AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s not possible,” I say, my head dizzy. “My medication was working up until the night you came to my apartment. I hadn’t had a blackout in a year.”
“How do you know?”
I close my eyes and try to breathe.
How do I know?
I hadn’t woken up next to dead bodies. Or in the wrong clothes. Or with my hair smelling like smoke. There haven’t been any clues left.
But she was there, all that time.
What kind of damage has she been doing?
“I think she was hiding from you,” Alik says, the slightest bit of pity in his voice. “She mentioned you trying to get rid of her.”
Yeah… How foolish of me to think I’d succeeded.
But sheisme. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I should be able to recall everything she’s done, including where she hid the damaging evidence against Alik.
I focus on that, pushing the suffocating reality that I’m probably not treatable from my mind for the time being.
Where in my apartment would I hide something like that?
My eyes snap open when I think of it.
“I know where she put the photos.”
“You do?” he asks, his voice hopeful.
I nod and stand before hurrying to the apartment door.
“Olive, wait. It might not be safe.”
“I can’t let her do this to you,” I say, my voice raising as I spin to face him.
He pauses a moment while staring at me seriously. Slowly, he climbs to his feet and nods. “Let me check it out first.”
He goes ahead of me then returns a minute later, holding the door open for me as he gestures to my apartment.
I hurry across the hall and make a beeline for my bathroom, nervous excitement fueling my steps.
Alik stands in the doorway while I fall on my knees in front of the sink and rip open the cabinet door. I poke my head inside and feel along the edge of the bottom board until I find the spot that has some give.
It’s been a year since I shot heroin, but it hasn’t been a year since drugs have tempted me. Eleven months ago, I bought a bottle of Oxys from the guy in the apartment Alik now occupies. I never took them, and after five months of keeping them hidden in this compartment, I found it in myself to throw them out a few days after Alik moved in.
I pull up the board and drag in my first full breath when I spot the bulging envelope. I pluck it out, but when I go to open it, Alik rips it from my hand.
His face is stone as he opens it and pulls out a thin sheet of paper that he lets drift to the floor before sliding several pictures into his hand.
“Well?” I ask, stretching to snatch the note that fell to the floor.
I know you both better than you think. Guess again ;)
“Fucking bitch,” Alik growls before chucking the envelope to the floor.
I flinch, nearly knocking my head against the cabinet door. I have to remind myself he doesn’t seeherandmeas the same person.
Or maybe he does.
