no savior.

no vacancy

"KJ?" I open my eyes to Vin leaning against the door frame, "I guess the night terrors are still a thing?"

"They only come occasionally," I lie, not wanting to admit how they come almost every night. Just as aggressive and violent as when they first started, "I'm fine."

"If you insist," he pushes off the frame and disappears back into the room. I glance into the mirror, into my own eyes, wondering if my secrets are still there, or if they're giving me away. I take a couple more unsteady breaths in and out before getting ready.

It's been three months since our move back home and everything was going fine. Back in college, Vin had been a gifted artist, and now was an interior designer while I was headed off to my internship with a group home in St. Louis.

I get dressed in khakis and head downstairs where Vin is just finishing breakfast, "Feeling better?"

"I feel fantastic," I reply sarcastically. He hands me a brown paper bag.

"So you're making me lunch now?"

"I hope you have a shitty ass day at work, Baby girl," He kisses my forehead, "Keys to the Kawasaki are by the door."

"Hope your day is booty ass too," I accept the lunch and head out.

***

"Layne..." I enter the apartment, an ominous feel having taken it over, the last strands of sunlight oozing in through the windows. 

I notice Max by Layne's door, whimpering softly, and move towards it, cautiously. He sees me, and immediately takes to behind me.

"Layne..." I knock on the door and try the handle. Locked.

"Layne!" I bang on the door, ready to break it down if I have to. "Layne!"

I hear a crack before the door gives entirely.

"Oh my God."

Layne's POV

I stare at the key in my hand for what feels like years. I don't know what Dil is hiding from me, but he's hiding something, and now I have the power to unravel everything. Thank you, Dru.

I suppress my excitement just enough to make myself breakfast and go on my run with Max, which I'd been putting off since the discovery of the journal.

Back in the apartment, I shove Max into my room and then stop in front of Dil's room. What exactly am I hoping to find in here? I mean, it is Dil's room, so once I cross this threshold, I'm technically invading his privacy. Then again, he was technically keeping me from mine by keeping secrets about me from me.

Then again, is it really a secret if I technically know the answer? Or if I'm supposed to know the answer at least?

"Layne you're a fucking adult," I murmur to myself, "You need to move on."

I open the door before I can talk myself out of it any further, a cold blast of air hitting me. I can't remember the last time I've been in here. The whole room looks like it's been staged, as if no one has been in here in years. The bed is made without a single wrinkle, the air smelling of fresh cotton and linens or some other bullshit fragrance like that. I close the door behind me and step further in, looking for a place to start searching. I had never accounted for the fact that my brother's bedroom might've looked like.... any other bedroom.

What was I expecting? A dead body? My dead body?

"You're cheating!"

The memory of Dil's outcry shakes me, the room as it used to be flashing quickly. It wasn't prestine. It was junky with boxes and smelled like bachelor.

"You just suck!" 

Her laughter, distorted and foggy, sends chills over me. I take another look around the room, vaguely remembering what's new and what's changed. That's new... I head towards the new desk, observing the office like set up. Even his desk is in order. I kneel next to it, finding a filing cabinet and trying the handle. Locked. On chance I try the same key that got me into the room, to no avail. I examine the key hold closer. Wait a minute...

I flip the key and find that it works. A cheap trick from my dad. Why buy new locks when you can just install one upside down? I open the drawer and find nothing at first. Rent payments. Hospital bills. School work for Dil's class. I keep digging until I find a file simply labeled: Michaels.

The plot thickens... I pull the folder and flip through it quickly. Rent agreement?  I read the document. Then read it again. Dil's renting our old house.

And he's renting it to her.