Bad Bones

Laura is still writing the message when one of her windows slowly slides open. What the fuck? Jane pushes the curtains aside and climbs through, one leg at a time, silent. Laura is so stunned she can’t even move.

Jane’s gaze sweeps the room and lands on her. “There you are! You were worrying me! What happened?”

“I… Huh…” She still cannot find her words. “I’m fine. You shouldn’t have come in.”

Jane raises her hands in surrender. “I was worried something might have happened to you. You told me you feel unwell sometimes, and you have fainted… I didn’t want to leave without being sure that wasn’t the case.”

A mixture of guilt, and embarrassment, and exhaustion, washes over Laura. She just wants this to be over, to wrap herself with a blanket and curl up on the sofa for the rest of the day. It has all become too much, too quickly.

“Well, you’ve seen me now. I’m fine. Please leave.”

Jane nods. “I just…” She takes a step closer, and Laura tenses. “I’ll go. But… I just need to know.”

Laura glances down. Jane is holding something. The rust-stained bone is gripped in her bare hand. It’s such a careless gesture that it stuns Laura. “This. Is it the only one? Are you sure you didn’t find any others?”

“…I’m sure, I told you.”

“And this is the whole bone?” She tightens her fingers around it, the knuckles turning white. “Because I’m pretty sure it looked different in the photo you posted.”

“Why would I keep some of it? And why wouldn’t I tell you if I found more?”

Jane stops, and looks down at the bone in her hands, cradling it now as if it could shatter. She’s quiet for a handful of seconds. Then she pulls her mask down to her chin, and she whispers, “…I can’t have any of them out there where they can be found. I need to be sure.”

There’s a shift in the air, then. It’s so cold. A shiver runs up Laura’s spine as the pieces slide into place. This is more than Jane not respecting Laura’s boundaries… This is something else.

Jane’s questions could have been borne of genuine worry for her cousin, but they were insistent, encroaching—

A heavy weight settles in Laura’s throat.

Jane was demanding to know what Laura found and where.

Jane hadn’t wanted to call the police.

Jane said she’d wear a mask.

But in the end, it was just that—a mask.

Laura wants to scream—to punch and kick and hurt. But she can’t. She needs to do something else, anything. Pretend she hasn’t realized the truth.

“Jane, please. This isn’t safe for me. You have to go. Now.”

Jane finally looks up from the bone. “Oh, I would, but you’re keeping something from me, Laura.”

Laura shakes her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Leave, or—” she remembers the phone in her hand— “I’ll call the police.”

Jane glances down and takes in the device. For a couple of seconds time slows, freezes. Then everything winds back up, so much faster than before.

Jane pounces at her phone. They struggle for it, pulling, pushing, grabbing at clothes and skin until Jane manages to throw it far away from them both.

Before Laura can lunge for it, Jane pulls a blade from her back pocket. It halts Laura where she is, dread keeping her bones locked in place.

There’s only one reason for a weapon—it was Jane’s plan to use it all along.

Everyone will betray you.

“You need to tell me where the rest of the bone is.” Jane’s voice doesn’t waver. The focus in her eyes is as sharp as the knife she holds. “Tell me, or I’ll kill you. It’s that simple.”