The Secret Keeper

An hour later, we were at the hospital and Bo had gone into surgery. We didn’t know exactly where the bullet had hit him, but it was somewhere around his heart… I prayed to God that that wasn’t it.

Luckily, Bo had remembered his cell phone so we could call an ambulance. The paramedics couldn’t really give us much information about him; at least, not until we got to the hospital. They’d be able to tell us there whether he’d live or die, but the woman in the ambulance said it didn’t look too good.

I sat in the waiting room with Holly. We had gone back to my house so she could shower and get a change of clothes. The benefit of living in a small town was that you live close to just about anything.

I hugged my arms closer to myself, grateful that I had opted for changing into my sweats. Holly had, too, after her shower. She had even started looking a little like her old self, and not the monster she’d been earlier.

Suddenly, Ivy and Arkarian burst into the waiting room. “What’s going on? Eve, you just left a message about the hospital and – Holly!” My mom rushed over to her and hugged her tightly. Holly smiled warmly and hugged her back.

“What happenedto you?”

Holly just stared at her blankly. “I’d rather not talk about it now, okay?”

Ivy seemed to catch on, and didn’t press the subject. “Where’s Bo?” she asked softly.

Tears started leaking out from under my eyes. “He’s in surgery. He… he might not make it,” I managed, before sobs started wracking my body.

Arkarian came and put his arm around me. I knew how much this meant to him, since he wasn’t such a fan of Bo because he was my partner Keeper. It was similar to the relationship between the boyfriend and the dad. Not a good one. But the fact that he could comfort me on this… it made me feel a tiny bit better.

Ivy sat down across the little aisle of chairs, next to Holly. They were whispering about something. I wasn’t paying any attention.

I was thinking about… well, anything and everything.

I didn’t feel any regret for what I’d done to Evan and Faye. I knew I probably should, but I couldn’t force myself to it. They hadn’t been the people I thought they were. Hell, they weren’t even people.Those Creature things were their friends, not me. They were after the Secret, not me.

I was overly grateful to have Holly back. I can’t even describe what it felt like, to have your best friend ripped away from you because of something you can’t control. She didn’t look too hurt, either. And she was alive, that was a plus.

But she left me.

I couldn’t forget about that. She had gone to Bo, not me. Her crush over her best friend. And that hurt. I don’t think she knew it was bothering me, but I wasn’t really going to bother her with it. We were already depressed enough with… everything.

That sent another pang through my chest. Bo and Holly were dating. How could I possibly forget about that? Where I had been with Holly during everything, I had been with Evan. We’d both… well, we’d both cheated. I felt horrible. My best friend, and I’d fallen for her boyfriend. Granted, I’d thought she was dead, but that’s still really no excuse.

I had to tell her. I couldn’t let someone else tell her before I could, and then have her find out I kept it from her.

“Holly?”

She looked at me, a worried look on her face. “Yeah?”

“Can… can I talk to you? In private?”

She just looked confused, but got up anyway. “Sure. C’mon.”

I followed her out to an empty corner of the waiting room. It was late at night, so not that many people were here. I didn’t really notice that at the time; I was still trying desperately to figure out how to say I was cheating on Evan with Bo.

Something told me this wasn’t going to go over well.

“So… what’s up?” Holly asked nervously, obviously seeing my expression.

I took a deep breath. “I… Holly, I’m really sorry…”

She automatically turned to panic. “Sorry? Sorry for what?”

I could feel the tears again. Frankly, I was surprised I wasn’t completely dried up by then. “While you were gone, I… Bo and I… we…kind of…” I couldn’t seem to put it into words.

Holly didn’t really seem as panicked as she did a second ago. Now she just looked interested. “You what?”

“We… I don’t know. I think I… might’ve fallen for him…” I hid my face in my hands, not wanting to see her angry face. I braced myself for the yelling and screaming and slapping.

But it never came. All she did was gasp and squeal, “Really? Eve, that’s awesome!”

I looked at her like she was crazy. I had just told her I was basically in love with her boyfriend, and she was congratulating me? “Holly. I am in love with Bo. Your boyfriend. That’s bad.”

She looked at me for a second, confused, before realization clicked. She threw her head back and laughed. “Eve, Bo and I never really dated. We pretended to, because we both knew who he reallyliked. And he didn’t want her to find out.”

I sighed with relief. “Oh. But who did he like, then?”

“Eve,” she said, looking at me incredulously. “He loves you.Even I saw that.”

I just looked at her. Bo had been telling the truth, then, when he said… when he said he was in love with me. Then why would he tell me he didn’t care about me?

I shook my head. “He doesn’t, Holly. He told me he didn’t care about me.”

“When did he say that?”

“Evan asked me to come with him. That he wouldn’t kill me. Bo told me to go, and I wouldn’t unless he said he didn’t care about me. And he said it,” I explained, my voice breaking about every other word.

“Do you even hear yourself?” she asked incredulously. “Eve, you are one of the most stubborn people I know. Bo knows that. If he didn’t say anything, you would’ve been killed. What in the world made you believe him?”

“He’s never lied to me before,” I whispered.

Holly narrowed her eyes. “He wasn’t lying. He was telling you what you wanted to hear, no matter what it did to him. He knew he might die-” I winced at the word. “-and he chose to protect you instead. If that doesn’t show he cares about you, then I don’t know if anything will.”

I just stared at her, not able to say anything. I hated to admit it, but she was completely right. About everything. I hated myself. I hated the fact that Bo had to do what he did because I was too damned stubborn. But he couldn’t have possibly thought I was going to save myself, and stand back and watch him be killed!

I told Holly this.

“I told you. He knew he was going to be killed, and he knew there wasn’t anything he could do about it. If all this Secret crap is real, and you guys are Keepers – Faye told me, don’t give me that look,” she interrupted, after seeing my shocked expression, “Then maybe he was trying to protect everyone by not letting you die. Have you ever – even once – thought about how the things you and Bo do can affect everyone, not just yourselves? Bo did, I know he did. But I don’t think you ever once thought about anyone but yourself.”

I couldn’t even react to that. She’d hit the nail right on the head. I hadn’t even begun to think about how things would affect other people… Even if it already had. Holly was a firsthand witness to that.

I didn’t think about anyone other than myself.

Just this afternoon, Ivy had confronted me about it. Now Holly was. And they were both right. I hadn’t thought. I had just wallowed around in self-pity for the past two months, thinking only about myself and what I wanted. I was horrible.

I could fell those tears again. Holly didn’t even try to comfort me. No, she wasn’t nearly done yet.

“You have no idea what it’s like, to go through what I did. Those Creatures surrounding you with that horrible smell every waking moment, Faye and Evan threatening to kill me if I said one word… And tons of other things I can’t even tell you about in a public place. And not once – not once – did anyone come looking for me. Do you know how that feels, Eve? No. Because you were too busy playing superhero to notice what was going on right in front of your eyes.”

“Everyone came looking for you, Holly!”

“Yeah, well, not hard enough.” Her gaze softened, just a little. “Look, you’re my best friend. But you really, really have some growing up to do.”

I nodded numbly. Once again, she was right.

“Eve? Holly?”

I turned around. Ivy was standing there, her arms limp at her sides.

“What?” we asked simultaneously.

“It’s… It’s Bo.”