AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I turned up unannounced the other day and Phoenix invited me to go get ice cream with them,” Rebel confesses.
I’m relieved that he told the truth. If he claimed to have just met Phoenix today it would blow up in our faces the second Phoenix came back and was overly familiar with him.
“I see…” Jax scowls. “What’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing,” Rebel replies a little too quickly. It’s a good question actually; what is going on? What am I doing? This is stupid.
“What do you guys want?” I counter. “You don’t live here. You came because Rebel called. You came, you saw, you got answers...now what? Surely you have lives to get back to?”
The four of them exchange a glance, their silent conversation instantaneous. It’s so familiar it at once makes me want to smile and weep.
“Nope,” Rebel’s reply is emphatic. Instantly it’s echoed by Ace.
“I need more answers,” Jax insists. “Then I’m gone.” Thorn echoes his sentiment and I feel a pang in my chest.
“I don’t know what more I can tell you,” is my sorrowful reply.
“Aren’t you sorry, at all?” Thorn asks, aghast. He stares at me, equal parts horrified and hopeful.
How do I even begin to answer that? I sigh and reach for a drink, determined not to waste perfectly good hot chocolate even if no one else wants one. I close my eyes and cradle the mug in my hands like its warmth can give me strength. Stalling for time, I inhale the sweet aroma and take a long deep drink, savouring the silky sweet taste on my tongue. I swallow, open my eyes, find everyone staring at me.
“More than you’ll ever know,” I whisper too low for anyone to hear, as unwelcome tears roll down my cheeks.
Charlotte’s Diary
13/10/19
Baxter’s done it; he’s managed to arrange a flight for me to get off this island, hopefully without his grandfather or Cordelia finding out.
It’s all a bit cloak and dagger - something I’m used to - but he’s going to come with me on the flight to the mainland on the pretense that the flight has been booked for him alone. Once there, he’ll wait 48 hours before returning, and I’ll take a chartered flight back to the UK. He has me flying into one of the smaller airports and has arranged for a car to be waiting for me. He’s even given me the use of his London flat for a few weeks while I get myself sorted out.
I honestly don’t know what I would have done without him. So now I have to pack and prepare to get out of here, not really thinking too far ahead.
When I do think of the future, blind panic courses through me. Hundreds of questions fill my mind and I feel like I’m drowning in uncertainty. So instead, I’m focusing on one thing at a time.
Pack.
Leave.
Fly back to the UK.
Then take it from there.
I’m really going to miss Baxter though. I wish he could come back to the UK with me, but I’d never ask him to do that. He hasn’t offered - and I wouldn’t expect him to - but it’s still going to be hard to leave him behind. I’ve really enjoyed his company. What started as an annoyance, which then became a distraction, actually morphed into a friendship. And God knows, I don’t have many friends waiting for me back home.
As much as I need to leave, I wish I didn’t have to. It’s going to be lonely.
