Unravel Me | Arrow [ COMPLETED ]

chapter seven

"You can't blame yourself for not being there," Malcolm said quietly. Cali hadn't even known he'd still been in the room. "It's not selfish to look after yourself. You didn't feel well, you were obviously tired. Oliver will understand."

"He shouldn't have to," Cali said, looking down at her hands. "I should have been there for him, no matter what. That's what friends are for."

"Oliver will understand," Malcolm repeated firmly.

Instead of answering, Cali closed her eyes and evened out her breathing until she heard Malcolm walk away.

.                                       .                                         .

"How could I let him do this to me, Tommy?" Cali whispered, staring out the window. Her hair hung sallow and limp, lifeless in colour. She was thin, almost unnaturally so. "I should have known better."

Tommy shifted on his feet, not daring to move any closer. "Don't do that," he said quietly. "Michael knew what he was doing. He drew you in with promises and presents and gentle touches until you were too far gone to notice what was happening until it was too late. That's on him."

"I should have seen it." Cali shook her head, her eyes glittering with tears. "I should have seen it."

.                                       .                                         .

Tommy wandered along, hands in his pockets to avoid fiddling with anything. He was filled with nervous energy - and anger too - and he needed to work it off. Obviously, he and Oliver were already falling out of sync and out of touch if Oliver was prepared to ditch him in a crowd of slobbering paparazzis. Oliver had even ditched his bodyguard, which, fair enough, but seriously? Tommy too?

That was kind of a dick move.

At least it left Tommy free to track down his wayward sister. A phone call to the Starling Public Library had revealed that she hadn't been working today, which was odd because Cali loved working there. There was very little that would keep her away. Not even sickness. Which made her text last night even more concerning.

Tommy didn't know what it was with his family and friends at the moment, but none of them were acting normal and he was starting to wonder if he'd somehow woken up in some alternate reality. You know, a world where he was left on the curb as Oliver dorve a way. A world where his sister disappeared at strange times and then texted him with feeble excuses that didn't match her character at all.

Fuck it, he was going to call her.

The phone rang and rang, and Tommy almost gave up, but then the line connected and all he could hear was a TV and Cali's breathing. "Hey," he said carefully, trying to keep his tone light lest it betray his growing worry. "You alright?"

There was a pause that stretched into an awkward kind of silence. "I'm managing," Cali finally said, and Tommy winced and stopped walking, because she really did sound awful. "What's up?"

"Just calling to check up on you. Wanted to see if you were up for some late lunch."

Cali shifted. "Aren't you with Oliver?"

Tommy laughed joylessly. "Yeah, about that. He left me on the curb after the whole legal resurrection thing. I'm just sort of wandering at the moment." He waited for her response, holding his breath in anticipation. Something was wrong, he could feel it in his bones, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it before it spun out of control. "Cali?"