LIMINAL || 𝙅𝙖𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙚 [1]

𝟙𝟛 | 𝕪𝕒' 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕞𝕖?

Each of us Walkers lost our tempers now and then in our own unique way. Dad's temper flared when he was stressed out at work. He had a hard time not bringing it home with him and would get more and more frustrated until it all boiled over, most often with yelling. Mom rarely yelled; she was much more skilled in the art of backhanded comments that made you wonder if she was angry or not (if you had to ask, the answer was yes). I wasn't all that great at staying mad; when my temper flared, it blazed for half a second, then quickly burned itself out. Cara, on the other hand, could stay mad for weeks.

The way she sat silently on my bed as I stood in the doorway was worse than any yelling match, biting remark, or slap to the face. It made my tongue feel like it'd been replaced with cotton. My hands were sweating so bad, I had to wipe them on the legs of the sweatpants Alice lent me. This was the calm before the storm that had all night to brew.

"Cara, I-," she held up her hand, making me close my mouth and try to swallow, though there was no spit. The way her lips set into a deep frown made her look just like Momma.

"Nine hours, Collins. I've been up for nine hours, wondering where the hell you were. And the only reason I haven't called Mom or Dad is because I'm sure they'd find some way to make it my fault that you've been out all night without so much as calling or texting!"

She looked like she'd been up for nine hours, that was hard to miss. Her eyes were bloodshot, the skin under them shadowed with dark purple circles. The lines around her mouth were more prominent than usual. She never did try that moisturizer I recommended, I thought, which was something so odd to think at the time. I should be thinking of a way to explain and apologize that she would actually believe. The idea of having to bring up Matthew, that Cara would want to press charges and make the incident more public, turned my stomach.

"Someone spiked the punch bowl last night, and no one caught it until it was too late," I began hesitantly. "Alice and Jasper didn't drink any, so they gave me a ride and let me crash at their house. I didn't know any of this until about an hour ago; they had to fill me in on everything when I woke up."

She squinted her eyes and pursed her lips ever so slightly, letting me know that she thought I was full of shit.

"So you're telling me that someone put alcohol in the punch, and the school hasn't bothered to contact any of the parents or guardians of students that may have ingested it? And you didn't, I don't know, taste the alcohol?"

Her eyebrows shot up as she stood, putting her hands on her hips. All us Walker women did that when we were disgruntled like she was now. All I could do was shrug and nervously run my fingers over the smooth gel polish that coated each thumbnail.

"How do I know you weren't with Matthew all night instead, and got Alice to drop you off as a cover?"

"Because I'm telling you the truth," I spat back. Well, most of the truth, the important part anyway. I could have mentioned that it was Jasper who had driven me back, but I was already annoyed she thought I'd spent the night with one guy. Mentioning him would probably raise more questions. I had enough of my own to deal with at the moment. "If you don't believe me, then that's your prerogative."

"You don't have to have such an attitude when I've been worried sick about you," Cara's face was reddening with each word. Another thing that we had in common.

"I'm sorry you were worried, but it's not my fault I can't make a phone call while I'm unconscious with a dead phone."

"God, you are such a brat! I shouldn't have let Mom and Dad talk me into letting you stay here. The last thing I need is a missing person on my workload."