Robyn wore a victorious smile after I stepped out of Lucas’s house and approached her, the evening winds carrying both of our hairs. My emotions were all over the place right now, but showing any signs of weakness wasn’t an option. I needed to be strong, stand my ground, and finally get the truth out of her.
“If you’re coming out here to ask me if you can be the godmother, my answer’s no,” she jeered, shooing me away with a hand gesture.
“No thanks. I purge demons, not babysit them. You think you’ve won ‘cause Lucas agreed to take care of the child, but that doesn’t mean he loves you. I don’t care if there isn’t a Shadow manipulating you. I know you’re evil. It’s pouring out of you just like Cassandra Blackwood.”
She flashed an expression of surprise. “Oh, you sensed her negativity? That’s interesting. Most people who’ve made pacts with demons aren’t so easy to detect.”
Pacts with demons? What was she even talking about?
She must’ve read the confusion etched on my face, because she groaned and said, “God, you’re so clueless. Shadows are smart and know our society very well. Instead of fully possessing someone with influential power, they’ll offer to make a pact. The exchange is simple: the person can keep their mind, body, and spirit as long as they use their aspiration for evil and influence others to do the same.”
“And is that what you did?” I asked with a smirk. “Made a deal with the devil? ‘Cause I’m curious as to why I couldn’t sense your negativity when we first met. You must’ve had your desire manifested by then if you were able to see the demons on the roof of the school.”
She rolled her eyes. “Because I learned to suppress my emotions and conceal my dark thoughts, obviously. I can’t even imagine how many of those damn things would be stalking me if I was all in my feelings twenty-four seven.”
“Yeah, and I wonder how you learned to block everything. Wait, let me guess, the Black Mask taught you?”
My question shocked the hell out of her. “Where did you hear that name from?”
“I have my sources. I also know it was you who started the rumors about Valeria after she died. So let’s cut the crap and start being real with each other, ‘cause I know you have more secrets.”
“Ugh, whatever. And F-Y-I, I’m not a member of the Black Mask anymore. They helped me get rid of my Shadow and taught me how to block out my emotions like the rest of them. That’s all.”
I narrowed my eyes in full suspicion. I wasn’t about to let up anytime soon.
“What kind of desire did you have to create a Shadow in the first place?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she hissed before sitting in one of the two chairs on the patio. She sighed before saying, “I wanted to kill every asshole in the world who was as evil as the guy who killed my son.”
I gasped. “Y-your son… Right, Lucas did tell me you were pregnant before.”
“Okay, and? What, you’re gonna think even less of me now because I got knocked up at a young age?”
“No, it’s just… Lucas also told me you were obsessed with having a child. What’s with this fascination of wanting a family?”
She shot me a dirty look. “Why would I waste my time explaining it to you? All you’re gonna do is reject my reason and reply back with some righteous words of wisdom as if everything you say is law. Because that’s what you do, isn’t it? You’re so damn annoying and basic. I don’t know what Lucas sees in you.” She snickered and waved me off again with a sweeping hand gesture.
I was getting nowhere, and her commentary was starting to get under my skin. The only choice I had was to slowly weasel my way in.
“Fine. Can you at least tell me your desire for manifesting that scythe? ‘Cause nothing adds up with you. At all.”
“You really wanna hear that story?” she asked, unsmiling. “Alright, I’ll tell it. After Lucas left me, I met another guy who I thought I was in love with. He treated me like I was special. Hell, he cared for me more than anyone else did at the time. All of that changed when I got pregnant. He didn’t look at me the same anymore. He started to get physical. He even struck me mentally and emotionally if you know what I mean. I knew it was time to leave him and run far away. At least, that was the plan. Until something happened.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I sat in the chair next to her, fearful of what would be said next. “What happened?”
“Oh, you should know. You played a part in it.”
“What do you mean?”
“On what I planned to be my last day at Navelwood High, you let a deranged, heartless, abusive coward into the school. He dragged me on the floor and almost beat me senseless because I broke up with him. All before he killed nineteen people that same morning. Or should I say twenty, because I lost my son in that beating he gave me.”
“No. My God. Then your boyfriend at the time was—”
“Yeah, the Navelwood High shooter. His name was Ryder Harrington. The same guy who you let walk into the school and murder innocent people. You’re the reason why I lost my son. You’re a murderer, and Lucas deserves better.”
The revelation of the school shooter left me speechless. A warm, painful feeling sat in my chest, and I wasn’t sure how much more my heart could take. Everything happening in my life was starting to tear me apart.
“It’s madness, isn’t it?” she asked while laughing, though I was certain none of this was funny to her. “Just baffling. And then I discovered that the girl who caused me to lose my son was now dating the one guy I drove away in the past. Lucas. The only one who ever got me. Talk about a tragic story, but hey, you wanted to hear it. Don’t sit there at a loss for words now.”
I pondered whether to express my sympathy or walk away from the conversation. She continued speaking as I avoided eye contact with her.
“Hell, I still can’t forget the day I went with Lucas to visit you at the hospital. I wanted to go nuts and kill you right there, but I stopped myself after realizing it would be so much better to watch you suffer once Lucas and I were together with our child. It would be poetic justice at its finest.”
My lips finally parted to speak. “Can I ask you something, Robyn? Did you transfer to Ravenvale High just to get back with Lucas and destroy my life?”
“Yes. And you know what? I should be thanking your friend, Valeria. She made everything so much easier when she attracted those demons that put you in the hospital. Your absence allowed me and Lucas to fall back in love faster. So even though Doctors had told me I was infertile after Ryder’s assault, I still managed to desire a child. And now look, it’s actually happening.” She looked down at her belly and smiled.
I rose from my seat, ready to leave the scene, but not before saying one last thing. “I’m sorry for your loss.” My words snapped her out of her admiration. She wasn’t expecting that sort of response, and she didn’t expect me to start walking away as I did.
“You should be sorry,” she retorted, causing me to stop in place with my fingers on the handle of the patio door. “But if there’s one good thing you did, it was giving me a sense of purpose. After the shooting at Navelwood High, I understood what it felt like to truly hate someone. I felt driven to kill every last person walking on this damn planet who was evil, psychotic, and spineless like him.”
Her story was heartbreaking, but I couldn’t resist the urge to turn back and voice my own stance on her reason to kill.
“Like I said, I’m sorry about what happened, but going after people who aren’t perfect isn’t the right thing to do. Everyone has some sort of negativity in them, some more than others. But that’s no excuse to judge them.”
“Oh, what the hell do you know? Sinful people need to die. It’s as simple as that. I won’t let another person like that rotten, low-life scumbag get away with doing whatever the hell they want. You can continue on trying to save people who can’t be saved with your little light show. I’ll be the one to actually change society for the better.”
“No, the only thing you’re gonna do is lessen the population whenever you feel like being the grim reaper. Death doesn’t solve anything. It only makes things worse. Unlike you, I wanna make the world a better place, not kill it ‘cause everything isn’t sunshine and rainbows.”
She stood up and stepped in my face. “Wow, you’re such a privileged hypocrite. What’s sad is that there’s probably a ton of people like you running around in different parts of the city. Know what the difference between me and all of you is? I’m eliminating the threats, not brainwashing them for a day or two until they go back to committing the same sins all over again.”
“Maybe you’re right, but taking someone’s life is not the answer to the problem. And you know what else? I’m sick and tired of people thinking I’m entitled just ‘cause I live in a nice area with my family and have a freakin’ boyfriend. I might not be oppressed or have gone through experiences like yours, but I’ve seen the types of troubled people my dad helps as a social worker, and I’ve seen the criminals my mom put away as a prosecutor. I wanna do my part as a human being and help those who are suffering. I don’t need to endure cruel hardships firsthand to understand how screwed up society is. It’s all around me, and I wanna put an end to it.”
We leered at one another in opposition. The silence after our dispute diminished the tension in the air, but the dark aura swirling around Robyn’s torso made me question Lucas’s decision all over again.
Do it, I thought to myself, fighting the urge to release a beam of light at Robyn’s stomach. What good would it do, though? She’d just wish the baby back.
Still, the words were stuck in my head like a chorus. A catchy one at that.
Do it.