She’s safe.
She’s safe.
My eyes burn, my head throbs, but my arms tighten around her.
She’s safe.
She’s safe.I think my eyes are closed, but I’m not sure anymore. All I know is that I can’t see the stars or the flecks of blue and green I love so much—the never-ending depths of the ocean meeting vibrant green hills of rolling grass.
Life. She’s always been life. Even when I didn’t want to live mine anymore, she embodied it. I smile to myself. Ella is life, and she has no idea.
I open my mouth to tell her, but nothing comes out.
She’s safe.
She’s safe.
But then, there’s screaming. Or maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s me crying out for her because I don’t see her anymore. My Ella. My world. My beginning and ending.
Something collides with my gut as the screams grow. I try to move, try to respond, but everything is so heavy here in the darkness. Everything is hazy and blurry. There’s a swirling in my gut and a pain in my chest that I don’t understand.
None of it matters, though, because she’s safe. She’s—
“Get off me!” a soft voice cries, pushing me harder with a delicate fist.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, alarm bells are going off. I know it’s her. My Ella. I know she’s crying, begging, pleading, but I can’t make my brain work with my body. And then, she whimpers in pain.
With a heavy breath, I tighten my arms around her and try to move. The world spins again, and I groan, panting hard. Why’s it so difficult to breathe?
“Elle,” I grunt, my voice pained and raspy. Why do I sound like that? “I’ve got you.”
“Hunt,” she whimpers, her body going still in my arms. “Please.”
Her voice is so sweet, and somehow, it soothes the burn deep in my chest. The ache that’s beginning to grow with every erratic beat of my heart. And then, we were moving. Or maybe the world was. The sensation of falling lasted long after my back slammed into the harsh concrete beneath me.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Will she catch me?
“Hunter, say hello to your new sister. This is Ella. Ella, this is Hunter,” Eric snaps, making me bristle.
I say nothing. I can’t. How can I speak when this is all so wrong? Why did he bring another kid here when he can’t even take care of me? Why did he bring someone so sweet, so innocent, into this house when he already hates having me here?
He’s going to break her.
And I can’t do anything about it.
“Hunter!” Eric shouts, and I watch as the new girl jumps, her tiny blue-green eyes going wide, and something in me snaps.
He wants her to be my sister, my family, but if that happens, it means she’ll stay, and if she stays…
She smiles softly at me.
Too soft.
