To Hell and Back for You

Chapter 36: A New Friend or An Old One

My ears picked up a sudden rush of feet thudding against the floor and I peered up in time to see Devin barreling towards me. Gaze quickly checking the clock in the corner of the screen I'd been reading, I realized I'd lost track of time. Twisting in my seat to allow the man to sit down in my lap and throw his arms around me, I apologized for not being there when he woke up.

"It's okay," he squeezed, pulling his head out of my shoulder, "What are you doing?"

I ignored the shakiness in his voice; harping on it wasn't going to make him feel any better than simply feeling my touch to know he was not alone, "I had this weird dream. Well, I guess it wasn't a dream at all." After I had explained the situation, I reached for the mouse and clicked on the original article I had found concerning the girl.

"Fiona Foxx, aged 14," Devin read aloud, "passed away today after falling out of her wheelchair and sustaining a blow to the head. Her fellow students who witnessed the attack were traumatized, but managed to tell authorities that they had been walking with Fiona when one of them tripped over the chair's foot break, jarring the girl from her seat. Services will be held..." he trailed off from the unneeded information, "Damn. That's pretty brutal."

"Yeah," I mumbled, staring at the screen, "And I'm fairly certain these 'fellow students' weren't so innocent."

"I get that too, especially considering who you saw," Devin stretched his arms into a yawn before hopping down from his spot on my legs and walking toward the fridge, "What's the year? Maybe there's someone we can talk to about it."

I put my attention back to the monitor. According to the article, it had happened just before McGraff's last killing spree prior to my resurrecting him. The thought struck me that perhaps her death somehow triggered his return that time.

Replacing my hands on the keyboard, I began searching for any relatives of the girl by typing in her name. Apparently, she had been an only child to unwed parents. Her mother and father had different last names, but hers matched her dad and it seemed he probably had custody.

My fingers crept from the buttons and found the phone that was lying on the table. I almost started to pick it up and dial Ames' number when I remembered not only my inability to communicate with her, but our lunch date.

"Ames might know something," I turned to see Devin peeling an orange.

"Yeah, if she's willing to tell us," he discarded the unwanted pieces of the fruit and began tearing the rest into bites, "She may just think we're going to cause more trouble."

Nearing, he casually offered a slice to me. My first response was to decline, but remembering how I had once loved that particular food, I took it in between two pointed nails.

Staring as the man popped one into his mouth while studying me, I recalled, "You know, I used to crave fresh fruit all the time. I just never wanted to spend the money on it in case I ended up without an appetite. Was afraid it would go to waste since there's no way to store it indefinitely."

I glanced up to see him eagerly waiting for me to eat. With a sharp inhale, I started to put it in my mouth, only for a foul taste to overwhelm my senses. Lowering the slice again, I handed it back, "Don't think I have the same taste preferences anymore."

"What's wrong?" Devin's concern made me aware of how he could see my sunken mood.

I tried to smile, "Nothing. It just reminded me of...of something I probably should forget."

"Tyler?" he prompted.

I nodded, "Once, on my birthday he actually stole a sack of oranges for me. He said," the curl in my lips turned genuine, "And you better eat them or you'll hurt my feelings. He knew how often depression would keep me from eating even with how hard it was for us to keep food regularly."