Lesson 38- Use your inside voice indoors, outside voices are for the playground.
Determined to get a proper introduction to Catcher, I grab Torin’s hand and drag him out with me. So much for making a good first impression, that plan has not only been thrown out the window , it was strapped to a rocket and launched into outer space. I can hear voices coming from the kitchen, so Kyle must have arrived while Torin and I were talking. I’m about to go in when I hear my name and stop in place. Torin almost walks into me because I stop so suddenly.
“You tried to throw Rina out?” Kyle says, his tone is horrified. He saw what happened when I stepped one foot outside and it was bad enough. The concern in his tone is heartwarming though. I knew it. He does care!
“I didn’t realise that she was under a spell to stay inside! I thought that she had snuck in, that she was lost, or a thief. I didn’t want her to get in trouble for creeping around on a demon’s territory!” Catcher sounds really distressed. Kyle is gruff and I hear a dull thud that I suspect was him giving some kind of manly comfort or affection. A whack on Catcher’s shoulder or something.
“Don’t worry too much. The girl is too friendly for her own good. She talks to the monster in the basement, I’m sure she won’t hold it against you.” He assures him. I want to object to the description, ‘too friendly.’ I think I’m just the RIGHT amount of friendly.
“That’s… Different. She has a lot of freedom to wander around for someone trapped with a binding spell. I suppose she is Torin’s prisoner then?” Catcher asks for clarification. I glance up at Torin who gives me a look that very clearly says, ‘SEE, I told you so’. I roll my eyes at him. I know eavesdropping is rude, but I really want to know what Kyle will say about me, and it’s not like he would ever willingly admit these things to me, and he’s even less likely to speak honestly in front of Torin.
“She is… Not a prisoner… Exactly. It’s true that she can’t leave, but she also hasn’t tried to. She has made it very clear to everyone that she has agreed to stay here willingly. She didn’t resist the binding spell. She’s even been working as a bartender, she’s actually your coworker tonight.” Kyle adds.
“Huh.” Catcher makes a soft sound of surprise.
“Maybe I was right the first time then. Because of the spell I thought that she must be here unwillingly, but when Torin threw me aside, he said that she was his. For a minute, I thought that the boss had gone and found himself a girl!” Catcher says with a slight laugh. Kyle sounds like he’s choking again.
“Impossible. Rina, well she might be friendly. But she’s a good girl. That would never happen.” He insists. Catcher laughs.
“You say that, but hey, some girls are into the bad boys, right? Besides, the boss isn’t bad looking if you can get him to smile.” Catcher adds and I swear Kyle sounds like he’s dying a little. Now it’s my turn to look at Torin with an ‘I told you so’ expression, but my smile has way more sass behind it. At least it does until Catcher keeps speaking.
“Besides, you told me that the boss killed the guy who attacked her that night, right? It could be a whole damsel in distress type situation, Torin got to play the hero.” He says brightly. Huh? Killed? Kyle scoffs.
“Ridiculous. He incinerated a guy, that’s hardly romantic. It was horrifying.” He argues.
The smile falls from my face. Killed? INCINERATED? They never told me that he KILLED the guy. I thought that he just scared him off. I assumed that the guy ran away. I’m… Struggling to believe it actually, my sweet, shy, awkward Torin KILLED someone? I saw him right afterwards and he was so calm. That doesn’t line up with the image I have of him. I can barely believe it. Torin squeezes my hand gently and I realise I’m still holding his hand in a death grip. I yank my hand away. Why didn’t they tell me that the guy is dead? Sure, it’s awful. But it’s also a relief. I’ve been waiting for the guy to come after me again or something. I suddenly remember Torin telling me that I would need to stay here at least until we were sure that it was safe for me to leave. Was he TRYING to freak me out? To scare me into staying? He had to know that I would be more willing to stick around if I thought that there was something in it for me, like protection from some monster that wants to hurt me. Has everyone been lying to me? Why would they do that? I had already agreed to stay! I let them put a binding spell on me, I’ve cooperated with everything they’ve asked of me, and they still felt the need to manipulate me? I thought that I was making friends, have they all been secretly laughing at me? Pitying me even? The pathetic human girl they tricked into being the world’s most cheerful and cooperative prisoner? All it took were a few lies and some gifts to make my prison comfortable!
I turn to glare at Torin and back away another couple steps.
“What the HELL is wrong with you?!” I demand. Torin looks guilty which only reaffirms my anger.
“You’ve been LYING to me. This WHOLE TIME! I’ve been TERRIFIED and the guy was already dead! I’ve been COOPERATING! You didn’t need to scare me into compliance. What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?” I demand. Torin just blinks at me, his poker face sliding into place. I’m on a roll and I can’t stop.
“How can I trust ANYTHING you have all told me? You probably had Laura lie to me about my place being trashed just to scare me further. Or maybe you paid someone and actually had it trashed! I never got to see it myself, so how the hell would I know? It might be totally fine!” I yell at him and Torin doesn’t say a word to defend himself. Just stands there looking guilty.
“Rina… I didn’t know you were out here… I didn’t mean for you to find out like that…” Kyle trails off awkwardly from the kitchen doorway where he’s staring at me and also looking super guilty. Although in his case, I think it has more to do with guilt about revealing the truth than about the actual deception. I scoff.
“Don’t act like you care. You’ve all been keeping things from me so that I would be a good little prisoner and do as I’m told.” I accuse.
“You said that we are friends.” Torin says, so quietly I barely catch it. I roll my eyes at him.
“In that case, where’s my phone?” I demand. Torin doesn’t answer. I continue to glower at him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I say darkly. They thought I was too friendly? Maybe they were right after all. Well, hurray for them, but that’s over now. I storm down the hallway and into my room where I slam the door shut behind me. The door doesn’t have a lock, but I do my best to wedge a folded up piece of paper under the edge of the door to stop it from being opened easily. Then, I collapse into bed and burst into tears.
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