HYDE: The Monster Within

8: Shaken, Not Stirred

I freeze with my hand on the mug. It’s a coincidence, it has to be. Carrie didn’t have a brother. She was like me...she didn’t have a family.

Right?

Jay’s eyes harden as he cups his own mug with both hands. His knuckles turn white and I notice the tension at the edge of his mouth.

“How – ” I choke. “How did she d-die?”

Jay shrugs, pretending to be unaffected. “She was...” he trails away and then gnaws on the edge of his lip. “She was uh...killed. Just last night.” He glances back at me and shakes his head. "Sorry, I don't mean to dump all this on you. You seem like a nice girl."

Oh, this is just not my day.

I’m seized by the sudden urge to run screaming from that diner, but panic keeps me pinned to that booth seat. Which is fortunate, because I’m pretty sure my first reaction would not have been the wise one. I grip my mug even harder, trying to form a coherent thought.

Say something you idiot! I yell at myself. Anything!

“Uh...” I stammer.

Not good, definitely not good. I sound like a troll. Crap, I’m no good at this. How does one comfort a grieving brother? Especially when I’m pretty sure I’m the one who killed said brother’s sister?

Jay must interpret my extended silence as awkwardness because he laughs self-consciously. “I’m sorry. I’m really bad at this.”

“No, no!” I blabber. “I mean it’s – it’s uh – ”

“Stupid of me,” Jay says, half to himself. “Telling a stranger about my murdered sister. You probably think I’m crazy.”

Hysterical laughter bubbles its way out of my throat. If only he knew.

“You’re not crazy,” I assure him.

“Sometimes I’m not so sure.”

“D-do the police know anything – about who killed her?” I probe.

Jay clenches one of his hands into a fist and slams it against the table. I jump, sloshing coffee all over the tabletop.

“Sorry,” he growls.

Before I can even react, Jay grabs a fistful of napkins and begins viciously wiping up the mess. The coffee seeps into the white fabric, staining it a disgusting brown and yellow.

“There’s – no – evidence,” Jay says through gritted teeth, punctuating each word with a swipe of the napkins. He chases a stray drop and it disappears beneath his searching fingers. “Nothing. Like it never happened.”

I allow myself to feel a little relieved. They’re not onto me. Hyde will make sure they don’t catch me. He promised.

“When’s the funeral?” I ask, trying to appear nonchalant and appropriately penitentat once.

“This weekend,” Jay says. I can hear the rough edge in his voice and know how desperately he must be trying to hide his grief. The wound of his sister’s death is still raw. Even if he wasn’t that close to her. Family is family.

Not that I’m an expert.

“I – I knew Carrie,” I add tentatively. Best not to give too much away, but a little probably won’t hurt...“Not well, but I – I saw her a few times.”

Jay laughs. There’s something almost mocking in it, something bitter. “Yeah,” he says. “Carrie knew a lot of people.”

I tilt my head. “Whadya mean?”