Amnesia

18. Threats

I tried to sleep, but I just couldn’t. I was restless and couldn’t relax at all. So I decided to wander the house again. I first went to the stairs to the roof, though the door was still locked, so I headed to the small room with the window seat that I decided to call the sun room. But on my way past the office, I heard people talking. I knew I should probably not eavesdrop and that if I were to get caught the consequences would not be good, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Why do you want her killed so badly, Owen?” Devan asked. I had a feeling that they were talking about me.

Owen didn’t answer.

They discussed and argued a little bit more before changing the subject.

“You fancy her, don’t you?” Will asked.

“No I don’t,” Devan answered sharply. “You know I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“What would liking her do for me?”

“You’re hoping you could get something more from it.”

“Get what? Love?” Devan laughed. “You know I don’t love. I can’t love.”

At first I thought they were meaning sex, but now I realized that they were meaning the feeling. What did Devan mean by he can’t love?

“I think you should try to get with her,” Kyle said. “It’s been a while since you’ve had a girl.”

“No it hasn’t,” Devan said.

“Two years, Dev. Ever since you began running the gang, you think that you can’t be with a girl.”

“I don’t exactly like having all these girls here. Yes, their company is sometimes nice, but I would rather they weren’t part of this.”

“Then let them go,” Nate spoke up.

“You know why we can’t.”

“No one knows them. And they won’t say anything. Plus the information that they know is old and useless. Besides Scout.”

I shifted myself to be more comfortable, causing the floor to creak and the boys to stop talking. Thinking fast, I silently ran back a couple paces and then walked up to the door, stepping on the creak again, and knocked on the office door.

“What are you doing up?” Will asked me when he answered the door.

“I couldn’t sleep and I, uh, was wondering if I could get a book,” I said.

Will looked back at Devan, who nodded. I was let in and I gave them a strange look at seeing all of them in here, all for pretend. As Devan unlocked the door to the library, the other boys left.

“Just close the doors after you’re done,” Devan told me. “Don’t worry about locking them.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said.

I flicked on the light and started searching around. The room was no bigger than the office, and was completely packed with books. There was a layer of dust on everything, and everything looked like it had gone through an earthquake. Books were lying all over the floor, only a few left on the shelves. Despite looking like they were thrown everywhere, they were in good condition. I soon found out that every single book was mystery, suspense, thriller, or action. No romance. Not that I wanted to read any cheesy love stories.

I was really tempted to try to clean it up, but then decided that I will save that for during the day as an excuse to get out of other work and instead settled on a mystery book. But just as I chose the book, the lights turned off. I dropped the book in surprise and fumbled my way to the door, searching for the light switch, and finding a person instead. I stifled a scream of surprise and backed up a few steps.

“You don’t fool me.”

Owen. I always felt nervous around him, and for good reason.

“Your little act can’t get past me.”

He stalked up to me and I backed away until I tripped on a pile of books and fell. Owen then knelt down next to me.

“I know that you were listening to our conversation. How much did you hear?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” I told him.

He slapped me across the face and then grabbed my arm tightly, causing me to wince.

“Don’t lie.”

His grip tightened continuously until I swear my arm was going to fall off and I couldn’t take it anymore.

“All I heard was you guys talking about Devan getting a girlfriend, I swear.” Tears were starting to appear at the pain of his grip.

He let go. “You better not be lying.”

“I’m not, I promise.”

“You better watch yourself, Scout.”

He left me there in the dark.

Devan’s threats of course had me slightly worried, but what Owen just said, even though it wasn’t a direct threat, had me very scared. I stayed on the ground with the books for a couple more minutes before I finally got up. I turned the light back on, half expecting to find Owen again, feeling relieved when I didn’t. I found my book again and quickly went back to my room, forcing myself not to run.

But I didn’t read the book. I set it on my desk and lay down in bed.

What did Owen have against me?

Did he really want to kill me?

I’ve done nothing to him. I pretty much avoid him the whole day. We never interact, and the only time we actually make notice that the other is there is when we are in the same room together.

I was officially scared of him. It wasn’t that he just worried me, I was afraid. I didn’t sleep at all that night.