A horrific thought suddenly broke through my focus on the food.
Am I in hell?
Adrian frowned, setting the plate on the floor and scooting the armchair closer. Another grating sound that had me wincing.
“It’s for the best. You’d probably just throw it back up anyways.”
I stared, dumbstruck. I was in hell. I was in hell with the man who had gotten my brother killed, blackmailed me, threatened my friends—
My heart pounded with a renewed ferocity that made the room spin.
Enoch.
I couldn’t fight the burning tears that filled my eyes, spilling over, dampening the pillow where my head lay.
Enoch.
My breath rushed out of my lungs in another pained wheeze as the tears continued to fall, my eyes aching as they began to swell shut.
Enoch.
It hurt. It hurt worse that the pain in my back. It felt like they’d cracked open my ribcage and yanked out my heart.
Enoch.
I was in hell and I’d never see Enoch again. Never get the chance to say the three words I’d been keeping from him.
Enoch.
My eyes rolled into the back of head as the pain took over my body and once again, I welcomed it not before begging for mercy from God to end the misery.
Forty-Six
August 21, Friday
Emory
The sound of a door opening had me peeling my eyes open and I reluctantly concluded I was still in hell. Although some time had passed because the room was now shrouded in shadows.
My eyes landed on the figure in the armchair who put a finger to his lips. If I had the ability, I’d have furrowed my brows, but as it was, I couldn’t even lift the finger on the hand resting directly in front of my face, obstructing half of my view.
I finally forced my eyeballs to move around the room and realized that the sound I had been hearing wasn’t from my own room. The muffled thud of something heavy falling downstairs had my heart racing. The dizziness returned and it took everything in me to remain conscious.
Someone was coming up the stairs, they’d stepped on the twelfth step, the only one that had a creek. My breath came out in uneven pants, and I realized from my periphery that Adrian was mouthing something to me.
I focused on the shadows across his face, trying to decipher the words.
Stay alive.
Stay alive.
Stay alive.
My heart pounded, uncertain as to why he would be wishing me alive when we were both dead and in hell.
My stomach clenched, waiting for the next monster to show up in my room.Who would it be this time? My dad?My stomach hollowed out painfully.Javi? Oh, God. No. Not Javi.
Sweat started pouring out of me, and if I wasn’t in hell, I would have probably been concerned by the rapid rate at which I was losing precious body fluids.
