All Chapters of What We Kept In The Dark: Chapter 21 - Chapter 24

The phone keeps ringing in my hand and I just stare at Reina’s name flashing across the screen, my thumb hovering over the answer button but not pressing it.I should pick up.She’s my best friend, she’s worried about me, she deserves to hear my voice and know I’m okay.But if I answer she’s going to ask questions—where I am, what I’ve been doing, why I’ve been so distant and I don’t know how to lie to her anymore, don’t know how to keep pretending everything’s fine when it’s so far from fine.The ringing stops.Silence fills the apartment.I set the phone down on the couch cushion beside me, screen facing down so I don’t have to see if she calls back.“I know that feeling,” Jeremy says quietly from his spot on the other end of the couch. “I felt it when Ryan called me that day, after he found out you were at the hospital. Wanting to answer but knowing it would just make everything more complicated.”I look at him and there’s understanding in his eyes, not judgment.“She’s going to th

I’m still standing in the middle of the living room when it hits me.Jeremy’s mom is dying. The words echo in my head, over and over, and I can’t move, can’t think past the way Jeremy’s face went completely white when Jamel said it, can’t stop hearing the crack in his voice when he asked how long she had.I’m just standing here staring at nothing while my brain tries to catch up to what’s happening.Then I hear it. A drawer slamming in the bedroom hard and loud enough that it snaps me out of whatever fog I’ve been stuck in.Another slam and something hits the floor with a thud. I blink and look toward the hallway, toward the bedroom where Jeremy disappeared the second he hung up with his brother.My legs feel shaky when I start walking but I make myself move, one foot in front of the other, until I’m standing in the bedroom doorway.He’s got a bag open on the bed and he’s just grabbing things, shirts and jeans and socks, not even looking at what he’s taking, just shoving them in with