Deviant

Chapter 36

Rowen

“How is he?” Abigail asks, while I double-check that Elias’s fever hasn’t come back.

After the group games, it took me, Abbie, and Five, to carry Elias back to our room. He was so bloody and beaten I was sure that David and Big Mike had killed him. Especially when David got creative and started using his crutches instead of his fists.

But thankfully, even after some high fevers, Elias seems to be pulling through.

“Better. I’m hoping he wakes up today,” I say optimistically, while lightly running the pads of my fingers over the dark blue and purple bruises on his face.

“I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Won’t that mean he’ll have to enter the games tomorrow?”

“To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t put it past The Scourge to force him to participate even after what he had to go through,” I seethe, hating that even at his most vulnerable state, Elias might still have to play.

“Hmm. I think you might be right. On the upside, last night at dinner, I heard David saying that tomorrow might be our last game. With only three couples left, I think he might be right. Or do you think they’ll force us to play the games on our own?”

I hear the fear in her voice and offer her an encouraging smile.

“I don’t want you to worry about such things. Whatever happens tomorrow or the day after that, we’ll deal with it as it comes.”

She scrunches her nose as if there is something else she wants to tell me, but can’t seem to find the right words to.

“What is it, Abbie?”

“I don’t know if I should tell you this or not, but I also heard him bragging how they think that tomorrow, Elias will be the one to die.”

“David sure likes to talk, doesn’t he?” I snarl, hating that everyone in this house is on pins and needles to see Elias dead. But I know Elias won’t give them the satisfaction. He’s too stubborn for that, thank God.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.” Abbie bows her head.

“It’s fine, Abbie. They can talk all they want. I’m just sorry that I can’t be there to defend Elias or you against those vultures.”

“It’s okay. I understand why you prefer to have your meals in your room.”

“You know, you’re more than invited to have them with me too.” I smile at her.

“I know.” She grins back. “But I like having dinner with them. It’s not only David who talks a lot. They all do. And sometimes I don’t think they even register that I’m sitting there listening to them. I like having that advantage. What I don’t like is not being prepared for the worst.”

“Fair enough, my little spy,” I tease to which earns me one of Abbie’s bigger than life grins.

When Elias stirs, my attention falls back on him.

“Elias?” I whisper while caressing his cheek.

He lets out a grunt, having difficulty in moving without hurting himself.

“Try not to move too much. Your body is still healing from the beating they gave you.”

He lets out another frustrated groan.

“Abbie, can you bring me a glass of water for him please?” I ask, point to the table near the fireplace where a bottle of water and cup sits.

Abbie rushes to help me while I stare into Elias’s beautiful face. Though a bit beaten and bruised he’s still the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Abbie says as she places the glass on the bedside table. “I’ll come back in a couple of hours to check on you.”

“Thank you, Abbie,” I say gratefully as she rushes to leave.

“Rowen,” Elias rasps, trying to open his heavy eyelids.

“I’m here. I’m here,” I coo softly, “How do you feel?”

“Like shit,” he grumbles.

“Well, you don’t look it.”

“Liar.” He laughs only to groan when the vibration makes his ribs hurt.

“They got you pretty bad.”

“They’ll get there’s. Don’t you worry about that.”

“I don’t want you to do anything stupid,” I admonish.

“And when have I ever done that?”

“Taking the blame for killing Ruby for one.”

His full lips thin at the reminder.

“You call it stupid. I call it the best thing I’ve ever done. I rather be the one lying in this bed all fucked up, then it be you, Roe.”

I’ll never get poetry from Elias.

Or sweet nothings whispered in my ear.

But sometimes he’ll say just the right words that have my heart melting just for him.

“Help me up, baby. I need to look at you properly.”

I do as he says, Elias groaning and grunting as I help him up just enough so he can lean his back against the headboard. I place a pillow behind his head, and then bring him the water to drink. Once he’s done, I place it back on the bedside table and ask him if he needs anything else.

“Yeah. You.”

“You have me,” I reply, running my fingers through his hair.

“Then get in this bed,” he orders, sounding more like his bossy self.

“Only if you promise to behave.”

“Can’t promise you that. Ever. Now get in.”

Knowing Elias won’t back down until he gets what he wants, I do as he says and slide into bed, placing my head on his bare chest.

“Now that’s more like it. I fucking missed this.”

“You’ve been mostly unconscious for the last two days. How can you have missed this if you were out like a light?” I giggle, running circles with my finger over his tattoo.

“My cold bones could be dead and buried, and I would have still missed the way your body feels when it’s on top of me.”

“Don’t make jokes like that,” I reprimand. “No more talk of cold bones, dead or buried bodies. I’ve had enough talk about death to last me a lifetime.”

“Good to hear,” he retorts with a chuckle. “Very fucking good to hear.”

His arm tightens around me as he presses a kiss to the top of my head.

“How are you, really?” I ask after a pregnant pause.

“Everything hurts but my heart, so better.”

The tension in my shoulders relax with his remark. Though there are a few things we still need to address, that might bring all that stress back to them.

“You scared me, you know?”

“I’m a pretty scary guy, Roe. You’ll need to be more precise than that.”

“The day that Andy died… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like that.” I chew on my bottom lip nervously.

“You’ve seen worse. You just can’t remember it because at the time you were dealing with your own shit. When Nora died, I thought I would go fucking crazy with grief. Everyone told me that it would get better, that I’d learn to live with it, but it was all bullshit. I felt that pain for months… until I saw a doe-eyed girl try to jump off Grove Bridge.”

I pull away and look at him stunned.

“You saw me?”

He nods.

“I don’t understand,” I say flabbergasted. “I didn’t think anyone even used that bridge anymore.”

“It was just bad luck, or maybe it was fate… depends on how you look at it,” he explains, tugging a stray hair behind my ear. “When I saw the pain you were in and the guilt that you were carrying, I knew, right then and there, that Nora didn’t die from an accidental suicide. You must have had a hand in what happened to her, and your father, being the sheriff and all, covered it up.”

I swallow hard, not believing my ears.

“So I started following you.”

“Following me?”

“Maybe not following… more like… light stalking.” He laughs, then groans, his bruised ribs reminding him that laughing is no longer on the table for him for the foreseeable future.

“You never said anything to me… not until that night on the bridge after your mother’s wake. Why? Why didn’t you say something before then?”

“Because I wanted the same thing you did. I wanted you to die.”

There was a time when those words wouldn’t have hurt me. I’d probably would have rejoiced in them, basking in its malice. But now… they hurt so much that I feel like my heart is breaking.

“You wanted me dead?” I stammer, feeling like the world just flipped on its head.

“And you wanted me to kill you, remember?” He hikes a brow, paired with a sad smile.

It’s true.

Up until a few weeks ago, that’s all I wanted. To die by his hand.

How can just a few weeks change a life so drastically?

“Roe,” he says softly before grabbing my chin lightly with his thumb and index finger. “That isn’t how I feel anymore. That version of me doesn’t even exist anymore. He’s gone. I’m what remains of him. Me.”

I stare at his midnight blue eyes and read the truth in his words.

“Now my question is simple, are you the same girl I saw on that bridge or is this version in front of me the real Roe?”

“What are you really asking me, Elias?” I croak, knowing exactly what his next words are going to be.

“Is this life so bad that you no longer want to live it?”

I stare into his eyes and take a fortifying breath, before answering.

“No. I want to live. Even as we find ourselves smack in the middle of The Scourge, and death is but a certainty, I still want to live. Because… of you.”

With that confession still lingering on my lips, Elias grabs me by the neck and kisses me with everything he’s got.

“Good fucking answer, Roe. Good fucking answer.”

I’m watching Elias sleep from my chair when I hear a knock on the door. I get up to open it and find Abbie with a joyful grin stitched to her lips on the other side.

“Well you look happy. Please tell me that big smile is because Henry has called tomorrow’s games off?”

Her beaming smile slips at the reminder, and I kick myself for even having suggested such a thing. Of course, Henry didn’t cancel the games. Even if he had the power to do so, his employers would never allow it.

“Let me rephrase my question.” I try again. “What has you so excited?”

A little smile returns to her lips.

“Is Elias asleep?”

I turn my head over my shoulder and confirm that he is. After he woke up earlier, he used up all his energy kissing me. I told him that if he wants more than just a make out session, he’ll have to rest and heal up. Only once I’m positive he’s better will I let him ravish me like he wants.

Hence the nap.

“I think he’ll be asleep for a while.” I bite my bottom lip to prevent myself from giggling.

“Then do you think you could maybe spare thirty minutes and come to my room? I want to show you something,” she explains, jumping at the seams.

“Of course.”

“Yay! I’m so happy to hear that. Come!” she says excitedly, grabbing my hand in hers and pulling me to the hallway so fast I almost don’t have enough time to close the door behind me.

We race to her room, Abbie giggling the whole way there. When we finally reach it, she pulls me into the bathroom, where there are a variety of supplies you would only find at your local hairdresser. Combs, brushes, scissors, the works.

“What’s all this?”

“We’re going to fix that hatch job that Mackenzie did to your hair.”

“We are?” I retort honestly touched that she would have gone through all this trouble for me.

“I know it might be scary to put your hair in my hands, but I’ve been cutting most of my family’s hair for years. I know what I’m doing. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Where should I sit?” I ask, having the upmost faith in her capabilities.

And for the next half hour, Abbie works her magic on my hair creating an elegant and sophisticated cut that accentuates my face perfectly.

“I don’t even recognize the girl staring back at me,” I stammer in astonishment of the incredible job Abbie did on my hair.

“I’m glad you like it.” She blushes. “I can’t wait until Mackenzie sees it. She’ll be furious to see that her plan to dampen your glow backfired on her. Don’t get me wrong, I loved your long hair. But this hairstyle looks absolutely stunning on you.”

I get up from the chair and hug Abbie tightly.

“You’re such a good friend, Abbie. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

“I’m just glad I could help.”

“Well you did,” I reply joyfully. “I mean look at her,” I point to the woman in the mirror looking back at me. “She looks like she could kick Mackenzie’s ass any day of the week!”

“Yes, she does!” Abbie squeals.

And as we look at each other’s reflections, we see a hint of sadness in our eyes.

Because this moment feels incomplete without Harper in it.

“I… um… should return back to the room. I don’t want Elias to freak out if he wakes up and doesn’t see me there.”

“Do you mind if I walk back with you? There’s something I need to talk to Elias about. And I think it’s best that you’re there too.” The serious expression suddenly appearing on her face gives me pause.

“Are you okay? Did something happen?”

“I rather not talk about it until Elias is with us, if you don’t mind? It’s going to be hard enough to tell both of you at the same time. I try to avoid repeating the subject matter as much as possible.”

Troubled by her commitment to this secrecy, all I can do is nod and wait for her to tell me what’s wrong when we’re back in my room.

But just as we walk down the long corridor, I hear a loud crash coming from inside one of the rooms.

“Did you hear that?” I ask, curious to decipher where the sound came from.

Then Abbie and I hear a forceful slap, Abbie immediately placing her hand on the cheek Big Mike slapped her on in the group games.

“Not only did I hear that, but I felt it too,” she replies with a shudder.

Both Abbie and I follow the low murmuring we hear next, and when it starts to get louder coming from inside one of the vacant bedrooms, we slowly open the door to take a peak inside.

But what we find is so horrifying that it takes me a second to react.

“Oh, that’s right? You can’t talk. Which means you can’t scream either. This should be fun,” Big Mike taunts Five, as he traps her on the bed with his large frame, his hand gripping her wrists to keep her from fighting back, while his other tries to sneak its way up her skirt.

“GET OFF HER!” I scream as I march at him using all my strength to push his body off Five.

Thankfully it’s enough for Five to make her escape and run out of the room.

“You bitch!”

However, before Big Mike has the opportunity to pull himself up from the bed, I see Abbie jump onto the bed with a steak knife and stab him in the back.

But she doesn’t stop at one stab… no…. Abbie keeps digging the knife into his flesh until Big Mike no longer talks… or moves. And even then, she doesn’t stop. It’s only when she’s physically drained that her arms fall to her sides, and she sits back, the knife still in her unyielding grip.

With Big Mike’s body now lying dead between us, I look over to Abbie and am amazed at the transformation I find. Abbie’s entire body seems to relax for the first time she’s left Blackwater Falls, her facial features are one of tranquility and peace.

And then it hits me, Harper’s words coming at me at full force.

My sister was in Mackenzie’s and Abbie’s grade.

My little sister loves to gossip.

No, not Abbie. She’s been through enough as it is.

Big Mike raped Abbie, and Harper knew about it.

She must have kept the secret from us, fearing Big Mike would retaliate against Abbie.

After all, she was the only one in the group who could actually prove he was the rapist in our midst.

“He… raped you.”

“He did. And now he’s dead.” She takes another look at the corpse on the bed and sighs.

I swallow as the look of peace in her eyes morph to something else… something far more worrying.

“I’m so sorry, Rowen. I’m so sorry,” she whispers sadly, and before I can stop her, Abbie plunges the steak knife in her neck, making sure to hit an artery, and then takes it out, blood splattering all over the walls.

“NO!” I shout, rushing to her side. I pull her to my lap, and place my hand to her neck, needing to stop the bleeding.

But it’s too much.

Too goddamn much.

“Help! Help!” I cry out between sobs.

I feel her hand on mine, a peaceful smile cresting her lips.

And then, the light in her green eyes fade, until the Abbie I knew and loved is no longer with me, having departed in search of a peace that this world never gave her.