He Was My Ecstasy

He Was My Ecstasy chapter 6

Zuri's POV

The key was cold in my palm and it felt heavier than it should have.

Metal pressed into my skin and left a small mark. The text was still on my screen.

We see you. Both of you.

Under it was the picture of Aya on Liam's front steps. The timestamp said two minutes ago.

My first thought was to run. To follow him down the hall and grab his sleeve and ask what this meant. But his voice was in my head and it was clear and sharp.

Shaky house. 4th street. Lock the door. Do not open it for anyone except me.

So I didn't run after him.

I chose the key instead.

Aya was alone and that made my stomach twist. I should have been the one to go to her. I should have been the one to check if she was okay. But Liam had already gone, and if I went too, then who would go to the house?

Guilt sat in my chest next to fear and they were both heavy.

The bell rang and school emptied out in a rush. It sounded wrong. Too loud, and then too quiet. I didn't take the main road. I cut through the alley behind the tuckshop and then through the field where the grass was tall.

Every few steps I looked over my shoulder. No one was following me. That didn't mean no one was watching.

4th street was on the edge of town. The houses there were old. Paint peeled off in strips and some windows were boarded up. The Shaky House was at the end of the row. It leaned a little to the left like it was tired. The gate was rusted and the yard had dry grass.

I had never been inside before. I had walked past it maybe three times. Liam never brought anyone here.

My hands were shaking when I put the key in the lock. It clicked and the door opened with a sound that was too loud.

Inside it smelled like paper and coffee and something faintly like rain.

The living room was small. There was a couch with a gray blanket folded over the back. A table with notebooks stacked in piles. The walls had star maps taped up. Constellations were circled in red pen and connected with lines. Some of them had dates written next to them.

It felt lived-in. It felt lonely.

I locked the door behind me. Twice. Then I checked the windows. All of them had latches and I made sure each one was closed.

My heart was still beating too fast.

I sat on the floor because the couch felt like an intrusion. The key was still in my hand. I opened my palm and looked at it. It was an old key with teeth that were worn down.

My phone buzzed again.

Unknown number.

A new picture.

It was the library. Empty. The chairs were pushed in. And in the corner, near the history section, there was a shadow. It wasn't clear enough to be a person. But it was there.

The scar on my knuckles started to throb.

I rubbed it without thinking. The thin pale line across my skin.

It brought back my brother.

He used to say that when you were scared, you found a door you could lock. You found a small space and you made it yours.

The last time I saw him, he was trying to find a door. He didn't make it.

That was two years ago and sometimes the grief came back without warning. It didn't knock. It just arrived and stayed until it decided to leave.

I set the phone down face-down. I didn't want to see another picture.

The notebooks on the table called to me. I shouldn't have opened them. But the door was locked and I was alone and I needed to understand.

The first one had Liam's handwriting. Messy and fast.

Watched Zuri at the rooftop today. She didn't see me.

Dean asked questions again. Told him nothing.

Them. They are close.

I closed that one quickly. Them. Who was them?

There was a kettle in the kitchen. I made tea I didn't drink. I sat and waited and listened to the house. It creaked. The wind moved through the gaps in the windows.

I wondered if Liam was okay. I wondered if Aya was okay.

I wondered if I had made the right choice.

Liam's POV

I ran.

The words in the text kept repeating in my head. We see you. Both of you.

My chest hurt from breathing and my legs hurt from moving but I didn't stop.

Aya was on the steps when I got there. She was hugging her knees and her eyes were wide.

Are you okay, I asked.

She nodded but then she shook her head. A man was here, she said. He asked about the girl with the scar. He asked if she lived here.

Cold moved through me.

This wasn't about detention. This wasn't about the rooftop.

This was about before. About the things I thought I left behind. About people who knew about the Shaky House.

I pulled Aya up. Come on. We're going to Mrs. Dube's next door.

She didn't argue. She was too scared to argue.

I got her inside and told Mrs. Dube to keep the door locked. I didn't explain. There wasn't time.

I took out my phone and called Zuri. It rang and rang and went to voicemail.

Panic made my hands shake.

I couldn't go back to the house. Not yet. If they were watching me, then going there would lead them straight to her.

So I did the only other thing I could think of.

I texted the unknown number back.

Meet me. Now. Old bus depot.

Send.

I didn't know if they would come. I didn't know if this was stupid. But I couldn't sit and wait while Zuri was alone in that house.

I started walking. Fast. The bus depot was 15 minutes away and it was abandoned. No cameras. No people.

If this was a trap, then I was walking into it.

My mind kept going back to Zuri. To the way she looked in the hallway with tears on her cheeks and that scar on her hand. To the way she had almost kissed me on the roof before the Dean's footsteps.

I should have told her more. I should have warned her sooner.

My phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

On my way.

Zuri's POV

The tea went cold.

I was reading the second notebook when I heard it.

Three slow knocks on the door.

My whole body went still.

The sound was deliberate. Not loud. Not panicked.

A voice followed it. A man's voice.

Zuri? Liam sent me.

I didn't move.

I stood up slowly and walked to the door. My feet made no sound on the floor.

There was a peephole. I put my eye to it.

Standing outside was a man I didn't know.

He was tall. He wore a dark jacket. His hair was short. He was not Liam.

He was smiling but it didn't reach his eyes.

In my hand, the key felt cold again.

Liam's words were clear. Do not open it for anyone except me.

The man knocked again.

Zuri, I know you're in there. It's okay. He told me to check on you.

I looked down at the key. Then back at the door.

My heart was in my throat and my hands were shaking.

I didn't answer.

I didn't open the door.

Outside, the man waited.