Deep Waters

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I neatly folded the last of my T-shirts and handed it to Kason who was sitting on my bed beside my suitcase. He neatly placed it in my bag for me. "I think that's the last of it," I told him, looking around for any of my things that I could have missed. "All that's left is things I'll use before leaving." He breathed with a single nod before zipping up my luggage.

A knock sounded on my bedroom door, making us both look up. Hazel stood there, looking nervous as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Can I talk to you Delilah?" she asked, looking between me and my boyfriend. "Alone."

I slipped her a kind smile, nodding, and glancing at Kason. He must have read my mind because he stood up from the bed to leave. "I'll see you in the morning, Babe," he spoke, gently pulling my head to him before he kissed my forehead. "Sleep well." We shared a loving smile before he walked past Hazel and out of the room.

Turning around, I grabbed my suitcases and moved them to the carpeted floor before climbing on my comforter and patting the space in front of me. My friend walked further into my room and sat down with me, anxiously fumbling with her fingers. For a long moment, I just stared at her as she blankly looked at her thumbs, gathering her thoughts, I presumed. "Why did you ask me about Macy?" she finally asked.

I leaned back into my pillow, biting my lip. "I was getting bad vibes from your brother," I admitted honestly, realizing that if her opinion about me changed, it didn't really matter because I was leaving with my original squad in the morning anyway. "Your mom told me about her disappearance and Sam had been acting really weird, so I was just wanting explanations, I guess..." She nodded once, still not looking up at me. "I'm sorry," I added, "I realize it's none of my business, and I know he's your brother...he just gives me the creeps." A nervous, guilty chuckle escaped my throat.

Hazel sighed loudly and pursed her lips. She truly was pretty with her long brown hair and brown eyes, and mocha freckles varying dots on her smooth skin. All I could do was stare at her as I waited for a response, hoping she wasn't offended by me priding into their lives. Being nosy was just a trait of mine. "You have every right to think that," she commented. I didn't know how to respond to that. A little bit of relief relaxed me. "He acted too normal after Macy disappeared...It's like she never existed. He took down every picture and got rid of all her stuff that was left here."

Tears prickled the bottom of her small brown eyes. Her chest rose and fell as she controlled her incoming emotions. "Hazel?" I asked softly. "Are you okay?" Something was off. Something felt weird. What was happening? What was she thinking?

It was only a short moment before she began talking again. "One night, I was sitting on my bed and heard shouting coming from Sam's room. I stood out in the hall and listened." The girl looked up at me and met my eyes. "Macy and Sam never fought," she informed me. "If they did, it was never witnessed. But this was bad. They were both shouting—and Macy was normally quiet and soft-spoken—she never yelled or got angry...I didn't hear the beginning, but she was accusing him of something.

"She was screaming at him and calling him a 'jerk' and a 'liar'. He told her to 'shut up' before she would say something that he could never forgive." Hazel delivered a quick sad smile before swallowing the lump in her throat. "...she didn't...She kept saying her family left because of him and everything that had happened to her was his fault. He just kept yelling at her to shut up...And she broke up with him...she said she was done with his crap and his issues, and she was leaving. I overheard him say that if she left this house then she'd never live to see another day of her life..." She looked back down at her fumbling thumbs, sniffling before wiping her nose with her hoodie sleeve. "She left." Her red eyes connected with mine, filled with horror and regret. "And Macy was never heard from again."