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“With what?”
“Don’t,” he says. He sits on the edge of the bed, his elbows on his knees, his eyes on mine. “Look, I know you’ve gone through some shit lately. I’m not going to say that it’s been easy. I can tell you’re barely holding it together. But…”
“But what?”
“But it’s worse today,” he says. “It’s worse. You’re barely keeping it together. I can see it on your face. You’re avoiding looking at anyone.”
“Because you’re all beat up from what happened last night,” I tell him. “You’re all beat up because of me.”
“You should see the other guy,” he quips.
“Rei.”
He sighs. “I get it,” he says. “But Trine, you can’t beat yourself up for this. This isn’t your fault. None of this is your fault.”
“I think we’re going to have to disagree,” I tell him. “If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t even be here.”
“You’re just a person,” he says. “You don’t have that much power.”
I lick my lips. “I don’t believe you,” I say.
“Trine…”
He trails off when he looks at me. “What?”
“I’m really worried about you.”
“You said,” I tell him flatly. “I need you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“I need you to go get Luke,” I say. “And then I need you to listen.”
LUKE
Rei looks like shit. There’s a dark bruise that goes from the edge of his eye socket to right above his brow, the top of his cheekbone practically destroyed and protruding. His glasses look uncomfortable.
But it isn’t that which worries me, it’s the way he’s staring at me, like he’s expecting me to have a solution for something. “Trine is asking for you,” he says, before he drops his voice to a whisper. “She wants to talk to you in private.”
“Okay,” I say. I follow him back into the house. He doesn’t say anything else as we go up the stairs. It isn’t until we’re at the top of the stairs that he turns to me, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Something is wrong with her,” he says. “I tried to help her, but I can’t help her. I can’t do anything for her, Luke. And I think she’s asking for you because…”
He trails off. I watch as his throat works, as he swallows.
“Whatever she’s about to ask you,” he says. “I need you to promise me something.”
“What?”
“I need you to promise me that you’re going to convince her not to go through with it.”
“Rei…”
“I’m serious,” he says. “I’m really concerned about her. We can bring her out of most things. But I don’t know if we can bring her out of this.”
I want to ask him more questions, but I don’t think I have to. I know what he means as he turns around and walks down the hallway again, which seems darker and narrower than it did before, darker somehow. The walls are painted beige and the tile is a bright wooden color, but it still feels like the darkest corridor I’ve ever walked down in my life.
The door to Trine’s room is cracked open.
