Page 94 of House of Bass

“Most people do,” she said, wondering where this was leading.

“Naturally. But I meant you’re friends with her, aren’t you?” He inquired. It was weird, Harley had been around people who knew their secret for so long that she had forgotten that their cover was that they were just friends. Somewhere within her wanted to correct him and say No, she’s my sister but she held her tongue and nodded.

“I am.”

“Annabel usually takes one of my classes today but I haven’t heard from her at all,” he told her and it dawned on her instantly who this was. This was David. “She wasn’t the type to not show up at all, so I was wondering if there was something I wasn’t aware of.”

Annabel had mentioned how easily she had bonded with him and spoke to him about personal things in her life. He had been acting as a makeshift therapist in a way, so Harley chose to disclose parts of the truth. “There was a situation last night, she is feeling out of sorts at the moment so it must have escaped her mind to contact you.”

His brows furrowed in concern, “Anything serious that I could help with?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll make sure to tell her to get back to you,” Harley said, a little stunned at the honest worry he was displaying. They must’ve been closer than had been alluded to.

“Thank you.” He nodded, then walked away “It was nice to meet you, Harley.”

She paused. She never told him her name. Why did it often feel like she was in situations where people knew more than implied? Harley stared at his retreating figure, eyes narrowed. Which was when she spotted part of a tattoo by his neck, the rest hidden by the rest of his shirt; a spider that looked awfully like the one that rested on Scarlett’s ribcage. But that couldn't be. There was no way the university would hire a gang member, the idea was unseemly. Perhaps she was mistaken.

However, him talking about Annabel had her remembering she hadn’t checked in yet. She called her number multiple times to no avail, for the next thirty minutes her texts went unanswered and panic began to arise. There was no way she could get home on time to see if she was alright. She called her next option.

“Arden Thorne,” he answered after the first ring.

“It’s Harley.”

“Yes, I figured as much.”

Harley took a deep breath in and out to ignore his smart remark this one time as Annabel was more urgent than arguing with him. “I need you to check on my sister.”

“It’s noon on a Wednesday, she should be in Economics of Crime,” he said.

“No, she's not. She’s at home, something happened last night.” Harley told him everything from when she walked in on her burning her thighs to the bandage on her hands.

“Yesterday when she came to see Nicholas and I play, she cut her hands,” Arden informed her of what went down at the tennis match. Harley remembered the first time in the canteen when she’d seen her do that but not to the point of bandages.

“Is she okay?” she asked down the line tentatively, scared for the answer even though she knew it.

“She will be. I’m not that far, I’ll go check on her. She could just be asleep.”

Harley knew they were both rationalising but it was better than the alternative. He hung up and still she decided to forgo her next class, she could think up an excuse for her lecturers later.

35

ST. ANNABEL

I consider myself an excellent swimmer, seeing how I was taught to as soon as I could walk. Yet, there was a day when I nearly drowned when I was eleven.

It was the summer before secondary school started and I had a pool party for my birthday. Everyone showed up, even my dad who was even busier these days and stricter. He smiled less at me.

Before any of us even entered the pool, we were warned to be careful and even from a very young age that was the kind of girl I was; I put a second and third thought into everything I did, like my father. But that day, the excitement buzzing in the air had caught up to me.

Devon and I were playing a game, we wanted to see who could hold our breaths the longest underwater. There was nothing we knew better to do than compete with one another. It was fun, we fought a lot but she was my best friend. At least when Arden was away and he was away so often.

I hated it.

Every party that happened in this home was never really about me, I got to pick what I wanted but the parents were always here for each other. Like the garden parties, if we were absent even for a little they never really noticed.

The game was whoever stayed under longer would do whatever the other wanted for a week and when you were eleven, a week was a really long time. We snatched a timer from one of the lifeguards that had been hired and timed it.

Devon went first, she only managed to stay under for a minute before coming back up. Then it was my turn, what Devon didn't know was that I liked to keep myself underwater whenever I took a bath. Feeling the rush of water enter my lungs and come up for air.