At first, Faith could only stand there in the hallway, unable to say or physically do anything as Rowan closed his door in her face without another word. There was...well, maybe not a logical explanation for what was happening (as this was Rowan that she was dealing with), but there was an explanation somewhere nonetheless--there had to be. If she was late to Aaron's office tonight, she would just have to be a bit late; as much as she wanted to stay on Aaron's good side, the company along with Rowan's own carelessness were bigger threats right now.
Suddenly, a terrible possibility occurred to her. She was almost certain she'd just figured out what was going on. "Rowan, I'm guessing that you're just doing this to protect me. By now they probably know you've been staying with me and are threatening you behind my back, and now you're trying to face them all by yourself to keep me safe. Is that it?"
"Not really. I don't think Spencer's found me yet, but as long as he's out there I can't even dream of trying to live normally," Rowan replied as he opened his door once again with his rollaway suitcase. "So long, Faith. It was nice while it lasted, but I can't stay."
"Rowan, if it was something I said or did, I'm sorry," Faith said, grabbing his arm. "Please just put that suitcase back in your room and unpack it. Maybe find a good show to watch, and fix yourself some hot chocolate if we have some laying around. I really can't do this right now," she added, becoming increasingly anxious. "I'll only be a few minutes and then I'll be right back, I promise. And whatever it is you think happened, never happened."
"It's not even about that, Faith." Rowan turned around to face her, pulling his arm away. "Our relationship was a joke anyway. All we've ever really been is roommates. And besides, living here the rest of my life and eventually marrying you was never really the plan. I mean, I really did like you at one time, but when you got to the point where I needed your permission just to see friends or step outside, well...I've just decided for sure that I have no life here. But I was waiting for the right time to tell you, especially after I broke my arm and you started borrowing from Aaron because of me. But now that I'm healing up and you've done okay so far with paying him back, I figured now was a better time than any. I'm just tired of laying around waiting for Spencer to pull something again while you keep trying to control every aspect of my life. You act like you're the one that knows everything, but it isn't your crazy family that's after you."
Faith shook her head. "Spencer put you up to this. I know he did," she muttered, snatching Rowan's suitcase away from him. "Or maybe he took Rowan some time during last night while I was asleep, and replaced him a body double meant to confuse me..."
"No Faith, you're way off now. I already told you what's really going on. But even if I repeat myself, you'll probably just keep giving me that look and treating me like I'm crazy, as usual." He callously grabbed the suitcase handle back from her.
"I will gladly call the cops right now if you don't unpack that suitcase, Rowan!" Faith warned.
"Go ahead. They'll probably arrest you too, and then you'd have to figure out how to finish paying Aaron back from inside a prison cell. It might also ruin any chance you'd have of getting to have a civil conversation with your family again. Are you really willing to risk all of that? I'm trying to help you here, believe it or not. The less you know from here on out, the better."
"Those are surprisingly intelligent words, coming from someone that wants to go and face one of the most evil men on the whole continent while treating it like...like some kind of slumber party!" Faith grabbed her gun from her purse, cocked it, and pointed it in Rowan's direction. "If it hadn't been for me, you probably wouldn't even be standing here right now! I treat you like a child because that's basically what you are when it comes to this! You yourself have told me some of the sickening things they're capable of, but yet at the same time, everything is a game to you! It's like you're being reckless on purpose, like you don't even care about being safe or loved anymore!"
For whatever reason, Rowan never flinched. The only change in his expression was from that of apathy to sympathy. It was infuriating. "Bingo, on the last part at least. You're finally starting to understand. I'm just sorry that it took you so long to figure it out. I don't think it's a game, though--I've thought about this long and hard."
"I want you to watch something, Rowan. Pay close attention," Faith said icily before pulling the trigger and hitting her target: a patterned vase that held some artificial flowers on a stand, just a few feet away from where Rowan stood. Even after the loud crash and the pieces of porcelain that scattered across the floor, Rowan didn't flinch. "That is what will happen to you, if Spencer or anyone affiliated with him sees you. You'll be just like that vase, and I won't be able to do a thing about it if it gets to that point."
"Faith, calm down... Please." He smiled gently at her, that sympathetic expression remaining on his face. He started to walk toward her, but Faith pointed the gun in his direction once again.
"Give me one good reason why I should!" she barked as he continued to approach her, his fingers slowly wrapping around the gun that she held once he got close enough.
"For one thing, I'm really not as fragile as you think. And for another, it's not like you would ever actually use this on me, so why even threaten me with it?" he said softly as he finished prying it out of her hands. He was right; she could never. He'd called her bluff, and she was running out of options. "You should sit down and put this thing away, Faith. You look like you're about to have a panic attack." He carefully turned the safety back on before setting the gun on the coffee table and helping her to the couch. He looked as if he was no stranger to guns, the way he'd handled her .38 special just then, despite having told her for years that he hated guns in general.
"Rowan...who are you?" Faith whispered, her chin now starting to quiver as she sat down. "Why do you keep acting like this?"
"I'm not acting. I was before, kind of, but not now. I'd been planning to leave for a long time, and I've finally figured out what I want to do about my situation. I've leeched off of you and made you think I was someone I wasn't for too long. I'm stopping that tonight. I'm really not the innocent and clueless victim I led you to believe I was, so...I hope that makes it a little easier for you to let me go."
Faith thought for a moment about trying to knock him out, but that was also too risky--it wouldn't be worth potentially causing him more permanent brain damage than what was apparently already there. "No... This can't be right. If you didn't actually care about me, you wouldn't have helped me get out of Spencer's house. You wouldn't have asked me to be your girlfriend, or..."
"Look, I do want to escape Spencer for good, but to figure out how to do that I needed a peaceful place to hide for a while and get a strategy going. Chance and Aaron were constantly annoying me, and your preachy parents also weren't going to make things any easier, but when you offered me a third option, I took it. You've served your purpose, now that I've finally got a plan, as well as people who are willing to help me carry it out."
Faith wanted to appear angry, which she definitely was, but the tears were inevitable, and the more she tried to stop them, the worse it became as she buried her face in her hands and her shoulders began to shake.
"Breathe, okay?" Rowan started to place a hand on her shoulder, but she quickly smacked it away as the silent tears became audible, uncontrollable sobs.
She'd held this all in for weeks or possibly even months. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea, letting him see what she hadn't wanted him to for so long. Maybe she should have let him see it much sooner than this. Maybe then, things wouldn't have reached the point that they had now. "You know...I guess I lied too... I tried to make you think I could do it all on my own, f--for both of us, so you wouldn't have to suffer anymore...but I can't. I can't do this all myself! I don't even know what's real anymore...!"
Rowan glanced toward the kitchen and sighed before finally responding, "Okay, I'll tell you what. I won't go just yet. I'll make you some tea, alright? You know, that kind you always like, with the peppermint in it? It'll make you feel better. I'll be right back." He took the suitcase and rolled it next to the couch. "I'll sit this here, so you'll know I'm still nearby."
Faith nodded, and didn't try to stop him. While he was making her tea, she'd bought herself some time--if she could get herself together. It was sad, how he thought a mug of tea would fix everything he'd been putting her through. She questioned more than ever whether she'd wasted years of her life on helping him for nothing, but ultimately, finishing her pity party would need to wait until after she'd found a way to get Rowan's craziness contained somehow.
Her mind came back to that "Salvagers After Sundown" group Sherm had told her about. They supposedly saved Sherm's life, but as for her and Rowan's case, it was an odd one to say the least, especially given Rowan's relentless eagerness to worsen his own situation rather than improve it, or at least that's how it had appeared to her and pretty much everyone else. He had never gone this far before, though--he'd talked about running away so that "she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore" and gone through his usual guilt-tripping routine many times in the past, but he'd never actually packed up his things and tried to leave right in front of her as he was doing tonight. Not only that, but his unfeeling and callous side had come to a head.
She took her phone from her purse and, wiping her eyes in an effort to see the screen better, went to her texting app and tapped on Sherm's number. Several text messages from Sheena waited for her in her messages, having been ignored for a day or more, but they would just need to wait a while longer. She needed to find the picture of that card Sherm had sent her, with those phone numbers on it...
"What's that?" Rowan asked as he returned with her tea, just as she had found the picture after scrolling up enough.
"Just Aaron. I needed to tell him I might be kind of late. Hopefully he doesn't mind too much..." She placed her phone down on the couch beside her, subtly collapsing the screen with the home button before completely letting go of it.
"Oh," Rowan shrugged as he handed her the tea. "I really do have to go tonight, Faith...but I'll stay a little longer, since I need to finish packing my other suitcases. And I know it's not much, but I wanted to do one last thing for you before I left for good."
Good, Faith thought. When he goes back in his room, I can call one of the numbers on here. If I'm fast enough, I could use that chain again to lock him inside his room and then stand guard outside his window so he can't climb out of it, just until the S.A.S. gets here.
She looked down at the tea apprehensively, not exactly trusting it under the circumstances. Rolling his eyes, Rowan got up and returned with another mug, which he poured a bit of her tea into and took a sip of. Only then did she sip some of hers.
She kept waiting for him to go back to his room, but instead he sat back down next to her, watching her as she took another sip. Could it be that he was coming to his senses, or at the very least, having second thoughts? "I agree that it's pretty much a joke at this point to act like we're in a real relationship, especially if everything you said is how you actually feel, but...I would never forgive myself if I let you just hand yourself over to him. We shouldn't go down without some sort of a fight."
"Correction--I'm not going down without a fight. You're going to forget everything about me and go back to your normal, carefree life and make up with your parents."
"It's not that simple and you know it. Not now that Aaron is involved," Faith said, glaring at him. "I know you don't believe me, but that's the only reason I'd ever go to a person like that--for you. If it were only me, I would've just gone and asked my parents or cousin for help if I needed it."
"That's the point, though. That's why I'm leaving--so you won't need to take any more desperate measures for my sake, or stay on bitter terms with your family. I'm not leaving here under any kind of force, from Spencer or anyone else. This is of my own free will," Rowan reassured her, but then his comforting demeanor faded. "And if you value your own life...you won't involve yourself anymore."
"Well, you know I'll have to report you as missing either way. Even if I am starting to wish that I could just forget you ever existed, it's the law," Faith pointed out, continuing to drink the tea he'd brought her even though it really wasn't making her feel any better so far. Honestly, she didn't know what could at this point.
"They probably won't give you any trouble. They never exactly liked me to begin with you know, especially that Keith guy, and I don't think they'd make a big deal out of somebody like me going missing. Just tell them you're concerned and answer any questions they ask you. I'll worry about the rest," Rowan said, no longer meeting her eyes.
She would just feign defeat for now, while secretly trying to decide for herself if she really was willing to call these mysterious vigilantes to help this man who had apparently lied to her for over six years. She wanted to believe that this was all just Rowan talking nonsense again, and that maybe he just needed to switch over to a different kind of medication because the ones he was currently on had stopped working, but...this didn't sound like a delusion. His words just sounded too thought out and articulate, this time. "Where would you even stay, Rowan? And how are you gonna just drag all those suitcases there on foot?"
"Someone will drive here and pick me up. But I can't tell you anything else. Like I said--the less you know the better, for your own sake."
"I think I know, though."
"Then you know it wouldn't do a lot of good to try to get the police involved. You told me to make my choice two days ago, and I have."
They sat there in unsettling silence for another minute or so, and Faith came to an ultimate decision. She couldn't just do what Rowan was asking her to--if she did, she would spend the rest of her life wondering what happened to him, and most of all, why everything had happened the way it did. Not only could the S.A.S. talk Rowan down potentially, but maybe they had some kind of sophisticated equipment that she and Rowan didn't have, for learning more about Spencer's current location and plans--and counteracting whatever those plans were. However, she needed Rowan to leave the room to finish packing as he'd said he would do, and it was becoming so difficult to think. Her head was spinning, and her vision had become blurry again despite having managed to stop crying for now. This must have been taking even more of a physical toll on her than she thought, but she would have to process the shock some other time. She had to act now, while he was still in the house...
Faith started to get up and head to the privacy of her room to set her plan in motion, but she'd become too dizzy to walk, and ended up half sitting and half falling back down onto the couch. She began to realize that she not only felt exhausted emotionally now, but she was even beginning to have trouble keeping her eyes open. Something really, really wasn't right. It can't be the tea, can it? He proved to me there was nothing in it... "Rowan, I...I think we need to call 911. I don't know what's happening..."
The last blurry images she would process before everything faded to black would be Rowan calmly rising up from the couch and walking away, back toward the hall.
Loud, persistent knocking and the bright light that shone from the ceiling fan above her was ultimately what awakened Faith several hours later. Her first emotion was pure confusion, mainly because she wasn't typically the type to fall asleep in the living room. This was their living room...right?
To her relief upon taking a few cautious glances around, it was indeed their house. The scary part that remained, however, was that she was having trouble remembering anything recent, such as how she could've just fallen asleep here, her shoes still on and her purse sitting in front of her.
Come to think of it, she also wasn't the type to leave her unfinished beverages sitting around the house. Is this mug Rowan's? Faith thought as she sat up and peered into the cup, which still had a few sips' worth down in it.
Rowan. Everything came back to her in full force, in the form of a sharp pang that circulated through her chest and stomach. The broken porcelain scattered all over the floor that she spotted next to the couch to her right only confirmed it. Did I faint, or did he...?
The banging on the front door continued, and if that was Rowan, which she was certain it was, likely crawling back and begging to be forgiven and welcomed back into her safe warm house, she didn't think she could keep herself from hurting him beyond a mere slap, as she'd done two days ago. He's going to wish he never lied to me...maybe wish he'd never met me, once I'm through with him.
Storming over to the front door despite her aching head and still feeling somewhat disoriented, she flung the door open ready to yank Rowan inside...only to realize that neither of the two men staring back down at her were Rowan at all.
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