Summer of Like // Farleigh Start x OC

26: A Part of Me is Still Trying to Pretend I Was (Mis)Hearing Things

We fuck three times, and by the end of it, I'm completely exhausted. Exhausted enough that it takes the slamming of a door to rouse me from my slumber. The sun is high in the sky, streaming through the window onto the bed. Farleigh's head rests on my chest, one of his arms slung around my waist. He startles awake as well, lifting his head up to blink blearily at me.

I sit up, my spine cracking from the movement. "Jesus-" My head pounds, and the light stings my eyes. "What time is it?"

"No idea." Farleigh's voice is raspy. "Who-?"

Another door slamming down the hall interrupts him. A voice drifts through the walls - a little frantic, a little lost. "Felix?" Two more doors creaked open and then slammed shut again. A pair of heels click rapidly back down the hall - a sound I've come to associate with the house staff.

The overwhelming sense that something is wrong washes over me. I've never heard a door slam in Saltburn before. I've never heard the house staff run either. Farleigh looks at me, and I know he's thinking the same.

I slip out of bed, and pull on a pair of boxers, and a Warped Tour tee shirt from two years ago. Farleigh follows suit, pulling his clothes from last night off the floor and sliding back into them. I slip on a pair of flip flops, but Farleigh pushes on without any. He steps out into the hallway first, revealing the wreckage of last night.

Glitter coats everything like dust, and streamers litter the floor. One of Venetia's heels sits in the hall before her bedroom door. I peek into her room - empty. That's weird - in the same way that the slamming doors is weird. If she's hungover, she won't get out of bed unless she absolutely has to. But her room is empty.

"No V?" Farleigh asks, waiting at the top of the stairs. A pair of plastic fairy wings hangs from the banister, left behind.

I shake my head, and follow after him, heading down the spiral steps.

The entire estate is a mess. Forgotten drinks cover every available surface - any table with a glass covering sports a dusting of coke. Pieces of costumes are littered around - a butterfly shaped mask, a silver sequined skirt, a suit jacket, one of the cufflinks still in the sleeve. Farleigh and I pick our way through the mess, heading towards the library until I spot a head of bleach blonde hair through the window.

I stop, grabbing his arm. "It's V."

He leans back, following my gaze out into the yard. We watch as Venetia stumbles through the mess, frantically searching for something.

Farleigh and I break into a run at the same time, dashing to the nearest door. He jumps down the stone steps into the grass, and I follow. It's like she's in a world of her own - she doesn't even see us until we're standing in front of her, and even then her eyes still shift around, frenetic. Something is really really wrong.

I place one hand on her arm, and the other cradling her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"What's going on?" Farleigh asks.

"It's Felix." She says, fast enough that she almost trips on the words. "No one can find Felix. No one's seen him since last night, and it's been hours since Mum and Dad started looking and no one's found him yet."

"Oh fuck." Farleigh's voice is strained.

A spear of panic strikes through me. "Have you tried calling him?" I ask.

Venetia nods. "He won't pick up. Or his phone's dead-"

"Okay." I say. "Where have you already looked?"

The sun rises higher in the sky as Farleigh and I join in the hunt, scouring the grounds that haven't already been combed through. We sprint down to the tennis courts, we sift through the tall grass of the field, Farleigh climbs onto the roof. The more places we look to no avail, the heavier the panic sets in. We're running out of places to look.

Venetia is beginning to sound hoarse from shouting. "Felix?"

Farleigh pushes his hair away from his forehead, wide eyed and frantic. "Fuck. Fuck." His gaze falls on the lake. "You don't think-"

He doesn't even have to finish the sentence before we're all running towards the lake, splashing into the water. Sweeping my arms in great circles under the water, I start feeling around for anything that might resemble a human body. I can feel my heartbeat in my ears.

Doing the same, Farleigh still shouts. "Felix?!"

I paddle farther out from the shore, and take a deep breath before I submerge myself completely, sinking to the bottom and churning up the mud as much as I can, primed to feel for skin or hair or those golden angel wings he was wearing. I stay under the surface for as long as I can, until my lungs are screaming. I burst through the water to screams of Felix's name. I take a few breaths, and blink open my eyes. On the balcony, a figure in a red dressing robe, the kind Felix wears to breakfast sometimes, stands, surveying the chaos. For a moment, my heart leaps and I think it's him, but then I really look, and he's too short, his hair too dark.

It's only Oliver.

I take another deep breath, and sink back down beneath the lake, blindly searching for anything that could be Felix.

This time, when I come up for air, all I hear is a blood-curdling scream.

As fast as I can, I swim back to shore, and haul myself out of the lake, sprinting after Farleigh and Venetia as they take off towards the maze, following the sound of the scream. Something is terribly wrong.

I don't think I've ever run as fast as I am now, tearing after Venetia, having overtaken Farleigh easily. I don't know the maze, but she does, and it isn't long until path opens up into the center, the minotaur staring down at us as we stumble to a stop.

I see Elspeth first. Her face is devoid of color, gaunt and drawn. She looks like she's about to vomit, or cry, or both. She doesn't even seem so see us as we arrive, even though we run right past her.

In front of me, Venetia stops so suddenly that I almost run into her, her gaze cast down. For a moment, she's frozen, and then she sobs, collapsing. On instinct, I grab her before she can hit the ground, and follow her gaze.

Felix, face down on the ground, his angel wings still on. I've never seen a dead body before, so I've got nothing to compare him to, but somehow I still know he's dead.

Farleigh stumbles in after us. "Oh my god." He chokes.

Venetia clutches at my arms as she sobs, nails ripping into my skin. I can't feel it. I don't care.

James staggers in next, shadowed by Oliver, still in Felix's robe. I can't bring myself to look at their faces as they take in the scene.

James is the first one to touch the body, laying a hand on Felix's shoulder. "Darling, darling boy. My darling boy." He turns to look at Oliver and Farleigh. "Help me move him. We need to get him inside. Get him warm."

Venetia's sobbing so hard that she's hardly breathing, only taking big lungfuls of air every thirty seconds so she can keep crying. I hold her as best as I can, despite my urge to vomit as I watch James try to lift the body by himself.

"We just need to get him warmed up." He continues, matter of fact. "Felix, darling, where's your jumper?.. Where's your jumper?" He looks back to Oliver. "Come on now! Help me!"

Farleigh sounds utterly broken. "I don't think we can move him, James. I think the police-"

Elspeth finally moves, running her hands along the sides of her legs. "Yes. Yes. Come away, darling... It's nearly lunch."

In a trance, James backs away. "Yes. Lunch."

I get a look at the body - Felix's - face as he moves away. It doesn't look like Felix.