I went to meet Tim in the front room when I heard him clatter through the door.
"Why was there a scarf behind the wardrobe?"
Tim stilled.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Looking at me over his shoulder, his expression changed to one of innocence instead of confusion.
"Must have fallen there."
I appraised him for a moment, wondering whether to press it further. Tim did a lot of unusual things that I didn't understand and this was up there with the weirder things.
"It's your school scarf."
"Alright," he relented. "It makes me think about Leythe so I don't want to look at it but I don't want to get rid of it."
One of the lights in the living room flickered and we both looked up at it.
"Sorry," I said softly. "Would you like me to put it back?"
He surprised me by coming closer and snatching it from me.
"No. Just stay out of my things!"
"I wasn't going through your things. I was moving the wardrobe to check the damp on the wall."
Tim turned away then and held the scarf close to him protectively.
"What is going on with you?"
"Nothing," he hissed at me.
There was a horrible sensation in my throat just then.
I crossed my arms and tilted my head, somewhat consciously.
"Tim. Whatever is going on, just talk to me. I want to help."
I jumped and inhaled sharply when he lashed out and kicked the coffee table.
"Tim!"
"Leave me alone," he yelled angrily at me as he slumped to sit on the sofa.
"Have you been drinking," I asked slowly. I'd banned him from alcohol when he started taking anti-depressants but I had suspected for a long while that he wasn't sticking by it.
He gave a callous laugh. One that resonated with my memory of the Favonia. 'What's his name?' He had laughed that way then before telling me, 'It's a woman. Her name is Isabel.'
I sat next to him and he looked at me challengingly. Defiant. All in one thought it hit me.
"What did you take?"
His eyes widened in momentary panic but like the usual coniving shit he is, he composed himself instantly.
"Don't be stupid Ivo."
He winced when I grasped his jaw in my hand and looked at him. His pupils were alarmingly big.
"Get off me!"
He pulled away from me but I was still stronger than him.
"Tell me what you took."
Tim seemed like an entirely different person as he fought me off, scratching at me and kicking wildly.
"I hate you! I hate you so much," he panted from the exertion of trying to get away. I held him close to me and shushed him and it surprised me that he calmed almost in an instant thought he continued to sigh and fidget. He was probably too tired to do anything else.
"What did you take." I repeated, whispering it in his ear and kissing his temple.
I felt him shrug.
"Answer me."
After a little while he answered.
"I took some coke. Not much. Just felt good."
I buried my nose in his hair and breathed in the smell.
"Why?"
He didn't answer me.
"Tim?"
I squeezed his shoulder a little. He pulled from me and I let him. I watched warily as he pulled an envelope addressed to him from his pocket. My heart plummeted to my stomach. Surely it couldn't be from Kit? It turned out it wasn't.