Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

1.12 | Jail Cell Confessions + Steal A Breath

I was going to continue to defend myself when it thundered outside and I winced at the sound. For the longest seconds, I kept my eyes shut. I hated storms. I had nothing against them at first until a couple years ago...

That night had been a stormy night too.

"Hey..." I dared to open my eyes at his soft whisper. Gentle. In one single word, I could still hear his concern. He added when I turned to look at him, "Do you still have that headache?"

I managed a small smile as I informed, "It's going to stay until the storm stops."

He doesn't seem to get the connection. I don't explain.

He suggested, thinking it would help, "How about you try going to sleep?"

My laugh was humorless, "Sleep is the last thing on my mind, Raizada."

It was not so easy to sleep when my hand was tied to him forcing us to sit right next to each other with barely a breadth of space between us. To make matters worse, there was the headache, an empty stomach, and the storm causing me to fight every second to not slip back to that wretched night.

Let's not forget we were in a jail cell. My parents are going to have a field day when they hear about this.

He asked, "Try."

Ofcourse, it doesn't happen.

Half hour later, I find myself asking. "Will you distract me?"

He opened his eyes to look at me. I am sure my face was very pale right now, exhausted. "What's wrong?"

I answered while shaking my head and speaking in bare words unable to form a sentence, "The storm... I... headache... please."

I dropped my head on my knees tightly shutting my eyes and inhaled sharply so stop my heart from beating twice its pace.

I felt him shift due to the tug on my wrist. "How about a game?"

We started naming fruits in order of alphabets. Not the smartest idea since it made both of us hungry and neither was it the brightest game out there but it did do the trick of keeping my mind off the storm.

"Nestle."

He laughed, "That's a brand name, sweet pea. Not a fruit."

I exclaimed in defense, "I can't think of a fruit that starts with N!"

He answered instantly, "Naartjie."

"What? That's not a fruit." I argued with a laugh.

"So is. It's the scientific name for citrus."

"Nerd." Why does he even know this? Where did he learn this?

He commented, "You're just horrible at this game." He was right. More than half the times when it was my turn, I had said the stupidest things.

"Whatever. You picked a silly game. There aren't even that many fruits."

"Just because they aren't commonly known doesn't not make them fruits."

"You shouldn't use double negatives."

Were we making sense? No. We were just passing time, saying whatever came to mind.

The officer, whose name we'd learned was Paul, interrupted our banter, "Are you two always like this?"

I answered, "In the week of knowing him, pretty much."

Paul had been giving reactions every now and then for the past half hour we had been playing this game and we had gotten used to it. I can't blame him for taking interest in our conversation. Stuck in the station with the storm and lights out, there wasn't much for any of us to do. A few times, he'd even joined in the game lending me his hand and even then, the two of us were losing against Arnav.