There was no air. Just pain. Blinding, searing pain.
His hand didn't just cut off my breath. It pressed directly onto the bruises from the belt. The exact same place he'd crushed before. Every nerve in my neck screamed. I clawed at his wrist, but my fingers scraped uselessly against his arm. The world narrowed in seconds, tunnelled to the dim edges of his face above me and the raw, choking panic closing in around everything else.
The realisation hit with a dread so deep it stole what little air I had left.
He's going to kill me.
I kicked weakly. My legs pushed sluggishly against the sheets, trying to buck him off, but it was like pushing against solid stone. My chest heaved for air that wouldn't come.
He didn't let go.
My body faltered fast as the last of my strength bled out of me. The panic dulled and began to turn distant. This was too much. I couldn't stop him. I couldn't get out of this.
My hands dropped away from his wrist. My body went still beneath him. My mind screamed at me to hold on, but everything else... Everything else gave up. Hell, at this point, a part of me welcomed the release. I didn't have the strength to fight him anymore.
Then his hand suddenly lifted.
Air rushed back into my lungs so fast that I choked on it. Pain tore through my ribs, white-hot and immediate. It felt likemy chest had cracked open, and I couldn't hold back a raw, tortured noise that I barely recognised as mine.
The weight lifted off of me as Marcus stood up. I didn't wait to see what he'd do next. Every muscle screamed in protest as I rolled onto my side and curled into myself as tightly as I could. A whimper escaped before I could stop it. I couldn't breathe right. I couldn't see straight. Everything inside me felt torn loose.
His fingers clamped into my hair and yanked my head up. My vision swam, and for a second, all I could see was his face. Eyes cold, mouth twisted in contempt.
"I hope your littlefriendis the one who finds your body. That'll really fuck him up."
He let go just as suddenly and shoved my face into the pillow. I barely had the strength to wince. My cheek stayed pressed into the fabric, my breaths ragged and shallow against the cotton.
I heard him step away. A pause. Then a click.
The lock on the bedroom door.
Then the slam of it closed behind him.
A second later, the front door crashed shut.
He was gone.
Relief immediately took over, but it didn't last. The pain spiked just as fast, dragging it back down and leaving only the ache behind. Every breath hurt. Every inch of me pulsed in agony. My head spun so violently I thought I might throw up. For a long while, all I could do was stay still.
Somewhere behind the pain, the panic started to crawl back in. My thoughts wouldn't line up. They scattered and looped, but they all led back to the same thing over and over again.
Eli.
I should've told him the truth when he showed up at the school. Now I could only think about what would happen if hewas in fact the one who found me dead.
I swallowed and tasted blood. Something about that cut through the spiral, and my mind latched onto a single thought.
No... I can't let that happen... I can't do that to him...
A thin sliver of clarity broke through the haze. Eli was supposed to come over, but he might not get here soon enough. I didn't know how long I'd been lying here. I didn't know how long I had left.
I needed to get to my phone. I needed to move.
God, this was going to hurt.
I braced one arm beneath me and forced my body to move. Every inch of me screamed. My chest felt like it was caving in, and my ribs flared with every breath, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through it. I had to. I just had to get upright. Just get to my phone. That was it.
I tried to shift my weight to swing my legs off the bed. The motion pulled something sharp through my chest and knocked the air out of me. My muscles were trembling, but I dragged myself until I was near the edge.
