Dark Phoenix | ✓

chapter 28

Friday, May 1st, 2020

It'd been a tough week. And now, I was running late for school.

I hadn't spoken to Harry since Saturday night. It wasn't like I was purposely ignoring him. We just didn't have anything left to say. I knew he was upset about how I left the party and I think he was tired of pushing for answers.

Everyone else has asked where I'd run off to that night and I'd made up some lame excuse about being sick. I left out the detail that I ran all the way home, practically passing out on my front lawn from the amount of exercise.

I'd been struggling all week to wrap my head around everything. My thoughts were foggy, the same way I remember being just after Nix died.

I couldn't concentrate in class at all. Everything was too much at the moment.

I'd always thought I'd been able to handle Nix's death pretty well. But now, I felt like a tightly wound band ready to snap. I was afraid that everything was starting to get to me.

The hallway is completely silent when I rush up the stairs towards my locker. I almost trip but steady myself just in time, narrowly avoiding hitting the floor.

The second bell rings, signalling the beginning of class. I was officially screwed. What class did I even have first?

"Shit," I mutter, trying desperately to open my locker. I try my combination, once, twice, even a third time. It doesn't open.

"Fuck! Come on!" I shout, slamming my hand against it.

The only other late-comer watches me from down the hallway, a look of confusion on the girl's face. I try to smile at her, making sure she knows that I'm not completely psycho. She turns away, walking to class.

Or maybe I was psycho. After all, I knew exactly who my brother was.

My hands begin to shake but I hold the lock steadily in my hand. It finally opens with a pop, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I grab out my phone, ready to check what class I had. Suddenly, my locker slams shut. It narrowly misses my hands and I jump to the side, hitting my head against a nearby locker.

"You know, you did a pretty convincing job of trying to hide, London McLaren. But did you really think I wouldn't realise who you were?"

No. No. This had to be a fucking dream. This was not happening. Not now. Please not now.

"I mean, it did take me longer than it should have to remember someone who ruined my life. I guess it could be because your hair is a bit lighter," Aubrey smiles maliciously, cocking her head to the side.

She picks up a strand of my hair like its the most extraordinary thing she's ever seen. Suddenly, she tugs so hard on it that I'm sent forward. Her face is inches from mine and I'm suddenly sent back to the day at school when she spat in my face.

I knew now that she was capable of much more than a little spit.

"I've been watching you lately, you know? Just trying to pinpoint where I've seen you before. It's crazy, really. I can remember exactly how Phoenix looked. I guess it's easier to forget such a fucking plain face like yours."

"Aubrey, can we just—"

"No," she growls, "You don't get to fucking talk. I'm talking."

"I—"

"You were always overlooked by your brother in school, weren't you? Everyone loved him. But you were quieter. Less rememberable. I guess that's why it made it easier for you to get away with murder."

"I didn't help—"

"Shut the fuck up. You don't get to speak!"

She looks around the hallway before she pins me back against the locker, her forearm against my neck. She presses in firmly, just giving me enough air to breathe.

"You deserve to be fucking dead too. I lost my brother."

Despite being a few inches shorter than me, she was intimidating as hell. And I was afraid. I was afraid because I knew what rage could do to people. I knew how it could control someone, taking over their ability to think rationally.

"Aubrey...please. I— I swear to you. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wish—"

She slams my head back against the locker and I bite my tongue, drawing blood.

"You're a fucking liar. Just because the police let you go doesn't mean you're innocent. Injustices happen all the fucking time. But not again. I won't let that happen again."

After Nix died, after all the police investigations, after the funeral, I used to just sit at home, wondering if maybe I was guilty. Maybe Nix had said something to me one day that I had missed. Something that should have made me realise what he'd do. I wracked my brain all day and all night but I couldn't remember anything.

"You and your fucking brother ruined everything. I had to this shit hole because my parents couldn't take living in that town anymore. I had to change my life, leave my friends because you ruined everything."

"Aubrey—"

"And don't think London, that just because we both lost our brothers that we have anything in common."

That thought had never crossed my mind. I knew that her pain was different from mine.

"My brother was the best person in my life. And your worthless piece of a brother is a fucking murderer."

Tears begin to gather in the corners of my eyes. "I know," I whisper.

"No," she slams be back against the locker. "You don't get to cry over this. You don't get to feel anything. You helped cause this mess. You made your fucking bed, so lie in it, bitch."

"I—"

"I know that no one in this school knows the truth about who you are. Well except me," she grins, loathsomely. "So you better watch yourself, London McLaren."

"What are you going to do?" I wheeze, panicking.

She laughs, readjusting her arm against my throat. "Wouldn't you like to know, huh?"

She drops her arm and I begin to cough, clawing at my throat. Tears spring from my eyes, rolling down my cheeks. I lean down to pick up my backpack but find that my legs are shaking too much.

"See you around, McLaren."

She saunters off down the hallway, flicking her hair over her shoulder.