Eris:
Because I don’t know where else to go to feel this seen.
I’m not offended.
I’m angry.
Locke:
Then stay.
Even if you’re angry.
Even if you think you should walk away.
Even if you’re scared of what this is becoming.
Just… stay.
I shake my head as I drop my phone onto my lap.
I can acknowledge that I don’t want to walk away, and even if I did, I’m not sure I can anymore.
The part of me that should know better, the part that should hunt and kill them for knowing too much about me, doesn’t fucking care.
I just want to make them mine.
Ahigh-pitched sound jolts me awake, and I nearly fall off the couch. Broken glass clatters to the floor from my balcony door. My breath leaves in a burst of panic as I take a quick inventory of my living room.
The dark space is lit only by the soft gray glow of my phone screen from the last message I didn’t answer. It’s 3:14 in the morning, and more glass shatters across the floor.
I yank the blanket covering my legs and climb over the arm of the couch without making a sound, phone clutched in my hand so I can text Roo.
My footsteps are fast and efficient, taking me toward my room. I flip the closet light on and slam the door, then I swerve in the opposite direction and duck into my bathroom.
Daniel’s voice fills my apartment.
“Anna,” he calls in a singsong tone. “Anna…”
He doesn’t sound frantic or drunk. If anything, he’s soft. Possessive in a way that turns my blood cold with fury.
And a little ebbing fear.
It’s not every day that someone breaks into my apartment while I’m sleeping.
Daniel continues to call me by a name that was never mine. He doesn’t know Eris; he only knows Anna, a character built to get close to him.
Anna is not me.
She would bargain and sweet-talk…
I do neither. And I don’t scream or freeze as the adrenaline floods my system.
I just stand in the doorway of my bathroom as I listen for his shoes to crunch on the broken glass. That’s when I’ll know he’s inside.
He knocks a few more shards from the hole. I hear the distinct sound of the curtains falling and the glass shattering as he steps through.
I ease the bathroom door closed, twisting the knob so it’s silent as it clicks into place. There’s no sense in trying to keep him out, so I don’t bother with the lock. There’s only one more precaution I take… I stuff a towel against the bottom of the door, as gently as possible, blocking the light from my phone.
