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Everything ached. Stiffness had set in my muscles and even staying still made them hurt. I hadn’t dared reach into my pocket to check the time on my phone, but we must have lain there for hours.
Michaela had eventually fallen quiet, perhaps to sleep. But I wasn’t foolish enough to peek out and check.
Ben had dozed off a few times, but the second his breathing had deviated into pre-snoring territory, I had elbowed him awake.
I had spent much of the time pressed against Ben, pretending he was anyone else. Ideally, my date.
With nothing to do but wait, I whiled away the time thinking about William and our next date, and mulling over what could have been in Michaela’s potion vials.
Why did my life have to be so complicated? Couldn’t I come home and go on dates without having to do something crazy like solve a murder between them?
There was a knock on the door, and Ben stiffened beside me.
“Mickey?” George walked into the room, only his shoes visible. “I made you some lunch downstairs.”
“I’m not hungry.” Michaela’s voice was so thick, I could barely make out what she was saying.
“Come on now.” George walked out of my line of vision and the bed sank above me under his weight.
Ben grinned at me as I grimaced.
“Tyler would want you to take care of yourself, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t want you to starve yourself,” George said.
“No…” Michaela shifted above us, pressing the mattress into Ben’s lower back.
This time, I grinned.
“Here, have one of your potions,” George said.
The humour drained from my face, and the irritation from Ben’s, at his words.
He was making her take those potions. While we still did not know what they were, I couldn’t help but feel wary. With a metallic colour like that, I doubted they were vitamins.
A muted gulping sound had me closing my eyes. Michaela had drunk one.
“I miss him so much,” she murmured.
“I know, baby. Come on. Let’s have some lunch and we’ll talk.”
“Okay…”
The mattress rose off us, and it was all I could do not to exhale in relief.
Two pairs of feet came into view at the end of the bed, and George and Michaela walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
I waited until I couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore before rolling out from underneath the bed.
My mouth opened in an unrealised scream as I stretched, agony rocketing through my muscles as they finally unclenched from their fixed positions.
Ben appeared on the other side of the bed, stretching his arms high above his head as he bent to the left and then the right.
I rolled onto my front and arched my back into a hedgehog-like ball. Sweet relief blossomed across my back.
“I thought we’d never get out of there,” I muttered.
“We won’t if you keep hanging around.” Ben snuck over to the door and I scrambled to my feet.
He would definitely leave me there if I didn’t get a move on.
