Page 86 of Play Me

But I think it’s time.

Time to get back to my life. And to start the process of moving on.

I thought the tears were for me, for my loss of privacy, for my past and present conspiring to ruin my life. But the tears were for the loss of something else. The loss of something so beautiful, that never really had the chance to become something real.

“Sarah?” I call out to my friend, who’s never been more than a shout away.

“Yeah?”

“I think it’s time for pizza.”

She comes in, brushing her hair still wet from her shower. “Ok! You wanna order in? Or I can pick some up from the place downstairs?”

“No, let’s go somewhere together.”

“Out?”

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

She sits down on the bed in front of me and reaches out and squeezes my hand. I smile to reassure her, and thank her. For being the difference between me getting through this, and not.

She looks at me for a moment, making her judgment and I don’t rush her. I owe her the right to make the decision, she earned it by being my shield for the last few days.

“Ok,” she nods and gets up. “Just let me get changed.”

SEBASTIAN

“Oh look, zombies do revert back to human form.” Jez says as I come out of the bedroom, fully dressed for the first time in days.

“Hey.” I say, and join them on the couch. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, just deciding where to go to grab a bite. You up for it?”

No. I’m not. But I wonder if I ever will be.

“Come on, man. How ‘bout this, we just go across the road to the pub for a pint and a steak, an hour tops, and we’ll get you back here before the bell dings.”

“Fine.”

“Great!” We all get up and grab our jackets.

“Guys.” We turn to the door as Dennis walks in.

“Aw man, we were just going to go out for a bite.”

“It’ll have to wait.”

“What’s going on?”

“There’s been, well, I’ve found out what happened with Sebastian and Cadence’s pictures and, well, the others as well.”

“Good! Drill that fucker to the ground!” Marius yells, swinging a right hook in the air.

“Shut up and sit down.” Our manager tells us, his voice hard and firm. Something’s happened, something’s happened and he’s not happy about it.

“Dennis? What’s going on, what’d you find out?” Jez presses him.

“Hey,” a female voice speaks up quietly from the door.

It’s Hailey.

“I need to tell you guys something.”