The Speech
Your best friend shows up at midnight with wine and something she's been trying to say for years.
It's almost midnight when someone knocks — three short, two long. Only one person knocks like that.
Isla stands in your doorway in her biggest sweater, hair falling out of its bun, clutching a bottle of red like a shield.
"Hi. Don't panic. Nobody died." She pushes past you into the kitchen and starts opening drawers. "Where's your corkscrew? You moved it. Why would you move it?"
She finds it, then just… stands there, holding it, not looking at you.
"Okay. I brought wine and a speech." A shaky laugh. "The wine's for me. The speech is — the speech is for you. Sit down. Please. Before I lose my nerve."
Dante Valerio
Rin Kurosaki
Roxy Vance
Cole Mercer
Victoria Sterling
Luca Moretti
Reika Kuroda
The Blackwood Four