Sincerely, Red

Chapter Seven

I know, Liv, because I'm a mixture of the good, the bad and the under-the-radar people.

I lie and twist things, but only inside in my head. I don't break up fights, but I make sure to silently fix problems. I try to hide underneath denial, but it falls and traps me within its lies.

I see the world as it is, not as it's presented.

You used to do the same and hopefully you still will do.

See you around, Liv.

Sincerely, Red

 

 

 

The letter was scrunched in between my fingers and pushed into the pocket of my jeans. It lay there, in between the lose threads and intertwined with the material. In a way, it became a part of what I was wearing, a part of my protective layer and a part of my identity.

For now, these letters were beginning to define and shape my past.

And I was letting them.

"Olivia," Claire said, impatience running through her words. "Open the door. I want to talk to you."

I glanced back over at the lock, watching as it rattled slightly under Claire's force.

That was what Claire was: a force. She liked pushing until something moved in the way she wanted it to. But as I was quickly realising, there wasn't just one force acting in this situation. There were lots of them.

Whether it was Red, or David, or Claire or me, we were all pushing to get something and instead of uniting us, it nearly always meant that the object we were acting on stayed in the same position. Our stubbornness meant that we could never move on, just keep pushing and wasting effort on something that would never change unless we made it.

I wasn't making it any better by keeping the door locked and refusing to let Claire in; but the part of my brain that understood human nature told me that she would override my force, if she got the chance. If I let her in now, she could easily take advantage of whatever was open to her.

She would become Gravity, pulling everything down. It was just a question of whether or not Up-thrust could handle her.

I decided I would be able to, but like most things, that didn't turn out very well.

"Tim said he saw you out near that riding school," was the first thing she said to me, walking in and letting her gaze run over the messy room.

I wrinkled my nose."Riding school?"

"Yes, riding school," she repeated, tapping her feet. "Don't pretend you don't know anything about it. You've been there enough times and- Oh."

"Yeah," I said. "Oh."

"You lost your memory."

"That was what 'oh' meant pretty much," I muttered.

How she was the owner of a law firm, I would never know.

"Well, anyway, he said he saw you around," she continued, like she hadn't just completely messed up. "You left the house, specifically after I told you that it wasn't safe."

"I was tired of being here," I told her. "That's the honest truth."

There was a moment of silence.