Chapter 0304


    Along timeter | hear footsteps behind meing out of the bathroom.


    “Fay?” Daniel asks. “Are you...all right?”


    Silent, | shake my head no.


    “What can we do?” Jerome asks.


    “Nothing,” | murmur. And then | pause, considering it — considering if there’s anything | want. But | juste up nk. “Can you


    just leave me alone?”


    The boys are silent for a moment and | sigh, wishing they’d just go.ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    “Are you sure?” Daniel asks, hesitant. | can hear in his words that he desperately doesn’t want to leave me along right now, that


    he wants to be here for me. But...| just can’t. Not right now.


    “Please,” | say, hunching my shoulders and wrapping my nkets tighter around me.


    “Okay,” Daniel whispers, and a momentter | feel his lips press against my hair as he gives me a gentle kiss. “We''ll be right next


    door, okay? You call us when you want us?”


    “Okay,” | reply, nodding and squeezing my eyes shut.


    And then | hear their footsteps as they leave the room, the slight creaking of the door as they pull it closed behind us, though


    they don’t close it all the way so that they can hear me if | call.


    |y very still for a very long time. | lose track of it, eventually, working hard on clearing my mind and pushing all my thoughts


    away. Instead, | listen to my breathing, feel my heart beating, and seek — deep within me — some kind of...difference. Can | feel


    the baby growing in there? Is it...is it even a baby?


    Do | want it to be?


    Some timeter | sit up in bed, groaning a little as my muscles unlock and bend after far too long in one position. | raise my


    hands to my temples, rubbing them in an attempt to clear the headache that pounds there.


    Then, a little bleary, | turn towards my desk, noticing that the day has grown dark outside my window, already turning towards


    night. As | stand | wonder at it — how much time did |y there, denying my reality? But then | sigh and move towards my desk,


    pulling open the little drawer and reaching for my burner phone.


    Because even though I know Daniel and Jerome are next door, and even though I’m grateful for it, | really just want my sister


    right now.


    | pull up her contact information and quickly press her number, hoping she picks up. The phone rings, and rings. She doesn’t


    answer.


    Sighing, | press the call button again, but she doesn’t pick up. | call again — which | never do — hoping that she understands that


    it''s an emergency. But nothing.


    Frustrated, breathing out heavily through my nose, | open my messages and quickly send her a text letting her know that | need


    to talk, that she has to call me as soon as she gets this.


    To my shock, a textes through immediately.


    My blood goes cold when | read it:


    Fay, | can''t talk — I''ll see you soon =


    just do what th yseye Beaberead


    the origindleontent at


    NovelDrama.Org.


    ...what?


    She''ll see me soon? Why does she think —


    Do what who says? Who is she —


    But then | jump, my eyes shing


    towards the door as | h ar the (oud


    o cking ngisel@6d through the


    heuse. And then ites again, and


    again. Please read the original


    content at NovelDrama.Org.


    And | recognize it, immediately, from


    the noises | heard months ago at the


    country club, whesy\wektbruhning


    thrpaghtné-yreens with Kent and


    Daniel, trying to get away from


    people trying to kill us. Please read


    the original content at


    NovelDrama.Org.


    Those are gunshots.


    And they’re inside the house.