“What’s wrong?” Nathaniel frowned.
“I…I…how did we get out?”
“Out?”
“Of the house…after what I…”
“Of Joe’s house?”
I nodded, heart hammering in my chest like a wild animal desperate to escape an enclosure.
“We walked out the front door…”
“But the others…they would have seen…”
Nathaniel sat down beside me, hand clasping my knee gently. “Seen what?”
“The blood.”
“The blood?” Nathaniel repeated, alarmed. “What blood?”
I glanced sideways at him, tears blurring my vision. Why was he acting like he didn’t remember? He was right there. “Joe’sblood. I killed him.”
“Killedhim?” Nathaniel repeated. “What are you talking about? You didn’t kill him. Joe’s fine. He let us go. Said your soul had been saved.”
“What areyoutalking about?!” I snapped, voice cracking. “You were right there! You saw it! You said he was dead!”
Confusion and fear crossed Nathaniel’s face as he studied me. “Augustus…that never happened. I promise you…you didn’t kill anybody.”
I glanced down at my hands. There was no blood, but I assumed Nathaniel had helped me clean it off.
“But the clothes…the blood…”
“There was no blood. You vomited a little as you passed out, that’s all.”
I stared at him, searching for the lie. I couldn’t find it. “That…wasn’t real? I really didn’t kill him?”
“You didn’t kill him,” he confirmed, reaching for my hand to clasp firmly. “I promise…you didn’t kill anybody.”
“It felt so real,” I whispered, peeling my hand from his grasp.
“Just a hallucination, perhaps?”
“I’m not crazy.”
“I never said you were.”
“But you think I’m hallucinating?”
“I’m just saying that is a potential explanation for what you experienced.”
Don't act surprised, Augustus. You've been questioning your sanity for a while.
“No, no, no,” I stood, pacing back and forth, fingers raking through my hair. “This can’t be happening.”
Nathaniel reached for my hands, but I flinched away from his touch. “Augustus…”
“Please just take me home. I need…I need to see Auden.”
