Mallory's Melody

Chapter 52

Hurry.

William knew it was a death wish, but he hit send anyway. He slipped his phone into his pocket and took a minute, in the pungent, camphor-reeking bathroom, to reflect on the mishmash of emotions eluding him. He felt a twinge of guilt, but he also felt like he'd done the right thing. 

It was a clash between his love for Jane and his hatred for her. Although he could never, in reality, hate her as an individual (he was too deeply enamoured by her too) he could hate her actions, as he should.

It wasn't like William didn't know who Jane was. He knew exactly who she was, knew that she was manipulative and wicked, and in all the ways bad for him. He'd known that ever since she killed his brother, Lewis. But knowing didn't convince him to detach himself from her. Knowing didn't make any difference. Knowing was only an opportunity to solidify his soul-to-soul attachment to Jane. It was an opportunity to verify his love for her, to senselessly and irrationally justify her actions, to cling to the hope that all lovers with terrible partners clung to, that they would, by some miracle, change.

He was wrong.

Today alone had shown him that much. What kind of mother would be so willing to kill her daughter just for the asinine reason of attaining her peace of mind? And what sort of person would keep another in captivity for ten years just to protect her own reputation? He felt deeply sorry for Ava Harrison, as he should. William had had a hand in the destruction of her life. He'd been the one who set up her kidnap, and also the one who yanked her son away from her, never to give him back. Sometimes a pang of guilt struck him when he went to go to Ava's cell to serve her breakfast. He would near the door to her cell and be reluctant to go in, knowing that to look at Ava, bound by chains and emaciated by years upon years of malnutrition, was to look at the part of himself he'd been denying since he met Jane. That rabid part of himself, the malicious, and irrational part who wouldn't think twice before running to Jane's feet.

William knew Jane Anderson didn't love him. Sometimes it seemed she was incapable of love, with the emptiness and coldness that seldom filled her eyes. She was only using him for her own benefit, and after the need for him disappeared, she would abandon him like the thousands of other men she'd abandoned. Ava had said it herself once. 

"You're not any different William. Your too will expire. It doesn't matter how many days or years it will take, but you will. Trust me."

And William did. This was his way of not expiring, of getting back at Jane after years upon years of being roped along. He was going to sell her out, as he should have a long time ago.

William phone buzzed in his pocket. He retrieved it. I'm here, Old man. Now tell me where the hell Mallory is so I can get the hell out of here.

William smiled widely. Jason Trevor was inexorable. Contrary to popular belief, he liked Jason Trevor. He was a boy with the will of a soldier. He had the rebellious mien of a thousand revolutionaries and the stubbornness of a bulldog. And sometimes these sides of him had glimmered so brightly, William feared he would come to his true self. When he resigned from Starlight Academy, William had felt a palpable loss, not only the loss of someone who was an invaluable asset to Starlight Academy's success but the loss of a comrade, a friend, one who was exactly like him, chained to shackles, a slave to people. Jason had found freedom, individuality, something William was just coming to after about ten years of struggle.

Keep stalling William. Keep stalling. I'm just a finger away from sending you to jail. Where is Mallory?

William sighed. Keep calm. You know that door I always told you to never go through? Yeah, go through it now. It leads to an underground cellar. We're all right there no. Be careful. Jane is on the loose.

You mean, Mallory's dead mother?

I know. Crazy, right?

A pause. I'd be right there. Just make sure she's safe okay?

I'll make sure they're safe.

Wait, it's a 'they're' now? How many people are there?

Mallory, Diana, Cole...Your mother.

Jason didn't respond after that last one. William heaved a sigh of relief at that, relief like never before. How long had he had to keep that secret away from him? Five years. Seven? Ava was his mother, and he was the boy whose life Jane had said he should torture.

What?

Before William could respond to Jason's mail, the door of the bathroom flung open, and there stood his worst nightmare. Jane Anderson. She looked at him with a fearful knowing, with deep betrayal, her mouth agape and eyes dilate. 

She knew.

"You sold me out."

William began to hyperventilate. "I—how did you know?"

"You really think I would not find a way to know the communications of someone who can potentially ruin me?" Jane reached low to get the gun William knew was in her leather boot. "Think again, love."

William looked at the gun, and then back at Jane, and thought for a split minute that she wouldn't. But he'd known Jane for too long to harbour that kind of senseless hope.

"Goodbye, love."

She pulled the trigger, and it wasn't until her bullet perforated his chest that he knew it had finally come. 

His expiration.