“Oh my God. Oh my God!” I screeched, screaming into the forest.She was sleeping. She couldn’t brace herself. Protect her head. She had no chance.
She had no chance at all.
I threw myself back, pounding the leaves and twigs—screaming myself hoarse.
How often I wished that bitch would get what was coming to her, but not this. NOT THIS!
“Oh, God, no,” I cried. “Why? Why n-now? Why like this? Why me! How much can you shit on me in one day! How much?!”
My raw, strangled throat gave out, but shrieking raged on in my head.
How could this happen? I was so close—so close.And now I had to go back to my dying mother... and tell her I killed her eldest daughter.
Loud, hiccupping cries heaved my chest—shredding the last flicker of hope in my soul. Nothing could ever be the same again.
The person I entered the world with—the one whose soul shared mine until nature tore us in two—she was gone. And the only thing that was certain now was that my life could change, it could even improve. But it would never be whole.
Ring, ring, ring!
“Fuck’s sake.” I shoved up, tearing across the ground. “What do you want!?” I snatched up the phone, readingSatanclear and shining on the screen. “Ugh! Fuck off, Dan!”
I reeled back to fling my cell as far as I could—
Stop!I halted with my back arched in half.Take a breath. Think. Call for help.
Sucking in a shuddering sob, I lowered the phone on my lap—breathing in and out, slowing my thumping heart as the ringing came to a blessed stop.
A glance around didn’t reveal much other than trees, dirt, dark, and more trees.
Back in high school, there were a spate of accidents on the backroads, and my friend Courtney organized a petition and protest to get more streetlights in Lantana.
They must’ve missed this street because I couldn’t see anything beyond the glow of my phone light.
But we can’t have veered far from the street.I tried to stand and fell forward, clutching my spinning head.I’ll wait by the road for the police.
I gazed into the gloomy blackness that swallowed Sue.They’ll know what to do.
Pressing call, I typed in9-1-
My phone went off again, flashing Dan’s true name across the screen. Rage flared in my soul and ripped a snarl from my lips.
I’m bleeding in the dirt next to my dead sister, and this evil, predatory piece of shit was blowing me up because I missed the date he blackmailed me into.
“I’m not fucking coming, you controlling dung-licking shitbag!” I screamed, or tried to. A raspy croak was the most my ruined throat could manage. “Release all the videos you want, my life can’t get any worse than this!”
I slappedEnd Calland went back to the call screen, my thumb hovering over the final digit.
I didn’t move.
When the police came, they would know what to do, but... I also knew what they’d do.
They’d tell me everything was okay. That there was nothing I could’ve done, and that Sue’s death was a tragic and unavoidable accident, but...
My mother wouldn’t.
The cops would drive me to that house. To my mother. And she’d demand to know why.
Why couldn’t I swerve in time? Why wasn’t I paying attention? Why was I driving so fast? Why wasn’t I careful? Why wasn’t I safe? Why didn’t I try to save her? Why did I drag my sorry ass into her home with nothing to my name but my sister’s corpse and a sex tape currently trending on the Ajumma Gossip Network? Why was I a fucking failure who couldn’t even get a family reunion right?
