right? I can help as well, so please don't be sad!”
I could sense Ian's head about to burst through the wall, and sure enough—
“Just forget your damn parents already!! They're both dead, okay?! You fucking saw your dad back there, he’s Lost... and I killed your mum. I stabbed her in the face, and now I'm stuck with a dumb little baby. I hate looking at you, I can't stand it anymore... Just go with Daniel... and leave. You're both better off without me, I'm... fucked up...”
Ian burst into a hybrid wail of sobs and angered roars. He knocked over his furniture and punched the wall forcefully, while Beth rushed straight past me with tears filling her eyes. She never stopped, shooting down the staircase and slamming the front door in a panicked escape.
I walked slowly into the bedroom, where Ian was pressing his face into his pillow, crying. Even when he thought that his family didn't give a toss about him, it still hit him this hard not knowing whether they were safe.
It took him a couple of seconds to notice my presence, then he wobbled to his feet and bawled at me. “What?! I don't care... Just go and get that damn idiot before she hurts herself! She's... She's too good for any of this shit.”
I wanted to say how much we needed him with us, but I couldn't waste any time... I doubt he'd have listened to me in his current condition, anyway.
Before I knew it, I was tumbling down the stairs and skipping four at a time with growing haste. In the next moment, I was frantically scanning the breezy street outside for any sign of Beth. Nothing seemed to have changed since we'd entered the house, although the evening was steadily approaching.
The Lost had started appearing in the windows of various houses, the occasional one finding its way through an open window or gate and crawling out into the barren street.
“Beth!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, not caring how many Lost heard me. I ran the full length of the street until I noticed it. A dim, red glare coming from one of the ground-floor windows.
Her flare...! I threw my body against the house’s front door, immediately regretting that my weaponised metre stick was left behind in Ian's living room. I’d have to cross my fingers, and hope that no one inside was hungry.
I kicked my way into this stranger's house, flailing my arms wildly around each corner to stave off any attackers. My eyes caught wind of Beth in the darkened living room, curled up behind a plastic plant as she shimmed herself away from an unknown figure hidden by the couch.
She dove towards me as soon as I called her name, hugging me tight and swivelling around my leg to distance herself. Whatever happened in here, she seemed traumatised by one particular spot — the place where the flare was emitting its burning light from.
Edging myself closer, I was both relieved and shocked to piece it together. The red stick was upside-down, buried into the top of a Lost woman's skull. I glared at the small girl in disbelief, speechless as she continued hyperventilating.
The tears streamed down her blood-covered face, unrelenting as she fidgeted with the mallet she'd used to penetrate the flare through her assailant's head. “Don't worry, Mister.... I killed it. Now she's with mummy and daddy, right?”
13 | Nights Like This
Thankfully the water was still running in the kitchen, as I cleaned the blood from Beth's cheeks and hands. Relieved that it wasn't her own, I sat her down at the kitchen table while I searched the house for any useful items the previous occupant may have procured.
There wasn't anything we actually needed, in addition to what was already in Ian's house — if he ever came out of his room again — I just needed some time away from Beth, trying to figure out what to say.
The cat was out of the bag; she knew that we'd led her on, whispering behind her back that her parents were dead.
The only noteworthy loot I found was a hefty flashlight and a half-pack of matching
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