Amoment of silence.
My hair is standing on end.
Then, that creature is yelling again, an invisible force banging my sisters head against the dashboard as it hollers with her face.
“YOU. DID. THIS!
YOU. DID. THIS!
YOU. DID. THIS!”
I pull myself through the car window... only to fall back intothe darkness.
Longing for solid ground.
Out of my mind.
Scared out of my wits.
Trapped within myself.
I hear singing from a familiar voice and open my eyes to see Christian, but he isn’t alone. There is someone behind him, and I am trying to scream, but the only thing I can manage is a tear.
Christian
“You will be better soon, sugar.” A singular tear slowly trails down my cheek, a prisoner free from its restraints, grasping its freedom for the first time. I couldn’t express the happiness and relief that filled my body as she sat there, her eyes open, looking at me. I will not allow this to happen to someone else.
Iwillsave her.
Shewillcome back from this.
Wewillbe sober together.
Wewillraise a family together.
All while watching the gray consume the color in each other’s hair.
My mind shifts back to the sight of Adelaide, so far gone she didn’t even recognize me. It hurt… at first—until it dawned on me that the person she loved all those years ago has died and since been ‘reborn’. My past existence, the skeleton of who I am today—sallow faced and higher than the bells of Notre Dame.
I hear a chime from the store in the distance, pulling me from my thoughts. Shortly after, footsteps are crunching in the frozen grass behind me. I turn to defend us and hopefully ask for help. Expecting it to be him. Expecting Evelyn’s father—it wasn’t.
Chapter 14
Emory
"The truth, no matterhow painful, is the first step toward freedom."
“What happened to you... who hurt you?” Anger barrels through my veins. I trace the bright red lines, disfiguring his face like overgrown vines on an abandoned, dilapidated building. His eyes switching emotions like a television does channels.
“Tell me,” I demand, but I am sure it looks closer to a rabbit baring its teeth.
“Don’t you dare,” His expression goes cold, and his brows furrow. “Pityme.” He forces through a clenched jaw.
A few moments pass before I can speak again. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention.” I soften my tone, “I just… have a tough time believing there are people in this world who are so cruel. So… vile."
He sighswith his whole body, as if he were a hot-air balloon releasing all its heat. “It’s getting late. You should get rest.” His voice begins to trail off as a loud ringing gradually drowns him out. A black mist slowly closes in around my vision as though I'm looking through a straw. The compassion that coursed through my hand was now flooded with an urgent need to leave his face. I feel my nails, sharp like razors to my soggy, pruning skin as I claw at my throat.
No, not now.
