Those blue eyes

Chapter 11

Toby

'Okay...' I could barely say it. My throat hurt, and there was a dull ache in my head. It hurt to imagine Olivia's reaction. I scratched at the skin of my hand, but Olivia grabbed it and held it in hers. It felt warm and solid. I only realised I had been holding my breath when I let out a sigh.

'Its okay, Toby.' She muttered, urging me to tell her.

'It happened three weeks ago. I found out my stepdad was a terrorist. He had been acting weird for a while, going to meetings at night, getting angry when we touched his phone. And often things bad would happen, a bomb, and Mark - that was his name - would just be getting home.' I took a sharp breath, my teeth chattering. I was shaking at the memory. I heard footsteps as the lady at the bus stop got up and left. 'One night, I looked at the text on his phone. It told him to deliver a package or something. He got home late at night and the next morning there was breaking news of an explosion. I knew it was him. So the next day I followed him to work, but he spotted me. And it was then he knew it was me who had read his text. He said he didn't want to hurt me, but I hurt him instead.' Tears began to stream down my face. 'I killed him, Olivia.'

There was a short stunned silence, until Olivia spoke.

'It was wrong to kill him, Toby. But in your place, I think I might have done the same thing.' She paused, taking a breath. 'How did you get out of jail?'

'I never went to jail. I know now it was cowardly, but I pretended I hadn't done it and they never found out it was me.'

'Who were those men?'

It felt as if she were firing the questions at me,

'His terrorist buddies. They know it was me. They're everywhere, Olivia. I'm safe nowhere. I don't know what to do.'

She touched my cheek with her free hand.

'We will figure it out.' She whispered with certainty.

But she didn't look me in the eye.

Olivia

So he had killed someone. I didn't know what to feel. I felt scared. And I felt relieved, in a way. At least I knew his secret. But I was next to someone who was capable of killing, and I was promising to help him? I didn't even know how. And then there was the fact someone could attack me at any second. Suddenly my phone began to ring. On the screen it has in bold print SHAY. I clicked answer, very aware the ringing had brought attention to us, and brought it to my unharmed ear, while I and Toby moved to a bench and sat down.

'Livvi? Liv?' She asked, sounding desperate. She was breathing rapidly, clearly panicking.

'Yeah, it's me.'

'Oh thank god! Where are you? Are you okay?'

'I'm fine.'

'Come to the hospital, they're checking us out.'

'Okay. Are you okay, Shay?'

'Fine, compared to some others.'

'What happened after I left?'

'They ran after you.'

'So no one else got hurt?'

'No.'

'Good. I'll see you soon, Shay.'

I was about to put the phone down when Shay spoke again.

'Liv? I just wanted to say thank you. I mean, if it wasn't for you I would have been killed. And that whole police incident and me ignoring you?'

'Behind us.' I smiled slightly. 'Bye.' I put the phone down, and turned towards Toby.

'We have to go to the hospital.

He nodded.

'Come on. It's a two minute walk.'

Toby

'I thought you said the hospital was a two minute walk.' I groaned, rubbing my aching legs. We had been walking for at least twenty minutes.

'It is.'

'But-'

'I know.' She interrupted. 'We're just not going to the hospital. We'll be on the radio, the news, and everyone will know where we go if we go to the hospital.'

'But your ear...' I trailed off. She knew it, and I knew it. Her ear was really bad. Crusty with blood, the ear lobe was hardly attached to the rest of her ear. I took a deep breath. 'Go to the hospital Olivia. This is not your battle.'

'Im not leaving you.'

'Olivia, you have friends, a family, a life. I have nothing. Just go.' My eyes stung.

'Spare me the lecture, Toby.'

We walked in silence for a while.

'Just tell me something.' She hesitated, and after what seemed like a decade, she nodded. 'Okay. I just want to know. Why?'

I didn't really expect an answer, but when I looked back, her eyes were filled with tears. I felt a kind of pain in my chest as I watched a tear fall down her cheek like the first raindrop at the start of a storm. She wiped it away hurriedly, sniffing.

'Oh geez, I'm sorry.'

We walked in silence. I felt uncomfortable. I didn't know what to say. I wanted desperately to comfort her, to tell her it would be okay, but I couldn't. It wasn't okay. And I knew something else. I wasn't the only one keeping a secret. She was hiding a secret from me. A painful, heartbreaking secret; I just didn't know what it was.