"Tommy! Tommy! Did you see where Liv went off to?"
The performance was over and hoards of the audience were moving collectively towards the exit of the theatre. There was stress and sweat in the air along with the sharp smell of perfume elderly ladies often wore. Long lines of people waited restlessly for the wardrobe and restrooms. Thomas tried to locate the person who had called him and found that it was Wilma, struggling to get closer to him.
"No. Sorry. She can get a ride home from you, right?"
Wilma looked bemused, her brows furrowed.
"Yeah, that's the plan. Are you sure you didn't see her?"
Thomas felt tired all of a sudden. Why did she think he would know where she was? He barely saw Liv at all these days so why did it feel like he was being held responsible for her whereabouts? Besides, Böret, his grandma, whom he was pushing in a wheelchair, seemed to be getting rather impatient.
"Yes I'm sure. Bet she's around here somewhere though."
Wilma nodded and Böret let out an annoyed grunt. The transportation service car was probably waiting for them in the lot.
"You know what, I really have to go but I'll see you. Tell Liv I said hello... or goodbye, I suppose." Wilma nodded again and gave him and Böret another one of her pitiful looks.
"I understand. See you 'round, Tommy."
It was pitch black on the theatre-bounds now and the gravel crunched under the weight of the wheelchair wheels. Some of the guests remained on the steps and a couple were wandering off into the small forest located nearby. A romantic looking path lit up by lampposts dwindled into it. Thomas breath hitched when he heard a familiar laugh echo from the edge of the forest. It was Liv's. Liv was walking into the forest with someone, the silhouette of her white dress disappeared between the trees.
A thousand thoughts began to spin inside his head all at once and it was difficult to sort out the bitterly jealous ones from the ones of genuine concern. Worry or jealousy or whatever it was, he pushed it away. For sure, Arvid would have wanted to follow Liv and her companion into the forest, mess with the boy in question, threaten him, embarrass Liv - but Arvid was not here. If Liv had found some guy her age she fancied in the audience and wanted to get off with him, Thomas could not justify intervening. How pathetic of him to follow them really, she would be uncomfortable and annoyed if she saw him, he was certain of it. Yet another moment of the evening that would haunt him later, a choice he would desperately regret. For now though, a hand tapping him gently on the shoulder interrupted his thoughts.
"Hello Thomas."
Wilma's mother: a petite, platinum blonde woman who often put her hand over her heart when looking at him. Her name was Helen or Marianne or something alike. The embodiment of shallow based empathy, really. It made him uncomfortable. Böret's presence only amplified her charitable expression.
"Hello."
She must be aware Böret did not speak because she only smiled down at her. Böret just glared back but Wilma's mom seemed unfazed.
"How are you holding up these days?"
Thomas swallowed with a bit of difficulty.
"Really good, really good."
Repeating things don't make people believe they are true. Something Arvid had told him years back in middle school and he fought back an annoyed smile as he remembered. Wilma's mother seemed to read his mind.
"Missing Arvid I bet. I know Liv does."
"Yes. It's... new, definitely."
"You guys have always been joint at the hip, haven't you?", she smiled.
"Yeah. Pretty much."
It just went on, the questions posed in the form of statements. He knew she wanted to ask about his dad, they always did. He could tell that was what she was thinking about right now because her eyes suddenly glinted more regretfully than ever.
"Still live with your father?"
He slowly drew in breath, held it while working out how to answer, what answer would make her response to it the least painful to hear. If he said no, she would pity him not having a parent around and if he said yes, she would pity him having well... that parent around.
He never had to answer the question however, because someone ran into him, full force. Reflexively he caught her under the shoulders when she caved. Liv was hyperventilating and shaking, clawing at his arms while attempting to tell him something but failing to form words. "Jesus, Liv", Wilma's mother gasped, "What on earth..."
Searching for an explanation to the state of her he realised that angry red marks were prominently showing on her throat, arms and collarbones. The dress was undone in the back. No, not undone, ripped open in fact. She had a childlike look of panic in her eyes and kept on clutching at him in a desperate manner.