Inheritance Of Secrets

Control

This was dumb. The idea that this might actually work out was a stupid oversight. I should have just let Thea win her game and moved on with my life.  But for some reason, I always just have to play out the game so I can have a stupid win and feel like I am not a huge failure. 

Seeing Grayson's reaction was a real wake-up call to how truly screwed up in the head I was.

Who lets a girl get dressed up like a dead person who the two closest people in your life dated?

I do apparently.

I don't know what triggered me more, Avery or Grayson. Both of them look as if someone killed everything important to them.

Avery was frantic. She had no clue what she did wrong. Not until she was told and stumbled away from us.

Grayson just looked destroyed and for some reason, a tiny part of me broke inside. I knew he wasn't better. I knew he was still hurting. The pain I saw on his face reminded me of everything that I could have done to help. Everything that I never did.

Emily was always trying to get me to disappear and sometimes I would. Days where it hurt too much to be near people. People who had no idea.

When Emily died I was walking along the rooftop's edge, wondering if anyone cared.

I had been ignoring the world for the past day and a half and just wanted a reason why I should keep living in my little bubble of lies.

Letting myself ignore the world caused me to avoid any contact, so I could not get Rebecca's calls, which were trying to get me to stop Grayson and make sure he didn't take Emily to the cliff.  

Ever since I was younger I always had a bad feeling about October 18th. It proved itself to be the bad omen it truly was years ago. 

It is a death day.

I slipped past a few more of the crowd until I got near the bathroom. Then, I watched Thea walk out the door and head toward the chattering crowd.

She wasn't smiling. She was as broken as I suspected.

The second I got in the bathroom I could see how much of a mess Avery was.

She was fiddling with the clasp of her necklace trying to get it off.

I walked into her sightline, "Stop."

She jumped back a step and stared at me, "Are you going to hurt me?"

I tilted my head, "Maybe if you don't be quiet."

I moved right behind her and unclasped the necklace.

Her head turned slightly, "Thank you."

She seemed to have calmed a little but inside she was still distressed.

"Look," I spoke, "you won't be able to take your hair down or change without alerting the press," I continued, "If you do change it can ruin your image sending gossip sites wild about the reasons why you did. You just have to stay put."

Her panic turned into confusion fast, "Did you know about this?"

"Yes," I deadpanned. It didn't matter to me if Avery thought I was a bad guy. If she continued to hide in this bathroom it would be worse for everyone.

"What? Why didn't you warn me?"

I shrugged, "No one listened. I said something about it at the boutique."

She looked stunned trying to go through her memory to find the words I spoke.

"Are we sure we should be listening to Thea? Something tells me she does not have anyone's best interest at heart."