Page 28 of Haunting Goats

He steps away from me and begins walking around the room, roughly knocking objects off the furnishings. I nod in agreement and wait for a statement about his actions.

Jake screeches as the items topple onto the floor without explanation.

“I think whatever this electric current we have between us is disrupting the Veil. He’s just so dumb, he automatically jumps to the worse-case scenario. Hence, why he’s an idiot. Is the dude even religious?”

My lips purse, and I shake my head no. Meanwhile, Jake is freaking out.

“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!”

He jumps into bed and throws the comforter over his damp and matted head. His hands fly out from under the large blanket, and his drunken fingers form the sign of the cross. If eye rolls could kill an already dead person, I’d be experiencing a homicide a million times over.

Atticus comes back around and nudges me with his elbow.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand.” He gestures with a bow toward the door, “M'lady”.

I’m not familiar with the overwhelmingly girlish giggle that comes out of me, and it makes me blush. Attie acknowledges my embarrassment with his boyish smile and takes my hand.

The next thing I know, we’re standing in the rays of a flaming celestial fireball. Birds are chirping, traffic is moving, a small group of people are mingling outside the motel, having conversations and smoking stale cigarettes in the otherwise bare parking lot. I can see from here that downtown is bustling with locals; it always is, and the atmosphere is, all in all, too chipper considering the room I just came from.

My mood shifts along with my thoughts, and my brain plays tug-of-war in a back and forth of wondering about my mother’s part in all this. My mother has obviously known for weeks and hasn’t reported me missing or dead. Why is she helping him?

“Lyr… let’s go. Now.” My brows furrow at his tone, and I almost argue, but intuition tells me to leave it alone, and I do as I’m told.

Our room is still empty and I’m so grateful for that. I pray that it stays this way until Attie and I are done with this place. This motel is well-known for its one-star reviews. Google reviews include complaints about the lack of service, cleanliness, and weird smells, while some concerned reviewers ask about the pool and its appearance, noting it looks like someone has died in it.

My mother proves ignorant when a simple Google search could have shown her why no one was probing around my prior living quarters. The longer I sit with this information, the angrier I feel. I genuinely used to think that dying would relieve me of feeling too much, but I can’t seem to shake it, even in the In-Between.

“I’m sorry,” Attie says as he lowers his large body onto a tiny stool that he’d pulled out from underneath the bedside table between the two beds.

“For what?”

The tone in my voice projects more snippy than I intend, but I wait for a response, anyway. Although I don’t actually care because apologies are for gullible and naïve people, and I am neither.

“For being rude. Lyr, I just wanted to get you away from there—from him and… your mom.”

I’m not a damsel in distress; I don’t need to be saved by a knight in shining armor when I can wear my Chuck’s as I save myself.

“I appreciate the intent behind the action, but I was fine, Attie. I’m a big girl, literally and metaphorically. Ha. I can take care of myself.”

“Dammit, Lyr. Why do you gotta be like that? Let me help you.”

I don’t want help.

Actually, I don’t know what I want.

CHAPTER 17

ATTICUS

God, she’s so stubborn, it’s maddening. Lyric doesn’t know how lucky she actually is. I didn’t get the same opportunity as her. Ignorance is bliss, and the saying rings true now more than ever.

No one murdered me.

No homicide.

A total accident.

I didn’t experience weeks of confusion before accidentally stumbling upon the information. There was no time to grieve.