Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
She shakes her head, her hair swishing over her shoulders as she looks past me and crosses her legs. She rocks slightly and says, “I wanted to go into law and make a difference, you know?” Her eyes find mine as her voice carries through the room.
“Law?” I nod my head and say, “I could understand that. I could see why you’d want to go that route.”
I can see the red blinking light of the camera reflected in her eyes as she stares at it for a moment, and then she licks her lips and looks back at me.
“I used to think that the worst thing you could see before you die was the eyes of your killer,” she tells me in a tone that’s chilling. “And I wanted to stop that.”
I take in an uneasy breath, rubbing the back of my neck and trying to ignore all the things Jay’s told me of his past. They almost feel real as the images flash before my eyes.
“But it’s not,” she whispers.
I turn to look at her, my hand stilling on my neck and then slowly moving to my lap.
“Now I think the worst thing would be to see someone running away, someone ignoring your screams. Someone who could help you, but didn’t.” Her eyes tear up again, and she shudders.
“I don’t think I could handle facing that,” she says and waits for me to respond.
I fail to find the right words to tell her. I know it hurt Jay, because he’s told me about the girl over and over.
“What else?”
“What else?” I ask her for clarification.
“What else do you know about me?” she asks.
“I know you were with him,” I tell her, my blood chilling at the memories. “You were with him for a little while.”
“For four months,” she says and her voice cracks. She swallows and brushes a strand of hair from her face. “Two days over, actually,” she says and smiles sadly. “I left him then,” she says but chokes on her words.
“It’s not your fault,” I tell her honestly. I can feel the emotions from her. The disappointment and regret. “Anyone would have run,” I add.
She nods, but her expression only turns more painful.
“So now you know why I’m doing this. But why are you?”
“I don’t trust him,” I tell her firmly. Surprisingly she simply nods, as if that’s a given.
“So he’s just a friend that you owe. Someone who’s helped you, someone who’s broken and fucked up and you feel like you need to help him to make sure he doesn’t hurt me?”
I nod once at her analysis of the situation. My chest feels tight, and I hate how I feel restrained and like a damaged man for giving him this.
“Yes,” I tell her and scratch the back of my neck as I consider how to word my next question right, but she cuts me off.
“What do you think of me?” she asks me, and it catches me off guard.
“What do you mean?”
She chews the inside of her cheek for a moment. “You know what happened.” Her eyes dart to the door at the sound of Toby laying against it and making the door thud. “You know that I’m…” She doesn’t finish, and instead she looks me right in the eyes and asks, “Do you think I’m crazy?”
My heart thuds in my chest, and I hesitate to answer. “I don’t know everything-” I try to finish, but she cuts me off.
“Yes you do,” she says quickly in a whisper. “I’ll tell you a secret, John. No one left that house with a sound mind.”
Chapter 12
Robin
I don’t know what’s more disturbing, talking to John about what happened in the past, or staring back at the blinking red light. It’s just like the cameras that were in the ceiling. The ones that watched us in our room.
“You gave it to him?” I ask Jay, and he peeks over his shoulder as he continues to lead me up the stairs from the basement to the main floor.
“Gave him what?” he asks me. I tighten my hand on his as the wooden stairs creak. “The camera,” I reply, and the answer itself makes my heart hurt. My body tenses and I try not to close my eyes because I don’t want to see it.
‘I thought it would help,” Jay says as if it’s not fucked up.
He opens the door at the top of the stairs and warm light floods my vision for a moment.
“The room, the dog, the camera…,” I say without thinking and pull my hand from Jay’s to rub my eyes. When I pull my hand away, he’s staring at me, a look of worry on his face. “It’s not okay, Jay,” I whisper.
“It’s a second chance, little bird.”
He shifts from side to side, but his body is tense. “You don’t know what it’s been like,” he says in a tight voice, the anger coming through. “I’m trying, but some things need to be shown to him,” Jay says, and my throat constricts at the thought of John.