In Memory of Reed Fray

Six

Skylar kept thumbing the pages of Reed’s journal. Despite how much his brother had written, his writings about Viola weren’t that informative. It started with how closed off she was to other people when he met her, how he eavesdropped on the teachers of her troubled past, how he wanted to save her. Skylar didn’t really need to understand why Reed thought he always had to play white knight. He knew exactly why. His last conversation with Reed still haunted him.

“She’s not anything close to evil, Sky!” Reed shouted, face contorted in anger, “She’s just broken.”

“And what you’re gonna save her?” Skylar countered, “Like some sort of superhero? You’re gonna be her Superman or Batman? You’re losing who you are, Reed!”

Reed’s jaw clenched. In that instant, Skylar saw the brother who was cold and distant after her death, “What is this about, Skylar?”

Skylar clenched his fist. Grey eyes staring evenly at his brother. He was scared for Reed. What if, what if Viola’s too broken to be fixed? Reed couldn’t go back to that kind of pain, Skylar wouldn’t let him. Reed eyes looked so cold, so angry, so filled with hurt and Skylar knew memories of her were flashing in his mind.

“I don’t want you to go back to that kind of pain,” Skylar whispered, “If Viola is too broken to be fixed.”

Reed pushed him away, “She’s not Mia!”

Skylar could see it all over again. Reed crumbling in front of him when he received the call, when he found out that his best friend killed herself. Reed drowning his sorrows in booze every single night. Their positions had been switched at that time until Skylar beat senses into him. And he didn’t want to do it again.

“The only reason you’re interested in her is because you think this is a chance to save Mia,” Skylar growled, uncaring if the truth would hurt his brother, “But Mia’s gone, Reed. She’s been gone for a long time.”

Reed was breathing heavily. He never had felt so angry at his brother, not even when he was making crude remarks or getting them into trouble, when he had to cover his ass every time. But right now, Skylar had no right to say those things because he didn’t understand. Skylar had no idea.

“Maybe you’re right, brother,” Reed said quietly, his voice hoarse and almost a whisper, “Maybe it’s about saving someone like Mia. But don’t think for even just one moment that I don’t know Mia’s gone because I do. And Viola isn’t another Mia for me.”

Skylar stared at him confused but when he met his brother’s gaze, it was unwavering, “Because I am in love with Viola Rose.”

“Damn it, Reed,” Skylar whispered, “Why do you always have to play the nice guy?”

He stopped thumbing through the pages and started reading everything that his brother had written, particularly the one that really had caught his attention.

Hey,

I lied to everyone today. Especially Viola. I told her I was meeting with the guys at a barbeque party when in truth, I lied to those guys too, saying I had to be with someone. Everyone already assumed that the person I would be with was Viola. And they weren’t exactly happy about it though it was a lie. The guys think it will ruin my rep if I keep spending time with Viola. I think that’s a load of bull.

So back to my rendezvous. I had a meeting with a guy. See, I first looked him when I was trying to find out why Viola was so guarded. My interest was perked up when I found out she still had a living relative.

Elliot Morgan.

And the things that he told me during the meeting, it would change everything.

“So this is your hideout huh?”

Skylar looked up and met Tori’s eyes, “What are you doing here?”

She raised a brow and surveyed the area, “So this place. Abandoned staircase. This used to be the place where stoners got high.”

“What are you doing here?” Skylar repeated.

Tori sat beside him and looked at him. She focused on his face. See, the Fray siblings, they were all easy on the eyes. Especially Reed and Skylar. Brown hair, kept messy and dishevelled like just rolled out of bed and looked perfect. Grey eyes that lured girls in. And even when both their smiles were different, the thing was, their smile was intoxicating.

“I was going to yell at you for getting Viola in trouble,” she said softly.

Skylar raised his eyebrows, “So what’s stopping you?”

“The sight of you.”

He chuckled, amused, “I know I’m pretty but damn, I didn’t think I was that handsome.”

She rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder, causing him to wince slightly, “It’s not because of your good looks. It’s because of how you looked when I arrived. You were all sad and I thought I didn’t want to give you s**t about getting Viola into trouble when you were remembering your brother.”

“At least you admit that I do have good looks,” Skylar said cheekily, “But I’m sorry about getting Viola into trouble. I just,” he paused for a moment, eyes closed and exhaling deeply, “It’s been a month. Our birthday is next week and I want my answers, Tori.”

Tori stared at him. In all the time that she’s known him, she had never seen this Skylar. He was always so cool, collected with an aura of mysteriousness around him. He was cocky and arrogant to her but he was never this broken. She watched as he ran a hand through his hair.

“You know we had a fight before he died,” he said quietly.

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me that,” she said softly, her hand on top of his.

He looked at her and shook his head, “I didn’t tell anyone. Now I think that I have to. He was so angry with me. See, at first he was just babbling about this surprise date he had planned for her. He said he wanted it to be special because she was special to him.”

He paused again, as if gathering his thoughts. Tori had no idea why he was telling all of this to her. But it seemed like all those emotions had been bottling inside of him for a month and he never let it out, not to anyone. He flipped the hand she was holding upward and interlaced their hands. She was surprised at the gesture but then she realized that his grip was strong, firm, as if he needed to hold on to someone, anyone.

His eyebrows were furrowed and he was looking directly at nothing particular, “I’ve never seen him like that, Tori. Like some lovesick puppy. I’ve seen Reed with fair shares of girlfriends but I’ve never seen that look on his face. He radiated so much happiness, like he was the happiest man alive.”

“He was in love,” Tori couldn’t help but say. And Skylar looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed, expression torn.

And finally, he nodded, “I always thought the only reason Reed found her interesting was because she was so guarded. I thought that he thought she needed saving. Reed, he had this silly little notion that he was supposed to save someone because he couldn’t save Mia.”

Mia Thompson. Tori then remembered a petite, red head girl that Reed used to hang around with. She was skinny and her face was filled with freckles and she had the most amazing green eyes Tori had ever seen. She was so pretty and feisty, she used to hear Reed tease her that she was a girl on fire, with her red hair and because she was filled with fire. Tori had never seen anyone as passionate as Mia had been. It had come to a surprise to everyone that Mia Thompson had killed herself.

No one understood why she would cut short the perfect life she led. There wasn’t even any note. But according to some people, she had been acting strange on her last days. Some say she had been depressed, bawling at the girl’s washroom. And then she killed herself. No one had taken it lightly, but no one took it the way Reed Fray had.

“I thought he was playing white knight,” Skylar continued, eyes starting to get cloudy with tears, “But then he told me that what he felt for Viola was real and then he left, angry and annoyed at me. And then fast forward to hours later, two detectives rang the doorbell and told us Reed was dead.”

Tori remembered hearing about the news of Reed’s death. It shocked her. She had just woken up on a beautiful Sunday morning and when she went downstairs, she was so confused when she didn’t see her parents there. They always ate breakfast on Sundays together and then they’ll get ready for church. She heard a lot of noise outside and she saw that there were tons of people at the Fray’s. It was then that her co-dance teammate told her that Reed Fray was dead.

Viola was the first thought that came to her mind. She had left her a voice mail asking how she was holding up with the news. And then she changed and rushed to the Fray household to look for Sophia and Willow. Even when she didn’t have a good relationship with Skylar, she had grown close with the two Fray sisters. She used to babysit both of them because their brothers were incapable of doing so. She never really put a thought on how Skylar was holding up.

“I asked to view his body, you know?” he whispered and she stared at him. Having been told that your brother was dead, that was painful but having to view and identify his body, that was pure torture, “I didn’t want to believe it, even when he was in front of me lying motionless and cold, even when we buried him. I refuse to believe that my brother is dead.”

The tears were falling freely from his eyes now and Tori couldn’t help it, she pulled him in for a hug. Skylar Fray was sobbing in her arms. She rubbed her back as he kept saying how stupid he was, how bad and how it was his fault. Somehow, she could understand what he was trying to say through sobs. He thought that if he didn’t fight with his brother, he wouldn’t have left the house and died.

But Reed Fray was murdered.

When he wasn’t shaking with sobs anymore, he pulled away from her embrace. He wiped the tears on his face and flashed her a small smile, “I’m sorry about that, I-I don’t know what got to me.”

She smiled at him, “You were grieving your brother’s death.”

They were both quiet for a while and it was only then that Tori realized he still hasn’t let go of her hand. She didn’t want to pull it away either. For a fleeting admittance of the truth, she liked how her hand fit in his. Like it was meant to be interlaced all along, but never found the right moment.

Skylar looked at her, “Thank you.”

She squeezed his hand, “Anytime. But I hope don’t mind, what were you doing here? With his journal.”

He took his hand away from hers and they both instantly missed the warmth of the other, “I found something.”

She looked at him seriously, “What?”

“When I cornered Viola earlier at her locker. When she was scurrying away, I found this note. It explains why she was so pale when I talked to her. She was scared.”

Tori opened the note and read it. She then looked at Skylar, “So Reed was right?”

Skylar nodded, “Yes. Someone is after her.”

“But who could it be? I mean, it’s not like I really know things about Viola. She is pretty guarded but I don’t think she could make these kinds of enemies. One that is ruthless enough to actually kill.”

Skylar ran a hand through his messy locks and looked at Tori. His eyes mirrored what she felt. Fear, “This changes things, Tori. We can’t play it nice around Viola anymore. We can’t wait until she trusts us.”

“I know. Because it’s about saving her life too.”