“I didn’t even actually hurt her!” he cries.
“That’s because somehow, in the haze of the drugs you slipped in her drink, she texted me.” I cross my arms. “But a simple hack in your phones gave me all the details you had laid out for her.”
Walking up next to me, Cole hands me a bag filled with pills. I pour them in my hand and meet his eyes.
These will burn him from the inside out, because they are made with Carolina reapers. It won’t be a peaceful slip into slumber. It will be with him screaming, melting from the inside out, starting with his mouth that lied to lure my sister. They willcorrode his stomach and then move through his whole body, circulating into his bloodstream.
“Open,” I command.
Shaking his head, he continues thrashing, as if he can actually stop me. This only makes a laugh slip from me. Cole walks over to him and forces his mouth open. The chains rattle, and screams that will soon be silenced fill the room and bounce off the walls.
I shove the pills in his mouth and clamp it shut with my own hand covering his lips. His screams are muffled, his bloodshot blues now wide as his body convulses.
I’ll be the last thing he sees before he dies.
“Sweet dreams, Max.”
SUNNY
The dreary day is only a small testament to how I feel. The loom of waking up with a sore throat only grew to panic when it wasn’t washed away with a sip of water.
Hours later, here I am on the couch with a throat so sore it hurts to drink, congestion that makes my head want to explode, and a body that feels worse than the night I left Ryan.
Family dinner is tonight, despite the fact we all saw one another at the restaurant opening a few days ago. Sam includes me via video chat because I can’t get the energy to pull myself from this couch and refuse their offers to bring it here so I don’t pass this plague to anyone else.
They place the phone in my usual seat at Anthony’s place. I can’t help the smile that forms my chapped lips at the gesture. Lounging on my couch, wrapped in a blanket, I watch my friends through the screen. Everyone’s faces chipper, smiling, laughing as they share food and conversation. It’s the connection I realized I lacked and needed. The hole in my chest doesn’t feel so big anymore.
“Okay family,” Tyler stands up. “I’m going to bring our Sunny darling some food.”
“Tyler the man!” Anthony chimes.
“I’ll package up some food.” Sam gets up.
“Guys, that's really unnecessary,” I protest.
“I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.” He flashes a smile complimented with a wink. Soon enough, he’s grabbing his keys and is out the door.
Shortly after, I say my goodbyes to the rest of the family and end the call. My eyes are heavy, and the sound ofFriendson the TV settles me into a purgatory sleep. An in-between of reality and my own mind.
My eyes fly open as a knock sounds on my door. “Food service,” Tyler calls outside my door.
I sit my aching body up, feeling the peak of the virus so profoundly that even my joints hurt. With the blanket still wrapped around my feverish body, I walk to the door and see Tyler standing outside through the peephole.
“You can just leave it on the floor. I don’t want to get you sick,” I say without opening it.
“Sunny, come on. I don’t care. Open the door.”
“I look awful. Like a zombie, really. You sure you want to see that?”
“I want to see every version of you.”
You’re good at this, Tyler.
I open the door.
TYLER
While it may not be her best day, I still like this version of her. Even with the wild bun and red nose. “Looking good, Sunny.”
