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For the first time in months, everything feels normal.
REI
Iwatch Trine with her friend’s acoustic guitar on her lap. There’s a sticker of Buzz Lightyear fading and peeling on the darkened wood. Her brown eyes are half-closed, the trace of a smile on her lips.
My stomach twists when I realize that this is the happiest I think I’ve ever seen her. There’s no uncertainty on her face, no nerves. Her fingers move adeptly over the fretboard as she looks down at her phone, double-checking the tuning with an app on her phone.
“Here,” she says once she stops. She braces herself to stand before she hands the guitar to Malon. “You can have this back.”
“It’s okay,” he replies. “I can’t play. You can keep it.”
She smiles, a little sadly. “No, I can’t take it with me. It’s Bryony’s. I’m not just going to take her guitar.”
“What about yours?” I ask. “You have one, right?”
“Yeah,” she replies. “I have a few.”
“That might be helpful for when you get bored,” I say.
“It’s hard to get bored with all of you around,” she says. She brushes herself off, putting the guitar down on the sofa. “You keep me very entertained.”
“I can think of more ways to keep you entertained,” Malon says. “You want to keep your mind off all this, right?”
She runs her fingers through her messy hair. She has always struck me as a woman who likes to keep herself together. She hasn’t been able to keep on top of that since we’ve been together. It feels like we’ve been running away–though, honestly, I’m not sure what we’re running away from. The danger is inside of her.
There’s no getting away from that, no matter where we go.
“Did you pack?” I ask her.
“No,” she replies. “I want to stay here.”
“You can’t,” Malon says. “They’ll come after you here.”
“They’ll come after me anywhere,” she replies. There’s no anger in her voice, no fight. She’s stating a fact, as if she was talking about the weather outside. “So I think it’s probably better if I stay home. You guys aren’t going to exorcise me no matter where I go.”
“We can,” I tell her. “Luke can keep going for as long as you need him to.”
“But he shouldn’t,” Malon adds. “Because if they do, I can’t keep protecting you. Not as much as I was before, anyway.”
“Why do you care?” I ask, surprised at how angry I sound. I’ve wanted to hurt him ever since the first time I saw him, but being around him is making it worse.
“Because I care about her,” he replies. “I’ve cared about her from the beginning. I’ve been here longer than you have. I don’t need to remind you of that, doctor. Do I?”
“You don’t need to remind me of anything,” I say between gritted teeth. “Though I’m sure that’s never stopped you before and it probably won’t stop you now.”
“You’re right,” Mal replies, his smile widening. The weather changes outside, the day darkening. It makes it so that it’s harder to see him, the only light his green eyes in the dimly lit living room.
Dee Dee jumps on the sofa between us. He presses his paws against the cushion and meows. He doesn’t seem to like Mal, but I don’t think it matters, since he immediately lays his head on my lap.
I’m not normally a cat person, but no one can resist a cat on their lap. I stroke the top of his head and he purrs on me.
Trine watches us in silence for a few seconds. “I don’t know what the right choice is here,” she says. “I know Mal has kept me protected for a while.”
Malon glares at me. “See?”
“But I’m sick of this, too,” she says. “I just want to go back to my normal life. I want to go back to worrying about paying my rent and how many people are at a show. I can deal with that kind of problem. I don’t know if I can deal with this.”
“You can,” I say. “You have. You’re doing admirably.”
