would be his ex-girlfriend, Amalia Hadid. They were the most toxic couple I'd ever seen. I don't think they ever said one nice thing about one another, in private or in person. She cheated on him a few months before he died and they broke up because of that. It was a messy parting and he said a lot of dumb fucking shit about her when they finished. She was pissed and almost failed her exams because of it and the last thing I heard, her dad went around to Deshawn's house and told him to pack it in. He threatened Deshawn and at the time we thought it was the funniest fucking thing but I'm not sure anymore. Anyway, that's Amalia."Taron took his other hand and enclosed it over mine that rested on his chest. His fingers were long and bony, trapping me in place."Then there's Marco Arandia,

  • Chapter 9

    Though Deshawn wasn't truly there, he could touch and hold stuff from our world. Taron's weight was shared between the crazy girl and the ghost of his best friend but he had no idea. It was unsettling.Together, the three of us walked through the front door where I was momentarily speechless at the interior. Just like every other Zobel boy house, it was large with winding staircases, expensive decorations, and designer wallpaper. The foyer alone was probably bigger than my whole house and led straight to the glass doors on the other side where more people danced in the garden. The smell of various alcoholic drinks and smoke clung to the air like a disease and groups of people came and went through.Girls idled on the staircase, boys screamed from the pool outside and the music pierced my eardrums.

  • Chapter 8

    I leaned against the headrest of the car and listened to the music as it vibrated from the house. Students from Zobel College house never failed to amaze me, this one was no exception. It was larger than I'd thought. It is adorned with colorful flowers hung from buckets along the front, blooming beautifully. More glass than necessary lined the walls just to give a breathtaking peak of the expensive interior. It also provided a nice view of the coastline the houses were built along."I don't think anyone will die in this one if that's what you're worried about," Deshawn reassured while he was in the passenger seat. It was as if he'd fizzed into place as he'd always been there."Unless there's a serial killer on the loose. Then, in that case, you might have an army of ghosts to help you out," he joked.

  • Chapter 7

    "Is this a Zobel boy party?" I asked over the music."Uhh, yeah," she answered absentmindedly while trying to roll up her window to stop the bitter chill of night. I figured if this was a Zobel party we'd be more likely to find a suspect worth our time."Why? You got your eye on one of them?" Raven teased while the wind breezed through her dark hair.I threw her a half-smile. She knew better than anyone how I felt about relationships. I just didn't need them. I loved the thrill of a kiss but dreaded the burden of love. That's just the way it was for me."Well Corpus Cole from biology does weed and I'm going to join them tonight." Raven grinned. 

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