Hey there! If you're reading chapter three of this then thank you for sticking with me so far. I've posted two chapters in two days, I think this is a new record for me.
Chapter Three
"I open my lungs, dear, I sing this song at funerals, no rush."
The Mortician's Daughter, Black Veil Brides
I hadn't touched Clare's card since I was released from the hospital a week before. I still had it, but it was just collecting dust in a pocket of my wallet. I was staying with my parents while my leg healed and with CeCe hovering constantly over me, it was hard to do anything alone.
It's not like I was looking forward to calling Clare; I had only met her once and the only reason she came to talk to me was to invade my privacy. But there was something about her that, in the few minutes I talked to her, drew me in. It may have been her demeanor which, despite her professional attitude, was still caring when she saw I was having a problem, or it may have been the fact that I saw the marks on her wrists, something I probably wasn't supposed to see.
Whatever the reason, I decided to call her. I reached into my wallet and pulled out the business card. I grabbed the phone that was sitting beside me and dialed the number.
"Hello?" she answered after the third ring.
"Um, hey. It's me, Eli. I don't know if you remember me but you interviewed me" I coughed; I sounded too nervous.
"Oh, hello Eli, of course I remember you. What can I do for you?" Her voice was kind of tired. Maybe she had a late night or something, I thought.
"Well, I wanted to tell you that I remembered some of what happened with Adam, the fight and stuff, I mean."
"Oh? Okay, cool! Let me just grab my laptop and we can get started." On the other side of the conversation, I heard her shuffling papers. Then she said, "I'm ready now. Go ahead."
I took a deep breath and began. "We were walking—Adam and I— suddenly there were these two guys in front of us. I don't know how but they knew about Adam, what he was. And they were yelling things at him like 'Tranny' and 'Fag'—one minute." My voice was choking up. Adam had only been dead for a week; I wasn't over it and it still really hurt.
"It's fine." Clare said compassionately. "Take all the time you need."
Her voice was soothing to me. I took a deep, calming breath and continued. "And Adam was yelling at them and stuff, and then they were just on top of us, punching and kicking us. Adam was screaming and I was screaming and then they just ran off." I paused, trying to recall more. "I'm sorry, that's all I remember."
"That was great, actually. Thanks." She said. "So how've you been since then?"
I shrugged, even though she couldn't see it. "Off the record or on?"
"Off."
"I've been okay. My leg hurts and so does my head, but not as bad as they did last week. What about you? I mean, I barely know anything about you."
There was silence on the other line.
"Clare?"
I strained my hearing to see if maybe she was just speaking quietly or something. I heard a faint voice, but it was deeper than Clare's, more like a man's.
"Alli, I'm gonna have to go. Call you tomorrow?" She said frantically.
"What? I'm Eli." I answered, confused.
"Okay, bye!"
What the hell just happened? I thought.
Gracias for reading and reviewing!
