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“I feel weird,” I say. “It was a lot to see.”
Birdie takes the key fob. She touches my shoulder. “Why don’t you sit down? Catch your breath. You look like you saw something really bad.”
“I did,” I saw. “I really did. Fay’s all beat up. And Tocky kind of knocked me over. He was going to do something bad to me. Then…”
“Who is she talking about?” Maz asks.
“I’m not sure,” Birdie says. “I think it’s her hometown.”
“I just didn’t think it was that bad there,” I say. “And then coming back here. He follows me. I think he’s going to hurt me. Like really hurt me.”
“Who’s going to hurt you?” Maz asks. “Did someone follow you here?”
“Yeah,” I say.
“Who followed you here?” Maz asks, jumping at me. “Did you put us in danger with your fucking shitty past?”
“Maz,” Birdie says. “She’s not even here right now. She’s dazed.”
“He belongs here,” I say. “It’s not that big of a deal. He saved me too. He saved me just to kill me. That’s the game. Right?”
I let out a laugh.
I look at Birdie and Maz.
They aren’t laughing back at me.
They’re staring at me.
They’re scared.
“Hey, Jaci,” Birdie says in a soft voice. “Why don’t you sit down? Huh? Maz is going to get you a bottle of water. Then we can talk about everything. Because you’re here now. You’re safe now.”
“I’m never safe, Birdie,” I say. “Nothing is safe…”
Okay, Jaci, you’re losing your mind here. You’re worked up. You’re scared. And it makes sense. In the back of your mind, you figured if things really got bad enough with Archer’s threats you could just go home. Right? That’s what you did today. You went home. You went to check on things. That’s why you did it. You were going to try and test yourself with Fay and Marty and all that shit again. But it’s a disaster. You can never go back there. So now you’re trapped at DSC.
Maz hands me a bottle of water.
I twist off the cap.
I take a sip.
“There you go,” Birdie says. “And, hey, you didn’t crash my SUV!”
I laughed. “It was close. I almost ran a red light. Right into busy traffic.”
“Jaci,” Maz says. “What the hell is going on?”
“It was a lot to take in,” I say. “I tried to hold it together. Okay? But a person can only do so much!”
“Birdie,” Maz says.
“I know,” Birdie says.
“She needs help.” Maz says. “She needs somezazas.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I ask.
