Facade [h.s]

twenty-nine

From Harry: Are you still here?

I sighed as soon as I read the message from the lock screen of my phone, not even bothering to unlock it or even consider replying.

I didn't feel like going out anymore, and I definitely didn't feel like doing it with Harry anymore. The one person that up until that point I'd called one of my best friends had killed another person, and this time I didn't even know why. It was his lawyer anyway, it wasn't like he would've gone to the police about it - if he'd wanted to do that, he would've done it at the start of the entire situation, before it could get even worse.

That meant that Joel had completely lost it, and that was bad. Very bad. I was pretty sure it couldn't have got any worse at that point.

My phone dinged again, and I turned it around to read the text that had just arrived.

From Harry: Are you okay?

Why did he always have to act like that? Like he genuinely cared, just to make me think there was something before telling me that I'd misinterpreted the whole situation we were in and confuse me even more than before. What was the point? Did he enjoy doing that? Was that his whole thing, how he managed to get people's attention all the time? By making them think he cared, while he didn't at all?

I didn't mind it, if that was the case. I'd known that was the situation I was putting myself in since the very first second, so it was no surprise. I just wished he would've been more open about it. That he could've told me the rules of the game he was playing with me, so that I would've been able to score some points too.

I hated that he was so good at it. It was unfair. We'd known each other for months, and I still didn't have the slightest idea of what he thought of me. Did he actually enjoy spending time with me, or did he only keep doing it because we were in the same unfortunate circumstances? Each option was both likely and unlikely at the same time. It was a mess. One I didn't want to quit, though.

Who could I have gone to, when my best friend seemed to have completely lost it, another one of my friends was on his side and Indigo was too far into her own head to realise the world around her was still spinning? Harry might've not been the best company for my heart, but he surely was the best I had in that moment.

The screen of my phone lit up again, and I lifted it up to read the new message.

From Harry: Raine.

I threw it on the couch again, resisting the sudden urge to scream. I knew I would've had to reply, because I was sure Harry wouldn't have stopped texting me until he'd made sure I was at least still alive, but that knowledge didn't make doing it any easier.

I sat up again and finally unlocked my phone, entering the chat. I stared at his last message for a couple of seconds, wondering if I should've told him about what I'd just learnt, but then I decided against it, typing something else down instead.

To Harry: Are you free right now? And at home?

I sent it, dropping the device on the couch again right after. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, but I knew I couldn't have stayed inside my flat. Doing that wouldn't have changed anything but my own anxiousness, and it was pointless.

I didn't feel good about that entire situation. A limit had just been crossed, and there was no going back. If Joel had gone as far as killing his own lawyer, someone that should've protected him by default, it meant that nobody was safe. Who would've been the next one to go? The simple thought terrified me, as the only people that were left were the ones I was closest to, and something told me that Callie was still in good terms with him.