She gave him an awkward smile. They hadn’t spoken since the day in the woods.
“Hey.”
“Hi.” He returned the same level of awkwardness.
“You guys are being weird.” Whisper looked back and forth between the two of them with narrowed eyes. “Why are you being weird?”
“Nothing.” “We’re not.” They said over each other.
His eyes narrowed more.
“Yes you are, but you’re sick, so I’ll let it slide. We’ll revisit this later. Can we come in?”
She sighed and stepped out of the way so they could come inside. She was using the door to stay upright and nearly lost her balance as she tried to close it. Poison Weasel caught her. I dug my nails into a palms and repeated my mantra again.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” he said softly.
“Yeah, well, two well-meaning idiots showed up at my door, even though I said no, and I had to answer it.”
“Touché.”
He helped her walk over to the couch while Whisper raided the kitchen for dishes and cutlery.
“I appreciate the food, but you guys don’t have to stay. I’ve lived alone for six years. I’ve been sick before, I can take care of myself.”
They both waived her off.
“That was before you had us. Besides, if Av was still with us, he’d be here. I bet you wouldn’t kick him out.”
“If he was mother henning as much as the two of you, I totally would.” She sighed. “Neither of you have heard from him?”
Fuck, my girl played her part so well. If I could keep my shit together, she would be the most convincing factor.
They both shook their heads as Whisper walked back to the living room.
“Nothing. But if it makes you feel any better, they still haven’t found a body.”
He set a bowl in front of Violet while Weasel unpacked all the food. I had to suppress a sigh. They had enough food to last all night. The fuckers probably weren’t planning to leave.
“He could just be hiding out.”
“Guys, this is too much.” Her eyes widened at the sight of all the food. “Don’t you have better things to do than hang out with me when I’m sick as fuck and probably contagious?”
“It’s Christmas. No one should be alone on Christmas.” Whisper gave her a warm smile, plopping down on the floor opposite the couch as he dug into his pasta. “Besides, we can’t get sick. Super immune systems and all that.”
“Rub it in, why don’t you.” She shook her head. “I don’t even celebrate Christmas. You guys seriously don’t have to be here.”
“No, we want to be.” Weasel bumped his shoulder into hers. “Now shut up and eat would you?”
Violet rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed slightly—it was the most colour I’d seen on her since she walked through the door six hours ago.
You’re supposed to be dead. You cannot kill him.
Whisper’s head snapped in my direction. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. No one really knew exactly what his powers were, all we knew was that he could drive people insane. Could he read minds? Sense when someone was close by?
“What?” Poison Weasel was looking at him like he had three heads. “Why are you staring at the wall?”
Whisper turned his attention back to Violet—who held his gaze, not even remotely fazed.
