A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui

Author:Meriam Metoui
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

TWENTY-ONE

Mira

“It’s a small town. Basically made up of two blocks and an intersection. Maybe it’s a coincidence?” Ellis said.

The waiter came back with our food, and this time his hands didn’t look like my brother’s. They looked like his own. Chewed-up nails, a phone number quickly scrawled at his wrist. It was still hard to breathe, but now at least my shoulders could relax. We all stopped talking until he left again. I didn’t have the stomach for breakfast anymore.

“No way. This is too weird. Do you see this?” Layla turned the camera toward us and flipped through the pictures again, hitting the button harder each time for emphasis. I took the camera from her and my fingers brushed her hand. It was quick, a passing moment if anything at all, but I looked up and knew I wasn’t imagining the creeping blush in her cheeks. The camera was warm where she had held it.

“He was outside our room too, trying to open the door when we walked up to him,” she said a little too quickly. “He mumbled something about having the wrong room and ran off. It has to be him.”

I wondered how he got into the room and then I realized. It must have been when his arm grazed my shoulder. My keys were in my pocket. How could I not have noticed his hand creeping into my pocket?

“His name is Devlin. I met him yesterday on my run. He seemed fine, maybe a little strange, but definitely didn’t think he’d end up breaking into our room.”

“What the fuck? Has he been watching us since we got here?” Layla said. She was frowning into her pancakes, her hands in tight fists around the fork and knife.

“What do you think he wants?” Ellis said.

“Let’s find out,” I said. I was tired of feeling helpless. Of having weird thing after weird thing happen to me. I didn’t know why I was seeing things or hearing things or why I felt so damn heavy and anxious in that room. I didn’t know why a strange man would break in, in the middle of the night, and take nothing. But I sure as hell could find out. I motioned for Ellis to move, and for a second, he looked scared. I’d known him for a day, and I could already tell Ellis and confrontation did not mix. He stood up, stumbling over his feet for a second.

“Coming?” I said to Layla. She smiled at me, ready for whatever was about to happen next. They both followed me to the man’s table—Ellis begrudgingly, Layla eagerly.

Devlin looked up as we approached. He didn’t try to hide the surprise on his face, his eyes jumping from one of us to the next as he straightened up and swallowed. I sat down in the empty chair in front of him but didn’t say anything just yet. Layla pulled out the chair at a neighboring table to my right, and Ellis stood over both of us awkwardly, unsure of what to do with his hands.

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