The Dream Crashers ✓

14 - The First Backstory

I raised my eyebrow at her. "What do you want, Mara? Are you here to laugh at me or something?"

Her face was as serious as a brick. "Oh please. Like I would waste a good laugh on you."

"Go away. I'm not in the mood—"

"Just tell me what's the matter," she said, sighing exasperatedly. "I promise I won't make any smartass remarks."

I eyed her cautiously. "And if you do?"

"You can get a free punch, and I won't hit you back."

I rolled my eyes. "Not everyone resorts to violence."

"It's not like I have anything else to offer."

I thought about it, and then said, "Fine. I'll tell you what's bothering me if you tell me why you're such a bitch."

I expected Mara to get huffy and insult me back, but instead she said, "It's called 'my personality.'"

"Not that. I mean, how you ended up here. I realize I know nothing about any of you. Well, except that you have separation anxiety when it comes to your knives and that Seth has a thing for flowery purple helmets."

She snorted and folded her arms across her chest. "You want to know our life stories and you decided to start with me?"

"Well, you hate me the most, so I thought it'd be the right place to start."

"I don't hate you. I just can't stand you," she clarified. "You shouldn't take it personally. I can't stand most people."

"That makes me feel loads better."

She leaned against the wall next to me. "Whatever. So what are you over here crying about?"

"I wasn't crying."

"Only because I showed up."

I ignored her comment. "Luke is mad at me because of everything that's been going on. He's hurt and angry, and I don't know what to do. I want to tell him, but it's so dangerous. Especially now that we know Lucy visits him. What if she figures out that we're onto her from his subconscious?"

"You're doing the right thing. Involving him will only put him in danger."

"He should know it isn't easy for me, keeping all these secrets from him and my mom. Especially my mom and Connor. I know my Dad didn't leave, but I can't tell them. And Luke thinks it's my choice to keep things from him even though I beat myself up over it all the time."

"You can't blame him from feeing that way either," Mara said. "He's used to being the only person in your life you tell everything to. To him it seems like you're a different person and that you're shutting him out."

A sigh escaped me. Out of anyone who could've been consoling me right now, it had to be impassive Mara. Why wasn't it Elijah? Even stoic AJ would've known not to rationalize my pain.

"Doing the right thing is sometimes the hardest," she said thoughtfully.

Genuinely surprised, I said, "I never realized you were so insightful."

"Being a psychopathic hardass is just so much more fun," she explained, shrugging.

As hard as it was to believe, we were actually having a civil conversation. I realized that Mara was actually smart and sensible underneath her aggressive personality. I never would've thought.

At one point, we had both sank to the ground and sat with our backs to the wall.

"So," I said. "What's your story?"