AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The old man from earlier enters the room, his eyes haunted. He stares at the half-collapsed woman, as if this were a normal scene, as if he were used to seeing Tucker imprison her in a human cage to keep her from spilling out.
“I’ll help you,” he whispers to Tucker.
The latter nods and hands over his mother, who slowly begins to sob again. As she and Abraham walk away, her words loop in my mind.
He killed her, he took Debbie from me…Tucker told me his sister was dead. Is there a connection between the two?
Did he kill his sister?
As the panic grows inside me, I almost stagger away another step. What the hell am I doing here?
Tucker watches me strangely. He sees me backing away, uncertain, with doubt in my eyes. His jaw clenches. He takes a step forward, and my breathing stops as I raise my hands in front of me.
“No,” I command.
I need a second. I need a minute…just a minute, and I’ll be fine. My brain needs to recover. Tucker turns to the fireplace, and before I have time to figure out what’s going on, he grabs a crystal bottle and throws it into the fireplace. The glass explodes as a raging sound comes from his chest. I hear his breathing quicken as mine becomes scarce.
I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I take one step closer. Then two. Then three. I don’t know what just happened, I don’t know what will happen, but I can’t not react.
“Are you okay?” I finally ask.
Damn, did I really just say something that lame? Seriously, does he look okay?
An incredulous laugh answers me. “Am I okay?” Tucker repeats under his breath, staring into the flames.
Suddenly, he turns to me and finds me closer than before. Resignation shows on his face.
“Ask what you really want to ask,” he finally orders me.
When I understand what he is getting at, I keep my lips closed, feeling unable to speak at this moment. He is unsettled. I saw something he would have preferred to keep secret, I heard something I shouldn’t have heard…and he knows it.
He approaches me, towering over me. But I don’t flinch.
“Go ahead,” he spits, “ask the damn question.”
I shake my head. But in front of his piercing gaze, my lips open by themselves, without listening to my brain. I need to know, I can’t help it.
“Did you kill…this girl Debbie?”
A tight smirk appears on his mouth, yet his eyes are far from happy. “Would you run away if that was the case?”
His breath falls on my face, his eyes probe mine.
“Maybe,” I whisper.
The questions rush through me. I wonder if he is capable of taking the life of a family member. My own hand struck a blow that was fatal, but I…I was defending my sister. What happened with Tucker? I need to know who’s in front of me.
“Did you kill her?” I repeat simply, my voice slightly shaky.
He doesn’t speak, but he shakes his head gently. I release a breath that I didn’t know was stuck in my throat, and my relief seems to irritate him a little more.
“What you just saw, you forget any of that happened,” he says coldly as he walks away.
His words hit me like a storm uprooting a tree. I can see what he’s doing; he’s rejecting what’s around him, protecting himself, burying himself in his own shell to try to keep control and manage things.
So that’s why Abraham was surprised that I was there. I’m pretty sure that very few people know what goes on inside these high walls. I do now, at my own risk.
“I get what you’re going through,” I announce, ignoring his words.
