“Records is on level four,” the receptionist says, gesturing to the people behind us.
My shoulders slump and I turn, but Anna clutches my forearm and leans toward the glass.
“Surely there’s something we can do to fast-track the process?” she asks in a sickly sweet voice. “A donation to the hospital or—”
“Six. To. Eight. Weeks,” repeats the lady, with a forced smile. “Next.”
“Thanks again,” I say to Anna in the car park outside Bromley House.
“That’s okay,” she says with a sad smile. “I’m sorry you didn’t get any answers.”
We exit her black Jeep and dawdle toward her building. The frigid air stirs behind me and my pulse jumps. My gaze scurries across the leaf-strewn lawn, settling on the broad trunk of an elm tree.
No one is following you.I shake my head. Without my meds, my paranoia was bound to return.Was it this bad before?The fire probably obliterated the remaining supply of pills on my nightstand. If I want more, I’ll need to make an appointment with Dr Williams. Soon.
I find the charm on my necklace and run my thumb over its worn inscription.Let the current carry you.I didn’t understand the phrase when I was eight years old, and I don’t understand it now.What happened to you, Mom?
I follow Anna up the stairs to her floor. She reaches the first landing and her head whips to me, her eyes wide and mouth pulled into an ecstatic grin. “New neighbors,” she whisper-shrieks. Flicking her sandy blonde hair over her shoulder, she struts forward and calls down the corridor, “You have to push the door in while you jimmy the lock.”
“Thanks,” says a husky, female voice.
“I’m Anna. I live opposite.”
I trip on the top step. Anna’s standing beside Parker and the frightening woman from Professor McGregor’s lecture.
Parker’s leaning against the wall opposite Anna’s apartment, hands tucked into the pockets of his emerald chinos, with a bored look on his face. He’s cut his hair since I last saw him, yet the same sense of familiarity washes over me, as if I’ve known him in another lifetime.
I step onto the landing and his eyes lift to me, his back straightening.
“Oh, and this is Ella, my roomie,” Anna says as I approach, pointing a dainty finger toward me.
The woman’s face falls, her onyx eyes narrowing, while Parker scours me from head to toe.
I edge back until I’m leaning against Anna’s apartment door.
“Aren’t you going to tell us your names?” Anna asks with an easy smile.
“Rose.” She jerks her head to the right. “And Parker.” She turns back toward the door and rams her key into the lock. Anna shoots me a quizzical look. Meanwhile, Parker’s still drinking me in as if I’m a warped figment of his imagination.
Say something. Anything. Talk, Mariella!
My head snaps up to catch the ghost of a smirk on Parker’s lips, and I’m back at the riverside after McGregor’s lecture, that taunting grin heating me from the inside out. “Parker and I have met before,” I blurt. “After Professor McGregor’s guest lecture.”
“How nice,” Rose says through her teeth, still trying to unlock the door. Parker shifts on his feet and slips his hands back into his pockets.
In my periphery, Anna glances between Rose, Parker and me with an arched brow.
“What the fuck is wrong with this door?” Rose grumbles, ramming her shoulder into the wood.
“Let me help you,” Anna says, moving forward. The bright colors in her outfit pop beside Rose’s faded jeans and black hoodie.
Parker prowls across the hallway and leans his shoulder on the wall beside me. “It’s good to see you again,” he says in a low, warm voice so only I can hear.
“Why are you staying here, if you’re not students?” I ask.
A soft grin creeps across his face, his eyes glued to mine. “Still inquisitive I see.”
“Still evasive I see,” I reply.
