Don’t Let Me Break by Linda Verji
CHAPTER 26
“We found her this morning at Haver Park,” Weston explained once all four adults were seated in the living room. “Someone shot her.”
In utter shock, Marley let out a sharp gasp. Sebastian had never met Leslie personally, but he was stunned too. He moved closer to Marley and put his hand around her waist in an unconscious attempt to comfort her.
Brown, who had his eyes on Marley, asked, “Where were you last night?”
Offended for her, Sebastian demanded, “Don’t tell me you think she did this.”
“We don’t think anything,” Weston returned expressionlessly, “but we need to make sure that it wasn’t her.”
“Where were you last night?” Brown repeated.
Marley stammered. “I- I- I-”
“She was here,” Sebastian finished for her helpfully.
“Were you?” Brown asked Marley.
Marley nodded.
Sebastian added, “We came here directly from the hospital and neither of us left.”
“How can we be sure?” Weston asked.
“This building has cameras everywhere, including the elevators, hallways, parking lot and gate.” Sebastian offered, “You can check them.”
“So you left this morning?” Brown asked Marley.
She nodded. “Y- yes.”
“What time?” Brown asked.
She haltingly responded, “About- about- about eight a.m. t-to go to work.”
“We’ll check that.” Brown quickly jotted down something in his notebook.
Putting two and two together, Sebastian asked, “Does that mean that Leslie was killed last night?”
The detectives traded looks as if to check how much information they could share with the couple. Having apparently decided that giving an answer wouldn’t do any harm, they both nodded. Weston said, “Yes.”
“What time?” Sebastian asked.
“That’s confidential,” Weston rebuffed. Turning back to Marley, he asked, “What about your sister? Where was she last night?”
“Kenny? She was at- at wor-” Marley stopped speaking. Her eyes widened, almost as if she’d just thought of something.
“What?” Weston noted the pause. “Did you remember something important?”
“N- n- no- nothing,” Marley stammered. “K- K- Ken- Ken- Kenny w- w- was- was at w- w- work.”
Apparently, it was possible for Marley’s stammer to get worse. Sebastian noticed it. The detectives, who were trained to see this kind of stuff, noticed it too. Immediately, Brown wrote in his notebook. Sebastian could only guess that Kenny had officially made it into the prime suspect list.
As soon as the detectives were gone, Sebastian asked Marley. “You don’t think Kenny could’ve done it, do you?”
“What? N- no. No.” Her expression aghast, Marley shook her head vigorously. “Kenny didn’t- she didn’t do it.”
Her stammering and her vehement denial were enough to set Sebastian’s alarm bells ringing. Kenny couldn’t have done it, right? He’d only met the lady twice, but she hadn’t seemed like the murderous type. Then again, he didn’t know her very well. What he knew, however, was that she was quite protective of Marley. But was she capable of murdering for Marley?
The thought of someone so important to Marley being on the suspect list made Sebastian nervous. However, his anxiety was nothing compared to Marley’s terror.
She completely shut down. When he asked a question, she just nodded or tried to smile then sunk back into her thoughts. He thought cooking dinner together might distract her, so he asked her to make salad while he cooked the fish. But she was so zoned out that she almost sliced her finger off when she was cutting cucumbers. He took the knife from her and told that it was okay, he’d cook.
About five minutes later, she stood.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
She wordlessly pointed to the living room, and before he could ask more questions, she left. Concern told him to follow her, but common sense held him back. She needed some time alone to process everything that had just happened. Leaving her to her own company for a few minutes while he cooked wouldn’t hurt.
About twenty minutes later, dinner was ready. He headed to the living room to let Marley know, but he found her curled up on the couch and deeply asleep.
“Marley.” He bent and kissed her temple. “Marley, wake up.”
She didn’t wake up.
“Marley.” He shook her shoulder gently. “Dinner is ready.”
She didn’t respond. Her eyes stayed closed and her body still. She was so still that, were it not for her shoulders that kept rising and falling with her even breaths, he would’ve thought that she was unconscious.
After trying to wake her up several times with no success, he gave up. He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. She didn’t stir as he set her on the bed or even when he pulled the covers over her, which really surprised him. How was she able to sleep so soundly when just minutes before she’d been wringing her hands in worry?
Strange!
Sebastian didn’t feel like eating alone. After sticking the salad in the fridge and covering up the cooked food, he cleaned the kitchen then came back to the bedroom. Marley hadn’t even turned in her sleep. She was still lying on her back with her head turned to the side, just as he’d positioned her when he brought her to bed.
Strange!
He took a shower then came back to bed. After turning off the bedside lamp, he drew her into his arms. There was no reaction. She didn’t cuddle into him but she didn’t push him away either. It was almost as if she was a lifeless doll that was just moving the way he wanted her to move.
Strange!
His arm around her shoulders, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. It didn’t work at first, but after counting sheep, he fell asleep.
Sebastian wasn’t sure how long he was out, but a sudden scream shattered his slumber and yanked him back to the real world.
“Ah! Ah! Ah!” The piercing screams were soon joined by a stinging smack to his face that had him groaning in pain. Soon, nails were clawing into his face even as the shrill banshee-like shrieks echoed in the room.
Driven by instinct and pain, he grabbed those hands by the wrists, then shoved the person sideways on the bed. He flipped his own body so that he was now lying over his attacker.
“Let go. Let go.” The shrieks, which were obviously coming from a woman, continued. But since she was trapped beneath him, she couldn’t injure anything other than his eardrums.
“Get off me,” she screamed. “Get off me.”
Marley, he realized. This was Marley screaming. Quickly, he let her go and rolled off the bed. Then he reached for the bedside’s lamp.
Having been released, Marley had moved too. When he turned on the light, he found that she was on all fours and facing the side that he’d rolled to, like a wildcat that was preparing to launch itself at the enemy. Her teeth were bared and her eyes were wild with - not fear - but fury.
The moment she saw him, all the fury dissolved and was replaced by shock. “You?”
“Are you okay?” he asked even as his hand went up to the right side of his face. Immediately, he met stickiness and when he looked at his palm, he found streaks for blood.
Marley ignored his question. Glowering, she demanded, “Why are you in the same bed as me? Were you trying to rape me?”
What kind of questions was that? Of course he wasn’t tr-
His brain screeched to a halt, his jaw dropped, and every drop of blood in him froze. No way. No way. No. Way!
Despite not quite believing what he was thinking, he tried, “Hazel?”
“I asked you a question, Asshole,” she demanded. “Why are you in the same bed as me?”
Marley would never cuss him out. This was definitely Hazel.
But he just had to confirm again. “You’re Hazel, right? Not Marley.”
“You’re damn right I’m Hazel,” she admitted. But a second later, a light-bulb lit up in her brain and she swiftly changed her tune. “No, no, no. I’m Marley.”
“No you’re not,” he refuted. “You’re Hazel.”
For a moment, it looked like she’d insist that she was Marley, but she snarled, “Who the hell cares if I’m Marley or Hazel. Don’t try to change the subject. What the hell are you doing in my bed?”
Wow! He’d actually witnessed a change between the personalities. So this is how it happened.
“What the hell are you doing in my bed?” Hazel repeated, her voice rising with each word.
“Um…” Sebastian cleared his throat. “This is my bed, not yours.”
“What? No, it isn-” Hazel stopped talking when she looked around the room and realized that he was right. Any other woman would’ve immediately backed down. But true to her shameless nature, Hazel snapped back. “Okay, I’m in your bed. Why?”
“Marley was the one in my bed.” For good measure, he added, “Consensually.”
“That is a damn lie.” Hazel exploded. “Marley would never! You must’ve drugged her.”
“I didn’t drug her. I wouldn’t do that, and furthermore, I don’t need to.” He informed her. “We’re dating.”
Hazel’s jaw dropped. “You and Marley?”
Sebastian nodded. “Me and Marley.”
Still not believing it, Hazel asked, “You and Marley are dating?”
“Yes.”
Hazel stared at him in open-mouthed disbelief for a second then burst into laughter. “Maybe when pigs can fly.”
“I guess pigs can fly then,” Sebastian returned flippantly, “because Marley and I are dating.”
“No way! No way on earth! The lies people tell. Wow!” Hazel still refused to believe it. Sitting on the bed Indian style, she said, “There’s no way you’re dating Marley. How can you date Marley? You’re gay.”
He guffawed. “I’m not gay.”
“Of course you are,” she insisted. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have rejected me.”
Sebastian’s eyebrows flew up. “Are you saying that only gay guys are capable of rejecting you?”
“Um… duh!” Hazel gestured to her whole body as if to say that she was irresistibly attractive.
Sebastian could only laugh. Hazel was really something; conceited and shameless couldn’t even describe her. He shrugged. “What can I say? You’re wrong, and I’m not gay.”
“You’re serious?” Hazel tilted her head to study him. “You’re not gay?”
“Nope!”
“And you and Marley are dating?”
“Yup!” Sebastian reconfirmed, “We’re dating!”
“Well, damn!” Hazel leaned back against the headboard in obvious shock. However, a heartbeat later, she frowned. “Why?”
Sebastian wanted to sit on the bed too. He also wanted to check his face to see just how much damage Hazel had done with her nails. But he was scared of freaking her out, so he just kept standing at the foot of the bed like an errant child being scolded by their parent.
He asked, “Why what?”
“Why are you dating Marley?”
He shrugged. “Because I like her.”
“Lies!” Hazel snorted. “Who would like a coward like her?”
Sebastian rushed to Marley’s defense. “She’s not a coward.”
“Oh, yes she is. The fact that I’m here is proof enough.” Hazel’s gaze suddenly changed. It became more thoughtful. “Why don’t you seem more surprised that I’m the one who woke up in your bed and not Marley? You should be screaming bloody murder and asking me what’s going on.”
Sebastian shrugged. “That’s not my style.”
Hazel watched him for some time then asked, “You know about Marley and I, don’t you?”
Though she didn’t make herself clear, he understood that she was asking whether he knew that she and Marley were the same person. So he nodded. “I know.”
Hazel gasped. “Marley told you?”
“Actually,” he said, “you told me.”
Fury flared in Hazel’s eyes. “No, I didn’t!”
“Not in words. But everything you did the last time you were here told me,” Sebastian clarified. “You behaved completely unlike Marley when we were at work. You knew nothing about me and her. Then you tried to fool me with that twin nonsense. You know that story was ridiculous, right?”
“It wasn’t ridiculous,” Hazel sniped back. “I’ll have you know that many people have believed that story.”
“Then those people weren’t very smart or observant,” he pointed out. “You gave me all the clues. I just put them together then confronted Marley.”
“You confronted Marley? Really?” Hazel laughed. “I bet she almost crapped in her pants.” Her laughter died seconds later and was replaced by surprise. “Wait! If you confronted her, then she must’ve been scared. Why didn’t I show up?”
“I guess she wasn’t that scared of me finding out.”
Hazel’s confusion only intensified. “If you know about Marley and me, that means you know that we’re two personalities sharing one body, right?”
“Right.”
“You know that she’s totally bonkers,” Hazel continued. “And you don’t mind? You still want to date her?”
He nodded.
Hazel slowly crossed her arms and canted her head to stare at him for so long that it got incredibly uncomfortable.
“What?” he asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m looking at you like this because I think you might be crazier than that broad.” Hazel kissed her teeth several times and shook her head. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I knew there was something wrong with you the moment we locked eyes. I knew it. No wonder you weren’t attracted to me.”
Sebastian frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sir, why would you date someone who is sick?” Hazel’s expression was filled with disgust and judgment. “Are you some weirdo who gets off on finding weak girls and controlling them?”
“No, I’m not.” He was offended. “And it’s very disrespectful for you to say something like that when you don’t even know me.”
“Disrespectful my ass! I’ve met everyone who ‘liked’ Marley.” Hazel punctuated the ‘liked’ with air quotes and a sour face. “They were always weirdos; mooches, control-freaks, scrubs, weak-girl lovers… you name it. She’s a ‘crazy dude’ magnet. And they didn’t even know that she was crazy. Plus, once I gave them a little crazy back, they were smart enough to kick rocks. You know she’s crazy, and you still want to date her? Something is wrong with you. What’s your kink, you freak?”
Sebastian saw red, and heat climbed up to his face. Instinctively, he wanted to defend himself. He wanted to tell Hazel that Marley was more than just her sickness. That everything about Marley was attractive to him; her kindness and understanding, her determination to survive her bad past even if it meant breaking herself into pieces like Hazel. He wanted to tell Hazel how being around Marley’s quiet and soft energy left him feeling calmer and at home.
Was he so wrong for seeing all the good that was hiding behind the bad? Did that make him a freak?
He opened his mouth to scold Hazel. However, just micro-seconds later, it struck him that he’d be talking to the wrong person. Everything he’d read about Marley’s illness had left him with the stark impression that Hazel was Marley and Marley was Hazel.
They were one person.
Hazel was essentially Marley’s id. She was Marley with no filter; the one that said and did everything Marley wished she could do or say if she wasn’t so reserved. So perhaps Hazel’s opinion was what Marley really thought on the inside but couldn’t bring herself to say.
The person he needed to have this conversation with was Marley. Not Hazel.
He took a deep breath and let go of his annoyance. When he spoke, it was to ask, “Should we tell Kenny that you’re here?”
“Stop trying to change the subject,” Hazel sniped back. “Does Kenny know that you and Marley are dating?”
Sebastian ignored the question and instead bent to the bedside table to pick his phone. “I’ll call Kenny.”
“No, no, no!” Hazel immediately launched herself towards him. “Put the phone down.”
He backed away and raised his arm before she could get to him and the phone.
“Don’t call, Kenny,” Hazel ordered. “It will just worry her. And she’s probably at work right now so she won’t even pick the phone.”
“Still, we should tell her.”
“Look, dude!” Hazel snapped at him. Her eyes were spitting fire. “I don’t care what kind of relationship you and Marley have, but you’re dealing with Hazel now. And Hazel can make her own decisions. Last time when you were threatening me with Kenny, I let you, but it won’t happen again. I’m not a child, and I won’t let you keep treating me like one. If I tell you I don’t want Kenny to know that I’m here, then that’s what we’re going with. You don’t get to call her. I’ll call her when I want to call her.”
Sebastian wanted to insist on calling Kenny. But Hazel’s words struck a chord. Though she was just Marley’s alter, she was an adult alter. She was right about him not having the right to treat her like an errant child. However, she was currently in Marley’s body, and he knew that Marley would want him to protect her. Marley would want him to call Kenny.
So what should he do? This was so confusing. Should he listen to the owner of the body or should he listen to the person that was currently in it? What to do? What to do?
Fortunately, Hazel saw his dilemma and made the decision easier for him. Her tone softening, she suggested, “We can call Kenny in the morning.”
That seemed like a decent compromise. But Sebastian had to ask, “And what will you do until then?”
Hazel answered him with a question of her own. “What’s the time?”
He took his phone from the nightstand and checked. “A little past two.”
Hazel made a face then asked, “You have a TV, right?”
“I do.” He nodded.
She grinned. “Great.”
And that’s how she ended up curled up on the couch watching TV. Even though Sebastian really wasn’t interested in what she was watching, he was worried that she’d decide to leave the house. So he took the seat adjacent to the couch. She gave him a dirty look but didn’t say anything.
Somehow, Hazel found the only snacks in his house; a bag of chips. She was a loud and messy eater. Crumbs fell on the couch and the rug every time she pulled a chip from the bag. Immediately, Sebastian’s need to clean the mess spiked. But this was Hazel. Something told him that she wasn’t as tolerant as Marley. If he hovered around her with a vacuum cleaner, she would most definitely bite his head off. So he closed his eyes and tried to forget the mess.
That’s how he fell asleep.
Hazel followed soon after.