She caught sight of me, and everything in her tensed like a deer seeing the flash of a rifle. But she didn’t run.
Brave. Or stupid. Didn’t matter.
I cut off every escape route, my shadow swallowing hers.
“You think you’re something special?” I sneered, voice already shaking with the need to hurt. “Running around fucking every guy in town?”
She flinched, but her eyes went cold as glass. “Fuck you.”
I laughed. “Bet you already tried.”
Her body shook, hands clamped white on her books. “You’re obsessed. Why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“Because you don’t deserve peace,” I said, stepping closer. “After what you did to Lillian by fucking Dante the night of her funeral—after what you did to me? You’re just a cheap replacement. Think Dante gives a shit about you? He’s using you. Everyone is.”
She opened her mouth, maybe to scream, maybe to spit. “Don’t talk about her. You don’t get to talk about my sister.”
“Oh, but you can go around acting just like her? Screwing anything with a pulse, hoping someone finally notices you exist?”
She went grey, but she didn’t back down. “You’re the one who started it. You ruined everything, you ruined—” Her voice hitched. “You ruined Lillian. You ruin everything you touch.”
Something in my chest cracked. But I pushed harder.
“At least I’m not so desperate I’ll spread my legs for anyone who asks.”
She slapped me. Hard. Palm stinging, skin on fire.
I barely felt it. Not compared to what came next.
“You know what?” I hissed, nose to nose now. “You’re gonna end up just like your dead fucking sister. Maybe sooner, if you keep acting like this.”
She recoiled, but the rage in her eyes could’ve burned me alive. “You’re evil. You fucking monster. I wish you never touched me. I wish I never fucking met you.”
For a second, I almost said I was sorry.Almost.
Instead—“I feel the same. Only thing I regret is not walking away the second I laid eyes on you.”
She glared, tears streaking her face but her hands steady. “You’re sick. You’re empty. That’s why no one can stand you. Not Dante. Not anyone.”
I smiled, all teeth, too bright. “Guess it takes one to know one.”
She turned and ran, books forgotten, footsteps echoing down the alley.
I watched her go, every part of me screaming to chase after, to pull her back and make her fight more.
Instead, I stayed. Let the silence crawl back in.
For a long time, all I could taste was the guilt, bitter and rotten. What I’d said about Lillian. What I kept saying, every time, like I wanted to break her for good.
But then Dad’s voice, greasy and thick, oozed through my skull.Don’t feel bad, boy. Don’t you dare.
If you let up, even for a second, they’ll bury you. Violence is the only thing anyone respects.
I dug my nails into my palms until pain flickered white.
Anger, shame, self-loathing. There wasn’t a name for the color it all made when it mixed. The only thing I knew was I had to stay hard, had to stay mean. Anything else was death.
So I stood there, breathing in the stink of the dumpsters, until the urge to chase her faded.
