Thirty-seven

"So you went into the crawl space, had some epic adventure –"

"It was dark, dusty and cold as fuck." I corrected.

"Where you chatted up several ghosts getting closer to unravelling the mystery that we're in-"

"This isn't a Nancy Drew novel, Simon. And we found nothing, it was useless."

"And then you went on a midnight stroll with Chloe planning mine and hers escape." Simon ran his fingers through his hair, he was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking put out. Whether it was about talking to ghosts or the midnight stroll with Chloe, I had no idea. You never knew with Simon. He was always up for adventure, I guess it went hand in hand with his creativity, me: I'm practical. I like to do things that will be useful to me in the future.

"Remind me again, who is going on the Great Escape and who isn't? I thought it was Chloe and me."

"Chloe and I." I corrected.

"But you guys already did a trial run," Simon pouted. He's such a little girl sometimes.

"I'm sorry."

"Wait. What was that? I thought I heard you say something." I threw my sock at him.

"I'm not saying it again. It was my idea, it just made sense and let's face it we have no time to lose. Chloe would have waited for you, but I didn't want to postpone it any longer".

"You could have woken me."

"You need the beauty sleep," I joked, rolling my shoulders and bending down to do some push-ups on the floor. I didn't want Simon to look at me too closely, so I was constantly moving around the room. My hope was that if I was engaged in physical activity my muscles would behave. They seemed to have calmed down after the walk, a break from this place seemed to do me a world of good. I thought of Chloe's striped hair under the street lights and her sweet sarcastic blue eyes and fought a smile.

"Why are you doing push-ups? Do you have to? I already look like a twelve year old boy next to you," he groaned, teasing. He was staring at his own arms like he could will them into being more impressive. I grinned at him, Simon was a pain in my ass but he was my brother and I was going to miss him like mad when he left. What would I do, when I had no-one to protect?

Lunch time. I grabbed a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice. I wasn't being greedy, I just couldn't decide. Besides, calcium and Vitamin C, all good things. I headed to the dining room and was greeted by the sight of Chloe and Simon huddled together. Simon instinctively reached for the orange juice and I snorted. Surely he knew better by now? "Get your own." I placed the two glasses next to my plate, hoping the nutritional value in the drinks would rid me of this shitty fever and return me to normal. Well, normal for me.

"Are you okay?" Chloe whispered. My eyes shot to the kitchen door, where Simon was. He couldn't know about last night, about how I was feeling. He wouldn't leave if he knew I wasn't right. I clenched my jaw, my glare communicating my desire for her to back off. She didn't back down, she was waiting for me to answer, our eyes locked. "I'm fine. Tylenol kicked in." Her eyes didn't leave my face as she inspected me for signs of illness, I could feel my face heat slightly under her scrutiny. Could she not? I ravenously attacked my oatmeal. "Do I pass, Dr Saunders?"

"I guess so." She was silent.

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't say a word." That wasn't a nothing. Something was going on, something she didn't want me to know. Had she changed her mind?

"Something's up. What is it?" I pressed. My curiosity was peaked. I had a feeling it was nothing good. Had Tori hurt her again, my fists clenched.

"Nothing." Liar, liar pants on fire. I stared down at her, wanting to intimidate her into telling me the truth, if something was wrong she needed to tell me. So I could fix it.

"Yeah?" I persisted.

"Yes."

I shook my head. Stubborn. I returned to my porridge, scooping the last of it as Simon sat down. "Anyone see the chore list for this morning?" He handed Chloe some orange juice, ever the gentleman, I rolled my eyes. He reached for the sugar bowl and I snatched it out of his hands, no risks. I warned him with my eyes. Simon didn't seem to care that he had diabetes some of the time and with Dad not around to monitor what he ate, I did what I could to limit his sugar intake, like pouring all the available sugar onto my second bowl of oatmeal so it was unbearably sweet just so he couldn't have any. Brotherly love.

"We're on leaf-raking duty," Simon smiled warmly at Chloe. Only Simon could make chores sound like the most entertaining event on the planet.

I wasn't spying. Okay, I was. I just had a bad feeling, Chloe clearly had something on her mind, and naturally she would tell Simon what was bothering her and not me. I'm not exactly the warmest person on the planet, in case you hadn't noticed. So, yeah I was eavesdropping. I was curious. They were talking while raking up the leaves. Simon was edging closer, Chloe looked like a terrified rabbit and my heart started to pound. I moved closer so I could hear them more clearly, I shook off the uneasy feeling in my stomach, my muscles were still restless beneath my skin and I would be lying if I said that it didn't terrify me. It was too early, there was just no way. None.

"I'm sure Rae's cool, but I wouldn't have argued it just being the two of us," Simon gave Chloe a look. You know, the look as he said that meaningful sentence. I had to give it to him, he was about to break out of an institution, but no he wouldn't let that interfere with his love life. And he gave me shit for being selfish? What a hypocrite –

Wait. Rae. What the fuck about Rae? I ignored the intimate way Simon brushed their hands together as he whispered something into Chloe's ear. I was too mad to try and listen. "What's this about Rae?" I demanded, all but sprinting across the lawn.

"For fuck sake," Simon muttered under his breath, raising his eyebrows at me. He knew I must have heard their sweet little chat before racing across the grass to give them both a piece of my mind. But I didn't care. I still don't care. This was more important. "Anyone ever tell you your sense of timing really sucks?"

"That's why I don't play the drums." I dismissed him and turned to Chloe, "Now what's up?"