Chapter 69

The next night, Asher and I stood outside of Brent’s dorm, ready to sneak inside.

“Are you sure want to do this?” Asher asked me. “You look like you might be sick.”

For me, this was less about wanting to do this, and more about needing to. For Aimee. For myself.

“I’ll be alright,” I said.

He stared at me with a heavy gaze, watchful for any sign of deceit. But I wasn’t lying. No matter what happened, I would be fine – after.

A warm hand touched my arm at the elbow, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t seen Asher move.

With my reaction, he frowned deeply. “We can turn back. Think of something else.”

I knew he was uncertain. I couldn’t tell him what I meant to do, which unnerved him.

But the true source of his trepidation was borne from his concern for me. Knowing that gave me a great sort of comfort and strength. I could face anything, knowing he would be waiting for me on the other side.

“I can do this, Asher.”

Slowly, his uncertainty faded. “I know you can.” He offered me a tiny smile. “You can do anything.”

Asher went into Brent’s dorm first, with instruction for me to follow after one full minute. When I entered, Asher was speaking with the superintendent, claiming their full attention.

“Walk with purpose,” Asher had instructed me earlier. “If you look like you belong, no one will question it.”

I did as he had said, placing confident step after confident step on my way to the stairs. No one really paid me any mind, especially with the superintendent so distracted. Still, I breathed a little easier when I entered the quiet stairwell.

Asher had done as I had asked, he had gotten me inside. The rest was up to me.

Brent’s room was on the third floor. Fortunately, most of the other residents on this floor were either already asleep or downstairs. Parties seemed a daily event in all of the athletes’ dorms.

At Brent’s door, I had expected him to be out somewhere, and for his door to be locked. I’d thought I’d have to hide in his room and wait for him to come back. I even had my ID card in hand, the ready to jimmy the lock.

So I was very surprised when I tried the handle and the door clicked open, unlocked. The lights in the room were off, but the television was on, with the volume down low. The TV cast blue light over the room.

A figure dozed on the bed, fully clothed on top of the covers. He held the TV remote loosely in one hand.

Brent.

Perfect.

Without sound, I creeped into the room. Hiding myself near the door, I closed my eyes, thought of the images of a crying baby, and projected those thoughts forward into a single apparition.

When I opened my eyes, a translucent infant, ghostlike, floated. The light of the television caught the shimmering edges of the apparition, making it glimmer with blue light, even more eerie.

Now for the hard part. I inhaled deeply, steeled myself, and made the baby wail.

At once, Brent jolted upright on the bed. His bleary eyes blinked a few times before growing wide, taking in the frightening sight before him.

“H-how? W-what?” he sputtered, unable to find words.

Through the baby, I spoke, “Why did you betray us, father?”

“F-father?”

“If you had not abandoned mother, perhaps I would still be alive.”

He was frozen on the bed, eyes impossibly wide, shoulders trembling. “No… I…”

“She wanted to have me. She wanted a family with you. You told her you loved her.”

“I did love her. I did!” Brent’s voice cracked, desperate.

“Then why leave her alone to her terrible fate?”

“I-I had to. I couldn’t… It was too much. I couldn’t give up my whole life so soon.” He covered his face with his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You could have helped her get an abortion at the hospital. You could have stayed by her.”

“No. No, you don’t understand. My reputation wouldn’t have recovered.”

“So you sacrificed hers?”

“I loved her, but…”

I wished Aimee could see him now, for what he was. How could he claim to love her yet sacrifice her reputation to spare his own? That was not love.

Brent likely didn’t know what love even looked like, unless it was love for himself.

“P-please leave me alone.” Brent tugged at his hair. In his terror, he had scrunched himself up into a ball on top of his bed. Like a mantra, he whispered to himself, “This isn’t real. This isn’t real.” Over and over on a loop.

“I will leave you alone,” I said through the baby. “If…”

He perked slightly, lowering his hands to peer at the apparition. “If?”

Here it was, the moment of truth. If I could convince him to do this, then everything else should fall into place.

“You must seek atonement. Then, and only then, will I rest peacefully.”

“Atonement? How?”

“Publically admit your faults. Accept responsibility for your actions. And apologize to Aimee.”

“I can’t!” he said quickly.

Anger flared within me. Even when facing eternal haunting, Brent still sought to protect his own self-interests, rather than ask forgiveness.

“You must!” I made the baby say. Then I made it wail again.

Brent covered his ears. “Please! Please. Okay. Okay, I’m sorry!”

“I am not the one you need to tell.”

“I-I understand! I do. Please, just leave me alone!”

“Seek atonement, father,” I threatened once more, for good measure.

“I will! I swear I will!”

Then, I increased the baby’s size, growing them bigger and scarier with long teeth and fingers like claws. I gave them a glow as best I could. And I made them cry.

Brent couldn’t handle it. He fainted.

Immediately, I cut the mental threads creating the apparition, and it dissipated. Finally.

I slumped, exhausted physically and emotionally.

I could only hope that worked. I really didn’t want to have to do something like this ever again.

“We need rest now,” Lilith said, voice soft and tired.

“As soon as we get out of here,” I whispered in reply.

Carefully, I slipped out of the room and into the hallway. Only when I clicked the door closed again did I hear footsteps behind me.

The apparition must have taken more out of me than I had expected, if I could be sneaked up on in a fully lit, otherwise empty hallway.

Nervously, I racked my tired brain for some kind of excuse. I was Brent’s cousin from out of town? Or I was only delivering a message, no big deal? Or Brent and I were having a secret relationship?

Ug! Every excuse sounded worse than the previous. But I didn’t have time to think of anything better.

I swiveled on my heel, a random excuse primed on my tongue.

But my words caught, and instead I made an audible squeak.

Asher, watching me, lifted one lone brow.

Realizing it was only him, and I was safe, I exhaled in relief.

“Don’t scare me like that,” I said, pressing a hand to my beating heart. “I thought I was going to have to lie my way out of this.”

He hummed in acknowledgement.

“How did you get away from the superintendent?” I asked.

“How about a deal?” Asher said, crossing his arms. “I’ll tell you how I got away, if you tell me exactly what happened in that room.”

I shook my head. “I can’t…”

“Then at least tell me this,” he said. “Why did I just hear a baby crying?”

I stilled. He’d heard that?

Oh, no.