Chapter 28

Valen’s POV

"She's asking for you. She wants to apologize. Says she'll do anything to make things right."

I had first read the text message and wondered who it was from when I looked at the name of of the sender and realized that it was Gina that texted me

Wow! She had so much audacity to text me and act like everything is okay. Look at her sounding in the text message as if it was Veyra that needed me. I knew that she was just trying to lure me to the house

“Stop texting me,” I texted back

“Veyra is crying!” she replied immediately

I texted back again confused why she is acting like nothing happened when she came to my house. "Tell her I said no."

Three dots appeared to show that she was typing. The. The dots disappeared. Then they appeared again.

"She's not eating, Valen. You need to visit us," she texted with a wink emoji at the end

I put my phone down without responding. I couldn't do this. Gina was confusing me. I think she just wanted to see me and she was using Veyra’s sadness as an excuse

“Valen! If you don’t come, I will tell Veyra what happened!” Gina texted again

I knew she was just bluffing.Veyra was basically putting her to school. Gina would not want to lose such an opportunity. She just wanted to have a strong over me. I could not believe what was happening to me. First Veyra cheated on me, now Gina is acting like a snake. I put my phone down and decided not to reply to Gina again

As the day went on, I found myself thinking about Gina and Veyra more and more. I couldn't think straight. I needed air. I needed to get out of this house.

I went for a walk hoping to clear my head. But everywhere I went, people were talking about what happened between me and Veyra. Nowhere seemed to be safe

Before I knew what was happening, I was already in Veyra’s street. I fought the urge to pass her gate like nothing was happening, but I did not even control myself as I walked through the gate, got to the door and I knocked on it

Gina answered, acting surprised to see me. "Valen? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on Veyra," I said with a straight face. "Is she okay?"

"Veyra all right," Gina smiled at me mischievously. "I don’t want you to upset her, so go away”

“But you asked me to come?” I gave her a weird look

“You didn’t come immediately. You are not needed now,” she rolled her eyes

“I just want to see her,” I snapped

“You can tell me anything you want to tell her,” Gina snapped back, glancing back into the house, and I knew that she didn’t want Veyra to heard us, but her plan didn’t work, because we heard an alarming crash from inside the house and she the both of is instinctively ran inside

The crash had come from the kitchen, and as we got there we saw Veyra

She stood by the kitchen counter surrounded by broken dishes and scattered food. But what made us alarmed was the large kitchen knife she held, the pointy sharp facing his belly.

"Veyra!" I yelled moving forward

"I am begging you in the name of the moon goddess, don’t come close to me!” Veyra screamed as she held the knife tighter. “If you move in will kill myself!”

Gina screamed in horror when she saw this. "Veyra, what are you doing? Put the knife down!"

"No!" Veyra's voice cracked. "Please don’t stop me, I want to die. My name has just been tarnished everywhere, yet the man who made me miserable has not been found. You are not even making any efforts to find him. You have his picture and you can usually look for him, but you don’t! Instead you are calling me a liar! Everyone is calling me a liar! I checked my phone and I just wanted to just end it. They are talking about me all over the Internet. They say I drug people using my pantry bread and cakes and I am a drug dealer. They said that I used to smuggle in drugs through ingredients that I buy. Even you, Valen. Even you don't believe me. You think I am insane right?."

“Veyra, please. Just put the knife down,” I spoke very calmly, making a surrender and gesture, so she would know that I am trying to make peace

"No!" she laughed bitterly. "

Gina stepped forward slowly, her hands raised. "Veyra, dear, you're scaring us. Please just put the knife down.”

"You! Where did you go in the morning?" Veyra's eyes snapped to Gina. "I had been calling your phone throughout and you weren't picking up. Where were you, Gina? Where did you go?"

I saw Gina's face flush. "I just went for a walk. I needed some air. I thought you were sleeping”

I gave Gina a suspicious look. That morning she was in my house. She told me that Veyra attacked her. She was lying. I shot a silent look at Gina. I wanted to question her, but because of the situation of things, I didn’t question her

"You left me," Veyra whispered in tears. “ I needed you to be around me.”

"I didn't leave you," Gina said as if pleading. "Please you need to put that knife down before you hurt yourself."

Veyra's grip on the knife tightened. " I want to hurt myself. I want the pain to stop!”

"Veyra," I said, taking another step forward but I made sure that I was careful. "This will not solve anything"

"It will end my pain!" She looked at me with such pain. I know Veyra enough to understand that she was hurting inside. "You hate me now. How can your love for me turn to hate so fst? I disgust you. I am not useful to anybody. I am not even useful to myself. Damn, I don’t even have a wolf!” she screamed

"Veyra, stop! It is not true,” I yielded to the urge I felt to defend myself

"It is true, and you know it." She pressed the knife against her belly now and it made a small tear in her clothes that made me jump axiousle. "Let me tell the both of you now, I plan to kill myself and myself alone. I hope you both understand? But if anybody tries to stop me, that person will join me!"

This was serious. She was desperate. She must have thought this through

"Veyra, just stop," Gina said, her voice shaking now. It was as if she realized afresh that Veryra was not joking

“Please just stop talking to me!” she snapped at Gina

I knew I had to do something fast. this was getting out of hand. I already had a whole lot of rumors around me, Veyra dying by suicide will spark up another one. I also did not want to see her die.

"Veyra," I said softly, "look at me."

And she did

"I cannot live while you are gone”

"Then why won't you believe me? Why don’t you want me" she screamed

“ I am just as confused as you are too,” I whispered with all sincerity in my heart,

"I want to die, please. I feel like nobody loves me," she said flatly.

"I do," Gina said suddenly. "I cannot imagine life without my best friend. Please don’t kill yourself"

"Your brother loves you," I added. "Alex has lost your parents and you are all he has in this world. Imagine what he will feel like if he hears that you are dead. He will feel like he has failed you”

At the mention of Alex’s name Veyra took the knife away from her belly slightly. It was as if she never thought of Alex when she made this decision to kill herself

"Will you take me back," she said in a calmer tone

"I don’t know ," I admitted. "I am listening to you now though, I understand when you said you were assaulted”

She stared at me for a long moment. Finally, she broke down into tears and she began to lower the knife slowly

"Thank you for listening to me," she cried. “ I just wanted you to hear me out and not argue with me.”

"I have heard you now…” I picked my words carefully. I have had her, but that doesn’t mean I believe her

The knife clattered to the floor, and Veyra collapsed into the ground crying. I rushed forward and held her, pressure her against myself in the hug

"I don’t like what is happening. I am so weak,” she cries softly.

I kept quiet because I didn’t know what to say to her. I just tapped her back and she cried

I led her to her room, Gina trailing behind. When we got to her room, I made sure she laid on the bed- that is where she cried herself to sleep. It took nearly four hours, but eventually she slept soundly

"We would need to call the pack doctor in the morning,” Gina whispered as we tiptoed out of the room