Page 68 of Death

Chapter 16

The walk home is long and cold.

I pull my jacket around me as I step onto my street. I smell a storm in the air. Definitely rain. Possibly snow. Does it snow where Ari comes from? Will I ever fall asleep beneath the light tap of rain on my window again?

I pause when I reach my house. Ari’s black car sits in the driveway. He’s back? Has he come for me already?

Should I make a break for it?

Before I can decide, the front door opens and Ari emerges.

The scales must be balanced.

My heart lurches. “What are you doing here?” I ask, fearful of what he left behind.

Or what he took from me.

He closes the front door. “Waiting for you.”

“Why?”

Ari slides his hands into the pockets of his coat. He stands still, strangely silent as he looks down. His face bleeds with somberness, one that crushes me down to the knees as I picture those cold, white faces beneath the dock.

Faces of my parents.

“Ari, what did you do?” I ask him.

“I messed up,” he says. “I was cruel and unfair to you, and for that, I’m sorry.”

I eye the door as I step forward. “You came here to apologize?”

He nods. “Yes.”

I swallow hard. “Then, my parents are... they’re okay?”

“Yes.” His eyes widen as he glances over his shoulder. “Oh, you think I—”

“Did you?”

“No.” He chuckles. “No, no. They’re fine. They let me sit and wait for you to get back.”

I exhale hard, dropping my head with relief. “Thank god...”

“I’d never...” He shakes his head. “I know what I said, but I’d never do that to you.”

“You scared me.”

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention.”

I take another breath. “If you wanted to talk to me, why not just come find me?” I ask.

“I wanted to give you space.” He looks down. “Meeting the void is stressful enough as it is. Add in everything else... You deserved better. More time. A more...” He sighs. “A more thoughtful companion.”

Ari steps down off the porch and pauses in front of me. I struggle between looking him in the eye or glaring at his shiny shoes but the decision is made by my warm, racing heart.

I look up, feeling a tepid fire in my cheeks.

“Tannis, I’m sorry,” he says. “You’d think a man like me would have learned patience a long time ago.”