DELICATE / Brandon Darrow

thirty seven

thirty seven
the prophet
FIRST PERSON

I was still upset over everything that had happened. From Trevor and I's argument to having seen Brandon again for the first time since I locked myself in the bathroom to stay away from him.

Seeing his face only made me feel worse for what Rowan and Elisia had done. It also awakened those feelings I had for him because all I can think about lately is how it felt when he kissed me.

Since my mom was gone on her honeymoon, the house was really quiet. Trevor was rarely home which I assumed was because he was with Brandon and Sean. Any noise terrified the hell out of me for good reason.

That's when I started to hear clattering coming from the kitchen. I obviously was not going to investigate so I stayed inside my room, putting my ear against the door to see if I could hear anything else. But the sound of the front door opening made me relieved.

I exited my room and found Trevor walking inside until he paused at the sight of me. That's when I decided it was better for him to understand why I'm afraid of Brandon's true intentions— even own cousin's as well.

"Hey," I started off softly.

"Yeah, hi," he muttered under his breath.

He began to head to his room so I grabbed his arm to stop him from continuing. "I'm sorry about the other day. I know you think he has good intentions because he's your friend but you have to understand that I've been living my life in fear for the last year so it's really hard for me to trust him, or even Sean."

"You don't need to explain yourself," Trevor sighed sadly, looking at his feet. "It's my fault. I didn't mean to treat you like a dick. You're not a bitch."

I laughed. "Thanks," then I stepped a little closer to him, becoming serious. "And, um, can you tell me if anything happens? Sean says that he's undercover for Brandon and I kind of stopped talking to Rowan and Elisia."

Trevor rose his brow in confusion. "Drama?" I just gave him a 'don't ask about it' look so he brushed it off and instead answered my question, "of course."

Then my phone binged. It was from Ash?

ASH:
hey, can you come over? i'm at elisia's
ASH:
i need some help

CYNTHIA:
yeah, of course

"I'll be back," I told Trevor, seeing as he still stood in front of me with a curious face. "Be safe."

"Shouldn't I be telling you that?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes, heading to my room to grab my bag and then leaving.

♡

I knocked on his door and heard a response coming from the inside, making me assume I could enter. When I did, I found Ash sitting in his wheelchair by the couch, offering me a welcome smile.

"Hey," I greeted before raising a bag in the air. "I brought you some food. I didn't know if you were hungry."

"Starving," he said with a laugh. "Thanks."

"Yeah," I nodded, handing the bag to him before looking around cautiously. I wasn't sure if Elisia was here and I wasn't fully over everything to want to see her.

"She's not home," Ash told me out of the blue, most likely noticing how tensed I look. "I know you aren't talking to her and Rowan anymore which is why I know I can trust you with this. I was going to tell Rowan instead but I couldn't risk Elisia finding out."

I gave him a furrowed look. "I would've kept it a secret either way, Ash. This sounds serious. What's wrong?"

Ash looked away before sighing, wheeling toward me as he began speaking. "I went to go see Zoe's dad at the hospital. She would visit him there. He had cancer. He passed away a few days ago."

"What?" I asked in shock. I've met her dad when we were kids but I wasn't aware of this. "She never told me. I knew her since we were kids. It seems stupid now but—"

"No, I get it," he reassured me. "That's another reason why I asked you to come. Someone dropped this off for Zoe at the hospital," he handed me a little envelope which I took in curiosity. "The nurse gave it to me."

I opened it up and pulled out a long strand of paper with words on it. "What is this? 'Love possesses not nor would it be possessed'?" It sounded familiar.

"Yeah, it's from a book," he stretched his arm out to hand me his phone.

I knew exactly which one. "'The Prophet'. This was one of my favorite books growing up," I mumbled the unimportant detail in realization before scrolling through the web searches. "Yeah, 'Love possesses not nor would it be possessed for love is sufficient unto love'."

"I can't talk to anyone, especially Elisia, about this but...Zoe didn't shoot me," Ash told me. "Even if she is King Cobra, Zoe didn't shoot me."

I nodded, believing him. "Well, maybe she knows who did. And I'm going to use this to find her."

"Thank you," he nodded appreciatively.

♡

I pushed the grocery cart, completely zoning out until I felt Trevor's presence appear beside me. He threw in a couple things as I threw in a loaf of bread. Catching attention to this, he decided to grab another kind and toss it inside the cart too.

"Ew, no. Are you five?" I cringed at his choice, picking it up and putting it back on the shelf.

"Tell your mom she needs more cabinet space," he argued, picking it up and throwing it back into the cart.

"First of all, she isn't even home," I gave him a look. "And second of all, she's your mom now too," I took it out and threw it on the shelf, this time walking away before he could do it again.

Trevor sighed. "Still weird?"

"Very weird," I agreed, walking beside him silently until I decided to ask, "so, are you into any girls at school? I don't know. Is this what siblings talk about?"

"Nope, I think we're good," he chuckled humorlessly.

We turned down into another aisle which made me look around for a second until I turned to him, whispering, "I think I got something on Zoe."

Trevor gave me a interested look. "We did too. She had some boyfriend at the Prep School she went to before transferring."

"Well, Ash found an envelope with a line from 'The Prophet' inside of it," I told him. "'Love possesses not nor would it—"

"'-would it be possessed'," he interrupted. "I read that book in middle school," Trevor gave me an embarrassed smile before shaking his head slightly. "What does that have to do with anything, though?"

"That's what I'm going to find out," I said. "I was planning on going to the library and see if I can find out who checked the book out last. Maybe it was that boyfriend you heard about. It could give us a lead and take us right to Zoe."

Trevor nodded. "Smart thinking."