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Being a witness to my mother’s death was a guaranteed life of being spoiled. I just had to play my cards right, which was so hard. I’d have to continue mimicking the other kids. Act shocked when I’m supposed to. Be sad when I’m supposed to. Follow the cues in their faces because emotion was tricky for me. I didn’t feel the way they did. I’ve always known I was different.

And now that I’m in this facility, I had to try extra hard to impress the doctors. Otherwise, I’d get labeled with some kind of personality disorder. And that shit can follow you for life.

“What were you feeling when you poisoned the horse?” Dr. Jansen asked.

“I was just so mad at daddy because he was sleeping with the nanny. Our grandmother’s caregiver. He was also messing with my godmother and it felt like a betrayal to our mother. And to make matters worse, he preferred Dream over me. He got her an entire horse for her birthday but I got nothing. I know that I hadn’t been on my best behavior but that was so unfair.” I put on the most whiny voice possible.

If it were framed as jealousy and abandonment then it wasn’t as bad as being curious about a horse’s death. The truth is, I was jealous and felt abandoned. But I also wanted to see Midnite perish.

I was there when it foamed at the mouth and hit the hay with a big thud. It was so delightful. But I had to act remorseful. Otherwise, there would be a label.

The doctor took some notes down and I turned on the internal faucet. Tears streamed down my face.

“What’s wrong, Storie?”

“I just feel so bad, you know? I hurt my little sister. And most of all I hurt Midnite. How could I do that to another animal? I was so in the wrong. The fear and pain that she must have felt,” I whimpered.

Show empathy like the normies. Apparently empathy was a normal emotion that I needed to display.

He took more notes.

“And what about Cookie?” he questioned.

“Cookie? That was an accident. I had dropped my chocolate and she quickly ate it. And I tried to get it out of her mouth but it was too late. But then I was scared that if I said anything I’d get in trouble. I’ve been in a lot of trouble lately. I was praying that Cookie didn’t get sick,” I lied.

I was hoping she’d die from the chocolate and coffee poisoning. On one hand I’m glad she didn’t since I wasn’t there to witness it. Seeing it was the best part.

Dr. Jansen took more notes and asked more questions. Afterwards, I was allowed outside with the crazies, for fresh air. We were watched like hawks but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to do anything dumb, but I did stay to myself.

There were some truly disturbed people in there. I wasn’t like them at all. I just wanted things to go my way.

I sat at one of the picnic tables looking out at the grassy knoll and thought about Justice. He was so sexy but he would never love me. He was stuck on Melody’s ass. And he would always see me as his daughter.

So, I needed to be with my father. Once my father came for me, we’d run away together. Eventually, I’ll convince him to help me kill Justice. I’ll tell him Justice sexually assaulted me or something. That always makes men want to get revenge.

Justice would pay for not returning my love.

I wondered what it would be like to see him take his last breath.

41

Melody

The words for my new novel were flowing from my fingertips. It was the only thing I could do to pass the time until I was finally reunited with my son. Now that Roman was dead, there was a relief in my body that hadn’t been there before.

I’d always been carrying around this tension in my shoulders and now that he was gone, it was over. Good fuckin’ riddance. Roman deserved what happened to him. Especially after what he did to my parents.

Just as I finished one more chapter, my phone rang. It was Keenan. Typically we texted but today he wanted to hear my voice.

“Hey, baby. You okay?”

“Where’s my brother, Melody?”

I sat up straight, pulling the phone away long enough to check the screen again. It was the number I had given Keenan, but that was Julian’s voice.

“Why do you have my son’s phone?”

“I asked you a question.”