All of Us Are Going to Hell

THREE

8:43p.m.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
BUDDHA

Five, four, three, two, one.

As I'm running down the stairs with my heart climbing into my throat, I look around for five things I can see.

My shoes.

The bannisters.

My wand.

My shadow.

And as I pass by a golden mirror, my face. I'm picking up speed, making sure he doesn't catch up to me. I left my phone back there. I don't care. As long as it's far away from him, I don't care. My anxiety is heightening again, I need to continue.

Four things I can feel.

My feet on the ground below the stairs.

His footsteps behind me.

The kitchen door handle as I open it and run inside.

The wood of my wand, if it had magic, that I would use to hex him out of my life. Forever. It doesn't do me good to dream. I know that now. Instead, I stand by the sink, turn on the faucet and let the water run. The kitchen door opens behind me.

Three things I can hear.

The rushing water in the sink.

My pounding heart.

A voice, calling my name.

His voice. My back becomes ramrod straight and I'm staring at the water, the running water, not putting a cup to drink, not turning it off, just staring at the water as it gushes down from the faucet and into the drain, waiting, just waiting for him to go away.

You ruined his life. He'll never forgive you.

"Jabari?"

Two things I can smell.

His aftershave-I know it's his.

For some reason, sauerkraut.

I close my fist on my wand and hold it steady, like it can do real damage. Maybe if I will it, it can. I would wish for anything more than to be in the same room with Aaron Dempsey. What does he want from me?

"Jabari," he says in that deep baritone of his I remember against my ear and throat, "you can't stare at the faucet forever."

"In ten seconds, if you do not leave, I am going to hex you with a Bat-Bogey Hex and I swear, Malfoy, it will be messy," I hiss at him from the sink. He always considered himself as a Malfoy, misunderstood by everyone.

Anyone would be afraid of a Bat-Bogey hex, right? But Aaron chuckles at the thought of being hexed. "You can try, but I've got serious know-how of counter jinxes, Potter. Just need to find my wand. Must've dropped it somewhere."

I stifle a laugh. He was always forgetting to carry his wand during a duel. It was no wonder how I always won.

One thing I can taste.

Guilt.

"Aren't you even going to look at me, Potter?"

And I freeze. He can't be here. He can't be near me. I ruined him. I ruined us. What does he still want with me?

Slowly, I turn around.

There he is. Shimmering blue eyes and blond hair that smelled like bubblegum shampoo. His ears still turn red when he's nervous. And his lips still have their natural sheen-