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  Before Sean had the chance to say anything, Drew crossed the room in a few quick strides and roughly tackled the boy off of Ali, wrestling him onto the floor and punching him hard in the stomach. Physically the other boy had more of an advantage over Drew, but Drew was quick and his movements nimble and practiced. It was almost as if he had learnt these movements by heart, as if he had done this a hundred times before. He was a vicious, efficient fighter.

  In less than three minutes, the struggle was over and Drew had the larger and stronger boy pinned underneath him, with a bruise already forming around his eye. “Given up already?” Drew taunted, his tone menacing and his eyes narrowed in disgust.

  “Bastard,” The boy panted, and while the anger and hatred was clear in his eyes, Sean could also see fear there. “You should keep your nose out of other people’s business.”

  “Oh, but you see this is my business,” Drew’s glare darkened from angry to downright murderous. “Ali is my friend. And if you dare hurt her, or even come near her again, I will personally make your life hell.”

  The boy smirked. “That’s a big bluff for someone so small and weedy.”

  “Are you forgetting your current position? Or do you want me to…reinforce it?” A hand hovered dangerously over the boy’s throat. For a moment it was silent; the tension suffocating as both boys held their breath. Sean couldn’t help the satisfaction he felt when he saw the absolute terror surface in the boy’s eyes. It was just a threat. He didn’t believe that Drew would actually go through with it and strangle the boy. Right? He must have some sort of conscience, he convinced himself. ‘So where was his conscience when he stole your body?’ his mind supplied in response. He was about to speak, to tell Drew to stop and let the boy go, but before he could Drew relaxed. His hand fell and his shoulders slumped. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he stood up and the other boy followed warily as if expecting another attack. “Leave,” Drew spat. “And trust me, if I find you taking advantage of a girl again, I won’t hesitate to go through with my threat next time.”

  The other boy seemed stunned into silence. His face was twisted by fury and fear as he stormed out of the room without a word, slamming the door behind him. Sean almost wished that Drew had beaten him up a bit more first. However he was relieved that it was over, relieved that the horrible event that could have happened had been prevented, relieved that Ali was safe.

  “Ali,” Sean suddenly gasped, moving closer to the bed to try and get a better view of her. “Check her, is she okay?” Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be unconscious. A nasty bruise had already formed on her cheek underneath the dried tear tracks, but other than that and a few small scratches she seemed to be unharmed.

  Drew leant over her, frowning as he checked her pulse and breathing. “Ali?” he asked. No answer. He sighed. “She seems to be fine. I think she just passed out from all of the alcohol and stress. You know, you could have warned me that she was a lightweight.”

  Sean scowled at the attempt at humour. “What are we going to do with her? We can’t just leave her here.”

  “I’ll take her back to her house,” Drew said. “It would be the honourable thing to do. You know, saving the damsel in distress and all.”

  “And how are you going to get her back? You can’t carry her all the way.”

  Drew paused. “Good point. I didn’t think of that.”

  “Do you even think at all?”

  “You know, as entertaining as our arguments are, I think your drunk and unconscious friend is the priority at the moment. So have you got any ideas?”

  Sean tried to calm his frantic thoughts to come up with a solution. “I guess you could ask someone at the party for a lift?” he finally suggested. “Liz is here. She can drive, I’m sure she’ll help us.”

  Drew nodded. “Okay. That could work.” He gently lifted Ali off the bed until he cradled her in his arms, giving Sean a pointed look. “She’s light, you know.”

  “I don’t think we have time to be worrying about that right now,” Sean bit out. Drew looked ready to argue, but held his tongue instead and nudged the door open with his elbow, slipping out of the room and down the stairs.

  In the main room the party was still in full swing, perhaps ever louder and crazier than before. By now couples had paired off and could be seen making out in dark corners and on sofas. Empty bottles littered the drinks table, and people swayed drunkenly to the music on the dance floor. Sean scanned the room until his gaze fell on a girl with mousy brown hair sitting in one of the chairs, in conversation with the red-headed girl that Drew had been so fond of. “There’s Liz,” Sean pointed her out.

  Drew staggered awkwardly towards the two girls, trying to manoeuvre around people with Ali in his arms. Both girls shot up as soon as they saw the state Ali was in, Liz’s brown eyes widening in horror. “What happened? Is she okay?” she yelled over the music.

  “Yeah. Just had a bit too much to drink,” Drew yelled back. “Do you think you could drive her home?”

  Liz nodded. “Of course, let’s go.” She said a quick goodbye to her friend, then motioned for Drew to follow her. They got out of the house and soon they were speeding down the empty roads. The journey was quick. A painful silence filled the car; no one seemed to feel like speaking. Even Sean was mute, consumed by worry for Ali.

  They eventually arrived at Ali’s house and Drew got out, still with the girl in his arms. “Will she be okay?” Liz asked, helping to root around in her friend’s bag to find her house keys.

  “Yeah, she’ll sleep it off, don’t worry about it.”

  “Her parents are away for the weekend, you know, so you don’t have to worry about them.”

  “Thanks for the head’s up.”

  Liz smiled wearily. “No problem. Do you need any more help?”

  “No, I’ve got it,” Drew said reassuringly. “You don’t have to stick around anymore.”

  Liz nodded and was about to get back into her car, when she stopped for a moment. “You’re a good friend, Sean,” she said quietly. “Ali’s lucky to have you.”

  Drew just nodded. As the car drove away, he kicked the door open and shuffled inside. The house was dark and empty, like a gaping hole. He stumbled up the stairs, her legs dangling almost comically from his arms. He reached her room and laid her gently on her bed, taking off her shoes and throwing a blanket over her. It was only once Drew was perched tiredly on the bed himself that Sean felt it safe to speak.

  “Thank you,” he murmured, for once genuine. He felt like he should hate the imposter in front of him, but right now all he could feel was relief and gratitude, because no matter what he had done to him he had still saved Ali tonight.

  Drew shrugged. “I only did what you should have done.” There was a note of accusation in his voice that Sean didn’t understand.

  “And I would have,” he growled, defensive. “If I had my body of course I would have done the same thing.”

  “Would you really?”

  That stopped Sean. He thought about it. Would he really have had the courage to do what Drew had done? He wasn’t sure, and that scared him. The idea that he could have let Ali be raped disgusted him. He shook his head. “Shut up, you don’t even know me. I would have done it.”

  “But I do know you Sean,” Drew pointed out. “You’re my little project. I watched you for months. I studied you. And from what I’ve seen, you’re far too selfish to risk yourself like that for Ali.”

  Sean felt the anger bubble up again, although weaker than before, eclipsing any gratitude he had felt. “You think you know everything about me, but you’re wrong,” he hissed. “And don’t try to tell me that you did this out of kindness, either. I know you have your own twisted motives, whatever they are.”

  Drew was about to answer, but at that moment a groan came from the bed and Ali twisted under the covers. Sean actually felt disappointed. He had been desperate to hear Drew’s reply, see if he could unearth any new information. Why did Ali have to have such bad timing
?

  “Sean…?” Her chestnut eyes fluttered open, bleary and glazed.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” he replied, shuffling closer to her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Head…hurts,” she muttered disjointedly. Drew found a nearby glass of water and sat her up, helping her drink it.

  “Any better?”

  She nodded. “Where am I?” she whispered hoarsely.

  “Your house, Liz drove us home afterwards.”

  Suddenly Ali let out a small, distressed cry and her eyes widened, filling with tears. “H-he was on top of me,” she stuttered, obviously reliving the night’s events as the memories returned. “Did he…?”

  “No,” Drew said firmly. “Nothing happened. I got there in time. Don’t worry, he won’t bother you again.”

  Sean wasn’t sure if Ali had heard the words or not in her disorientated state. Either out of gratitude or simply seeking comfort, she threw herself at Drew and began to sob quietly into his shoulder, her whole body shaking from the effort and her red hair obscuring her face. At first Drew looked surprised, then rather uncomfortable, sending Sean a frantic glance as if asking ‘what do I do now?’

  Sean shrugged. “How should I know? I can’t deal with crying girls. Be comforting or something.”

  Drew looked like he desperately wanted to shoot out an insult, so much so that restraining himself was physically painful, but didn’t want to risk it in front of Ali. He sufficed for giving Sean a patronising glare instead, clearly saying ‘I think I figured that out myself, dumbass.’ However, at a loss for what else to do, he began to rub soothing circles on her back. Sean didn’t think Ali was even aware of what was happening, but eventually her sobs died down to sniffles and hiccups instead and then deep, even breathing. Carefully, Drew laid her back down. He was about to get up and leave the room to let her rest, when a quiet mumble came from the bed.

  “Sean…stay with me, please don’t go.”

  The way she said it, vulnerable and innocent, made something in Sean ache. Why had he always taken her for granted? She had always been the one caring about him, it was never the other way round, and now it was probably too late to rectify his mistakes. For the past few weeks she had needed him, and all he was able to do was stand by uselessly and watch as Drew did what he should have done.

  “If you leave her now, I’ll be the one making your life hell,” Sean murmured dangerously.

  Drew pretended not to hear him, but walked back to the bed and ghosted his fingers over her bruised cheek. “Okay,” he whispered. “Just go to sleep, Ali. I’ll still be here when you wake up.” She nodded at his words. A small, sad smile crossed her face as she finally closed her eyes and her body relaxed into a dreamless sleep.

  Drew found a cushion, a spare blanket and lay down on the floor, shifting to try and find a comfortable position. “I would have done it anyway, you know, even without your threat,” he said quietly.

  Sean shook his head in bemusement. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”

  “Don’t you get it yet?” Drew laughed humourlessly. “I’m setting an example. I’m showing you how you should have lived your life. Ali deserves better than you.”

  Sean would never admit it, but those words stung. They hurt more because he knew they were true. “So what are you? My guardian angel?” he taunted. “Come here to teach me a lesson and give me another chance to make things right?”

  “There’s no second chances, Sean. Not this time.”

  Sean shook his head in denial, refusing to believe it. “There has to be. There has to be a way back.”

  “Keep looking if you want. But remember, time’s running out.”

  As the night dragged on and Drew too succumbed to sleep, those words reverberated in Sean’s head. And, although he tried to pass it off as his own overactive imagination, the ticking of the clock sounded louder than it ever had before as it echoed in the darkened room.

  Chapter 11: You put the ‘die’ back into dieting

  Every night after that Sean visited Ali, unknown to her. Sometimes he came early, just in time to watch her usual routine of: weigh, check reflection, exercise. Other times, when he couldn’t bring himself to watch her gradual descent, he came later on and watched her sleep instead; eyes closed and peaceful, more like the girl he remembered her to be.

  Ever since the party, she seemed to deteriorate even quicker. She became paranoid, startled by the slightest sounds, and her clothes began to hang off her bony frame. She would wear a mask at school though, act perfectly natural around Drew and refused outright to talk about what had happened. Honestly, it terrified him, but he didn’t know what to do. So instead he would always return, sometime around midnight when he couldn’t take it anymore, just in time to watch Drew with his eyes squeezed shut tossing in bed and warring with the covers. It was odd, he found himself thinking sometimes, that someone as ordinary and mentally stable as him would get mixed up in such an unordinary web of secrets and hate and psychopaths and self-starving best friends.

  “You were right,” Sean finally admitted one night, when he couldn’t stand it anymore and the thoughts threatened to drive him insane.

  “About what?” Drew, lying in the bed, in the near-darkness, the only sign of movement being the slight twist of the velvet silhouette of his head.

  “About her. About me. About everything, I guess.”

  “Care to elaborate a bit there?”

  “Ali…” he lingered over her name, over the hopelessness that came with it. “You were right when you said that I should have cared more then, looked a little harder, and I might have been able to prevent this.” He shook his head sadly. “What if she doesn’t stop starving herself?”

  “Then she’ll end up dead, like normal people do when they don’t eat.”

  “I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want her to be like us.” Sean looked away, staring silently at a spot on the wall. “Try and help her, please, because you know that I’m pretty useless right now in this state.”

  Drew let out a slow, hoarse chuckle. “You must be desperate if you’re asking me for help.”

  “You saved her once,” Sean replied. It was quiet after that for a long time. The darkness grew, like a black smog saturating the air in the room, and it radiated shadows into every corner to lick at the walls. It was the most peaceful time of day. Sean was just beginning to relax into the silence when a smile tilted Drew’s lips upwards and he spoke.

  “Ok, then, I’ll try. But next time, you’re going to run out of favours to ask me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I guess I was wrong about you, Sean,” his natural burgundy eyes flickered for a moment as he stifled a soft yawn, before he closed them contently. “I regret what I said that night, about you being selfish. It sounds like you care about something other than yourself. I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

  Sean blinked at this sudden admittance. “You’re talking crazy –”

  “So, do you hate me?” Drew cut in, his voice barely a whisper.

  “What?”

  “Do you hate me?” the other boy repeated, and Sean wondered if he was thinking straight. “Tell me the truth. You might not understand why, but it’s important.” And there was something in his voice, an indistinguishable emotion, which implied there was a lot more behind the simple question. So Sean finally relented and said:

  “I want to, I should hate you, but I just can’t. It’s like there’s something in the back of my head…about you, I can’t explain.”

  “Good, I’m glad,” Drew murmured. “Maybe I did make the right decision that day, after all.”

  And before Sean could interrogate the boy about what he meant and what happened on ‘that day’, his breathing had fallen into a soft and heavy rhythm and with a growl of irritation Sean realised that he was asleep. Damn him, falling asleep like that after creating even more questions to clutter his mind.

  The twilight grew and Sean stayed in the same spot for a good h
our. He had given up long ago trying to figure out the enigmatic boy’s motives and the strange garbled nonsense that he occasionally spewed. It was yet another matter to add to the long and growing list of things that did not make sense. He sighed, hesitantly reaching out and, focusing, made his hand briefly solid to rest it on Drew’s forehead. He hated how he was even starting to think of his own body as belonging to Drew.

  The memory came hard and fast, like a large bird swooping down on him, leaving him shocked with a strange tingling feeling throughout his body and a sense of falling.

  There was dewy grass, trampled beneath his feet, and a large expanse of water that looked eerily sinister in the darkness. He could remember frustration, anger, the emotions suddenly coming back clearly, but he couldn’t work out what they were directed at. And then he remembered striking brown eyes like lamps, dishevelled hair, and a foreign trench coat draped over him as he shivered.

  “It’s okay, kid. I come out here all the time at night, it’s not dangerous,” a familiar voice was saying softly. “Sometimes, the dark can even be your friend.”

  “But…I…” and then he remembered the fear, stealing his voice.

  “It’s a bit late for you to be out, don’t you think? You’re parents are probably worried.”

  “No, they don’t care, not about me.”

  “Sure they do, kid. Just give them a chance. Now come on, why don’t I take you home?” Maybe he should have been annoyed that this stranger who wasn’t even that much older than him kept calling him ‘kid’, but it didn’t sound condescending. It was comforting.

  “I can’t remember which way I came.”

  “You’re kind of difficult, you know.” There was a subtle sigh. “I guess you’ll just have to camp out here with me for tonight then.”