Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Two tears streaked down Howard’s face as he blinked, nodding vigorously. His hand was clasped in Vicky’s and I could see how tightly they were holding onto each other.
Maybe they already figured it out, or maybe they were preparing for the worst, but it helped me tell them the rest.
I didn’t think about the movement. I’d think about it later because Vicky and Lo’s eyes both got so big when I moved my hand and Brett’s to my stomach, both of our hands opening to spread over my for-now flat tummy.
“After I found out what happened to Ben, who he’d turned into, I realized what my mom meant by needing to take him with her. And now I really understand. She couldn’t choose between one child and the other. She didn’t want Ben to become who our father was, so she decided to go with him. She chose to set me free. Ben told me the night he was here that Mom chose me because I was a star. That wasn’t the truth. She let me go and she chose him. It just didn’t turn out how she intended and we both lost her in the end, but she tried to go with him.”
It hurt to keep going, to say the rest, and somehow I flashed back to that day.
I was hiding under Jojo’s bed. The screams cut off, and there was a pained moment of silence.
I was so scared, every part of me was shaking. Even my teeth were rattling against each other, and I bit down on my arm to keep quiet as much as possible.
A floorboard creaked.
Another.
His pants swished.
He was drawing near.
The door opened, and he stepped inside.
He opened the closet.
Then to the bed.
His boots stopped right in front of me, shifting as he kneeled down.
He lifted the bedspread, and a face came down to look at me.
A face that I knew.
“I never understood why she did what she did, or why my father did what he did, but I do now. Ben and I were both loved. I know that now. My mom loved Ben. That’s why she chose to die with him. And my dad loves me.”
A deep breath.
My last secret.
“That’s why my dad chose to let me live that day. After he had killed everyone in the house.”