The New Neighbours: A gripping and compelling psychological thriller by Joanne Ryan

Author:Joanne Ryan [Ryan, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tamarillas Press
Published: 2023-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Fen messaged me this morning and invited me over for coffee. It’s nearly two weeks since she said she had a terrible cold and cancelled on me and now, out of the blue, she’s contacted me.

What could I say? Well, yes, of course, because what else is there to say? I messaged her last week, because I hadn’t heard from her for over a week and she replied that her cold had turned into the flu. She thanked me for my offer to help but said she was fine as Darius was looking after her. The message didn’t sound like Fen at all.

Did Darius write it?

It was my overactive imagination again, Brett said, when I voiced my concern to him. His attitude is that they’re just neighbours and we should keep our distance. In his words, he’s a wife-beater, so why do we want them as friends?

I know that he’s right, and not seeing either of them has made it easier for me to not get hung up with guilt for not doing anything about what I saw. Or thought I saw; maybe my imagination ran away with me again; maybe it wasn’t half as bad as I think it was.

What can I do, anyway?

I don’t want to see Fen. I no longer yearn to make her my friend. Her problems will become mine if she confides in me and quite honestly, I don’t want that.

Does that make me shallow and heartless? Yes, it probably does; but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. As Brett says, we hardly know them and there’s no reason for us to involve ourselves in their marriage. Neither of them would thank us for sticking our noses in because what goes on behind their closed doors is none of our business. If Fen asked me for help, that would be different, but she hasn’t, and I don’t think she will.

I’ve changed. There’s no denying it. Telling Brett the truth about my past has freed me from the constant fear of being found out. I’m no longer terrified that my past will come out and ruin my life. I still have the guilt of Griff’s death, but I justify that with what he did to Wendy. It’s only now that she’s coming to terms with and getting over what he did to her, after all those years. At least he never got to abuse any other girls. Men like him don’t stop, they just find new victims.

Pieces of shit like that don’t deserve to live, according to Brett.

He’s right, who knows how many other lives he would have ruined had he lived.

Now that Wendy is back in your life, you're not interested in Fen anymore, the honest part of me accuses.

Sort of true. Wendy and I were the best of friends when we were children, but realistically, we’re never going to have that closeness again. It was different then. Two kids with rotten home lives clinging together because we had nothing else. We were everything to each other but we’re grown up now.

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