Red String, Blue String

Chapter 4

"Well, you know how to reach me if you ever need to, make sure to take anything off the walls." I stood up and nodded in thanks before slowly opening his door and walking down the hall. I found Theo roaming around by the elevator when I got off on the sixth floor, he saw me and walked over, "how'd it go?"

"It was fine, mine is 621, end of the hall over there," we made our way to my door and I already began to smell the essential oils my across-the-hall neighbour always used, that was definitely a smell I wouldn't miss. I half heartedly through my coat across the arm of the couch, Theo kept his on while I went to the fridge and offered him a chilled bottle of water, just like he had done when I had my first anxiety attack at his house. He took his hand out of his pocket and grabbed the bottle from my hand.

"You can go home by the way, this may take a little while," I said as I looked around my living room.

"There's practically nothing here," Theo remarked and he was right. I had a fruit bowl as decor in my kitchen and a lamp in my living room, besides the typical kitchen cutlery and couch cushions, that was about it. Theo sat on my couch and essentially just watched me pack. My bedroom was the only place that actually had anything of real value, Theo didn't see any of it which was probably for the best. I packed up my clothing too and a couple random things from throughout the house, I had two suitcases and my purse worth of stuff. My apartment was furnished when I moved in so I didn't need to worry about any of that.

I brought some stuff to one of my neighbours, Cindy, a nice lady with two kids who had helped me out in the past, she was really appreciative and gave me a hug. Her eight year old daughter came outside and hugged me too. When I entered my apartment Theo was looking through one of my suitcases, the one I had forgotten to zip.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed as I pushed his hand away from my stuff before zipping up the suitcase as fast as my clammy hands could.

"I was just going to zip it...." he started to say.

"No...you were looking through my stuff!" I exclaimed and immediately regretted it, I had kept my anger in check over the few days I had known Theo but I was starting to reach my breaking point.

"I wasn't," he said, "what's this really about Luna?" I shrugged as I pretended like I didn't know exactly what he had meant. "That was a weird way to react, there's something more isn't there?"

"But there isn't," I told him as I walked away from him to pull my suitcases over by the door. He seemed annoyed with me, for the first time, he hadn't even been like this after I broke in, "I have to pack some stuff too," he told me, barely looking in my direction. I was getting frustrated and tried to push the boundaries.

"Is something wrong with you?"

"With me?" he asked, the shock spreading across his face.

"Yes, you."

"I can't even believe this," he muttered under his breath. By then he had turned to face me directly, my brown eyes met his blue ones.

"We've barely spoken since yesterday when we were planning everything."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Whose fault?!" I questioned, my voice began to raise and I cringed, as I thought of my mother.

"Luna...you were going to kill me."

"We've established that...Theo," I said, adding emphasis through his name.

"Yes, but I always thought that you had never planned to do it, I found your gun last night when I was looking for my wallet.'

"How does your wallet correlate with your jacket?" I asked.

"You're really ignoring the point," he said as he pushed me aside slightly and grabbed the gun from my jacket pocket.

"Put it back," I said through gritted teeth. I tried wrestling it from his hand but his strength surprised me, we fought for a second but I stopped once my finger reached the trigger. He noticed and let go, the gun clattered to the floor because I hadn't had my hand gripped on it tight enough. I looked him in the eyes before I knelt down to pick it up off the floor, I pulled it back to unload it but I heard Theo's breath hitch from where he had been standing above me. He noticed what I had been actually doing and calmed down, "what?" I asked.

"You're weak." I saw red, seething from behind my eyes, no one had told me that in years, I almost felt like reloading the gun but instead, I pulled myself up to a standing position, I threw the gun gently on the couch.

"Why would you say that?" I asked, and I noticed how my voice had a tinge of sadness and I couldn't make eye contact anymore. A weak move for sure.

"I saw the way your hand was shaking when you were holding the gun just now."

"My hands are just sweaty, I go to the range all the time," I retorted.

"It's not that....you're weak because you let your boss tell you what to do," he said, clearly frustrated. "Your boss told you to kill me and you were about to do it."

"And that makes me weak?" I asked, pretending like I hadn't known the answer.

"Absolutely."

"Killing someone is weak?"

"Not inherently, but if someone else has to tell you, that's just a controlling tactic. You gave in to his control, who is he to you?" That was the second time Theo had asked me that.

"He is just my boss, I'm a good employee."

"Please tell me that you actually believe that." Theo told me, "did you date him or something." Theo had already asked that before but my face began to flush, as lucky as I could be in this situation, my skin, being the mix of tan and bronze it was, couldn't go super red.

"NO!" He seemed surprised at my outburst but looked at me as if to guide me in continuing. I vowed to never tell anyone the truth, but this was Theo. A man that I had known for just over two days, but one that I trusted. And even though we had been fighting, my heart still wanted me to tell him. I usually listened to my head, but my heart was about to burst, it wanted me to listen. I looked back at Theo again, his hair that swept over his face the slightest bit, his furrowed brows, his blue eyes which increased in intensity when the sun was on them.

"Luna..." he began and before he could get even more mad, I started to speak, my words began to scramble together at first but I found my footing, "he's my father!"