Haunting-Adeline

Addie shakes her head, closing her laptop gently and sliding it into the
case at her feet.
“Please, go ahead,” she says, a single note in her tone wobbly. I sit next
to her and wrap an arm around her tense shoulders, hoping that my
presence will bring her some semblance of safety and comfort.
“Please, tell me how you two love birds met,” Mark says, se ling in his
new seat. He waves to the waiter for another drink, and internally, I groan.
“At a book signing,” I respond. “Super amazing author was there signing
books. I saw her and instantly fell in love. I sought her out a erwards,
asked her on a date and the rest was history.”
She smiles, though it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, he’s a persistent
one,” she says with an awkward laugh.
“Fascina ng!” Mark says, his eyes pinballing between us. His phone
vibrates and when he slips it out of his pocket, his face drops.
Clearing his throat, he looks up at us with a sheepish grin. “If you don’t
mind, I’m going to head to the restroom and take this call. Addie, please
order yourself another margarita. It’s on me.”
Mark gets up and walks away without a backward glance, his stagger
uneven from the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed and his gaze
pinned to his phone.
Addie starts packing her belongings fran cally within a millisecond,
hands shaking as she throws the rest of her stuff in her bag.
“If you think you’re leaving, you’re sadly mistaken.”
She freezes, glancing back at me before she resumes. Keeping my
movements calm and fluid as not to raise any alarm from bystanders, I
slide my hand to her neck.
She pauses again when she feels my touch, and then whimpers when I
squeeze ght.
“Look at me. Now.”
Her eyes pinch shut for a moment before they open, and those pre y
caramel eyes glide to mine. They’re full of fear, and I’m almost surprised.
In the dark, she comes alive with fire. As if it’s the night that feeds her
flames and not oxygen. And in daylight, she’s mid and scared. She
becomes her moniker—a meek li le mouse.
“If you’ve never taken me seriously before, then do it now, Adeline.” Her
eyes widen at the severity of my tone. “You’re going to sit there like a good