Inhale…
One, two, three…
Exhale…
One, two, three…
Rinse. Repeat.
It was over an hour’s walk from town to the shack, and my phone had started blowing up about ten minutes in. I turned it off and continued on my slow, dazed journey home.
By the time I made it to my front door, I’d gotten a handle on myself. I was no longer worried I would die from a panic attack, but my heart was beating so hard you would think I’d just run a marathon.
I stared at the door for a long time before I finally turned the knob and walked in.
Riddick was home, sitting at the kitchen table with a plate of food for me like he always did, and his head snapped to me as I walked in.
“Hey, baby boy,” he said, giving me his usual smile.
When I didn’t respond, the smile slipped off his face, and immediately, I knew… I knew he wasn’t going to explain it all away.
My entire world was about to implode…Again.
“You found out,” he whispered. It was a statement, not a question. He said it like he’d been waiting for this day, and it had only been a matter of time before everything came crashing down.
Swallowing back my tears, I tossed the newspaper on the table in front of him.
I held out a violently shaking finger and forced a single word out past the painful lump in my throat.
“Explain.”
He glanced at the paper, and I watched his heart break as he took in the photo that labeled him as JakefuckingWhittling. The man who’d died long before I even showed up in Stars Cove.
“What is there to explain, Finn? The truth is right here, staring up at you,” he said, gesturing to the newspaper.
“It’s not possible! What, did you fake your death? Is that why you won’t go into town?” My mind was racing. I knew that wasn’t the case because hehadgone into town, and everyone had seen him that night on the beach. Wouldn’t that have been a bigger deal if everyone thought he was dead?
He couldn’t even look at me.
“I didn’t fake my death, Finn.”
“You must have! You can’t be… you can’t be… you’reright here!”I cried out, my voice finally cracking on my tears. I rushed forward and grabbed him, digging my fingers into his flesh to confirm that he washereand he wasreal.
“I’m dead, Finn. I’m sorry you found out like this. I wanted to tell you, I just… I didn’t knowhow.”
“No…” I was shaking again. I backed away, feeling like I could literally die from the horror of what he was telling me.
He stood up and came after me, looking just as miserable as I felt.
“Baby, I’m sorry-”
“Don’t youfuckingbaby me!” I screamed at him. “I fuckingloved you!You made melove you,and you’re not even fucking real? Am I crazy? Am I having a mental fucking breakdown?”
My whole body was cold, and I was shaking so hard that my teeth were chattering.
“Of course, I’m real, Finn. I don’t know how, but I am. You need to breathe, bab—Finn. You’re going into shock.”
He tried to pull me into him, but I jerked away.
