The Mad Ones², 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨

05 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳,
𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵
'𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘖𝘞𝘕 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳.

05
𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨

RAFE.
▬▬▬▬▬▬

I DIDN'T SHOW MY FACE ANYWHERE FOR A WHOLE DAY AFTER GRIM FUCKED IT UP. The left half was still swollen and red, so it wasn't like I could attend Peterkin's memorial service with my family, looking like I got into a cage fight.

I couldn't go see Graylin either no matter how much I needed to feel her in my arms again. I knew she wouldn't let me hold her without explaining what happened to my face and I couldn't tell her why I was hanging out at Barry's again, could I?

But today was day three.

I had to come clean to her about everything today. How I got my face messed up only scratched the surface of the confessions I hadda make. But I knew Gray was gonna be mad at me before I even said anything since while I'd been knocked out cold for a whole day-and-a-half, I'd left my phone for dead.

Basehead Barry didn't carry Apple phone chargers— who woulda thought?

"Where the hell have you been?" Were the first words Rose threw my way when I finally stumbled home, scrambling around the kitchen and looking for the charger I knew we always had plugged into one of the outlets. "Ward's been trying to get a hold of you for a whole two days now, Rafe— you missed Sheriff Peterkin's service—"

"Yeah, Rose, I— I wasn't really keen on the idea of attending the funeral of someone I shot, okay?" I looked over at her after I'd plugged in my phone. The frustration fell off her face when she got a good look at me.

"Oh my God, what happened to your face?"

Okay. I guess I could use this as a practice round for when I eventually have to have the same conversation over again with Graylin.

"I tripped." Was the first thing that came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"You tripped?" Her eyebrows shot up.

"Yup." I impatiently drummed my fingers against the counter as I waited for my phone to charge. "Where's Wheezie?"

"At school . . ."

"School?" My head whipped back in my step-mom's direction. "Oh, shit— school started?"

It took me twenty minutes to shower, charge my phone, and get down to the Academy. I hadn't been to the place in over a year, but that's where everyone on this side of the island went to school, so I knew that's where Gray would be. I found her Jeep easily enough and parked my dad's truck near it. Then I began my wait until school got out by pulling out my phone and checking all the messages I'd missed while it'd been dead.

A bigger and bigger pit formed in my stomach as I scrolled through all the texts Graylin had sent me. They started from the night she'd first dropped me off home. She was talking about Topper, and how he wasn't handling Sarah's death well. Then she was asking me how I was doing and whether we could talk.