AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Something that wants to be acknowledged.
Just like that morning in Jeremy’s room last summer, when things got all awkward and weird and he freaked out about his eyes before bolting. I somehow missed him grabbing his keys off his dresser when making a break for it, and he’d gotten in his car and left. Just…left.
And then a few weeks later, he left Shiloh too. Moved into an apartment in Allentown.
We never talked about it.
Why not, you might ask.
Well, that’s a loaded question if there ever was one.
“They’re her eyes.”
A sound, not quite a growl, works its way up from my chest, getting trapped behind my teeth. Pushing to a stand, I pace across the room, hands clasped behind my head.
Images assault my mind, clashing with his words, with what I overheard earlier.
Bury it. It’s what he wants.
My heart races, and there’s a familiar itch slowly, but surely making its way to the surface, until I know I’ll have no choice but to confront it. Deal with it.
“Just push it away, just push it away,” I chant under my breath, willing my mind to quiet.
Suddenly, there’s a dull knocking on my door, and I snap my head up. I lower my arms to my sides and stand to my full height. “Come in.”
The knob twists, and a second later Shawn appears, brows furrowed as he sweeps his gaze over me, and then the room, before finally settling on my face.
“You good?”
I give him a short nod.
How long has he been standing out there?
What did he overhear?
It’s then that it occurs to me that the storm’s let up some. It’s still raining, and there’s still some flashes of light here and there, but I can’t remember when it last thundered.
His eyes crease as they scan my face. “You’ve been gone a while.”
In other words—“Just checkin’ to make sure you’re not up here doing drugs.”
“Yeah, sorry,”—I wave a hand—“lost track of time.”
“Jeremy?”
I nod, unsure what to even say.
His mouth thins, and I get the impression he wants to say something. But faster than I can say, “Just spit it out,” he changes the subject.
“Feel like hitting the bag?”
I swivel my head, peering longingly out the dark, rain-speckled window in the direction of where the barn-turned-garage is.
We still have no power, so the fact Shawn brought it up says a lot. I swear the guy’s got a built-in radar for when I’m jonesing for a fix. Between him and my sister, I can’t mask a damn thing.
Speaking of…
“Is Phoebe okay?”
