Only Ru does not break into smiles and congratulations like I would for him. He looks like he wants to murder me instead, and just as everyone begins to talk over one another, like when we first entered this hallway, my best friends' roars sound over the lot of them.
His fist connects with my cheek. ‘You got my little sister pregnant!’
Blindsided by one of my own turning on me, I struggle to keep up with what is being said.
Pregnant…
Sister…
What the… what the fuck is going on?
Ru, clearly not finished, drags me towards him by the collar of my t-shirt. But my mind is too focused on what he said to care what he might do next.
Pregnant.
‘Put him down, idiot.’ Her familiar voice sounds amongst the chaos, and my leader relinquishes his grip on me despite the harsh set of his features suggesting it's probably the last thing that he wants to do.
Fauna tugs him away and I don’t bother to watch where they go or where everyone else grumbles off to as their leader instructs them to leave.
I just stare at her, still unable to believe my eyes.
‘I can’t believe I’ve found you again,’ I admit, hand to heart. She doesn’t say anything and she doesn’t have to. ‘It’s a surprise, princess, I know, but we’re so lucky we’ve found each other.’
Vish and another woman I don’t recognise stand by her side both with unreadable expressions. And as I look back at the woman my heart beats for, a sinking feeling begins in my stomach because the way she is looking back at me feels worlds apart from the way I know I am looking back at her.
All this time I’d never considered that she did not feel the same way as me. That for her, I could have been insignificant.
Ru’s mention of a sister settles in now as I see the resemblance between the two. Her dark, glossy hair and sharp cheekbones. The stormy look she has as she watches me take her in, my gaze roaming her body. Her perfect body, the feel of which I can remember as if it were yesterday.
Then, as my eyes travel lower, it all hits me at once. Ru’s anger ringing in my ears as I see exactly why he was so pissed with me.
‘You’re preg—’ I begin but she doesn’t stay to hear me finish those words, she does not confirm what I am seeing. She closes her eyes and disappears into the room behind her, leaving my heart to shatter with every step she takes away from me.
Chapter seven
Isla
‘Isla, are you alright?’ Amelia asks from the doorway, chewing on her lip.
I shake my head.
This cannot be fucking happening to me.
Seriously, was the end of the world not enough?
‘Darling…’ Vish approaches.
He’s always done that, been the annoying, considerate one. But right now I can’t be doing with the gentleness that these two are giving me. I need something and it's not what they are giving.
Why does my breakdown have to be in the nurse's office of a primary school? If life wasn’t bad enough, I now have to panic in a small crowded room with white walls.
God, I feel insane.
Maybe I am. Maybe this is all some fucked up hallucination I have created whilst asleep — the exhaustion from worrying about Fauna caused it. That’s the only logical excuse because no way has the masked Skull I fucked months ago found me.
‘Isla, we’ve got a good place. Somewhere safe.’ Vish continues, imploring me to listen. ‘The stadium, we converted it. It’s safe.’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask.
