Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Even in the darkness, I could see the blush light her cheeks. “Yeah, I think I am going to be.” She squeezed my hand back. “We’re both going to be.”
She smiled at me, and I couldn’t do anything but smile, too, connected to her in a way I hadn’t been with anyone else before. “Yeah, we are.”
It didn’t matter if it was a lie.
Without letting go of my hand, she shifted and lay down on her side. “Is it okay if I stay here with you?”
“Of course.” I lay down beside her, face-to-face. Jenny was clinging to my hand as she almost instantly fell asleep.
Brushing my fingers through her hair, I whispered, “Yeah, you’re going to be okay.”
No matter how exhausted I might be, I knew there was no chance I was going to fall back to sleep tonight. I wouldn’t touch on that sanctuary. I wouldn’t find peace.
Instead, every sense I possessed was trained outside our room, listening to each voice and footstep, every rattle and creak.
Each time someone moved down the hall, I tensed, prepared to fight.
This time, I wouldn’t be taken by surprise.
Shadows passed by the door several times during the following hours, but no one paused or entered.
I didn’t begin to relax until the sun finally broke through the tiny horizontal window high above our beds.
Five minutes later, a male’s voice rang out as he bustled down the halls, knocking on doors as he went: “Let’s go, my friends. Time to get up. Breakfast is served.”
Jenny groaned and rolled over, giving me a tiny giggle when her eyes blinked open and her face was two inches from mine. “I guess that’s our cue.”
“Sounds like it.”
I rubbed a hand over my face to chase away the grogginess as a gush of relief pressed from between my lips.
I’d made it one more day.
Chapter Eleven
Aria
It was not fun spending your day wondering if you’d see tomorrow. If today would be cut off. If your hours were numbered.
Scanning the cafeteria from where I sat next to Jenny, I searched for anything . . . familiar.
A hint of the malignant.
An innuendo of ill intent.
My spirit remained calm, feeling no threat.
Whoever had been in my room last night must have left with the 6:00 a.m. shift change.
Counselors stood around the cafeteria, two men and one woman, casually observing us as we ate breakfast.
Again, I pushed the food around on my tray, lost in the subdued mood.
Most ate quietly, boys on one side of the room, girls on the other.
I found myself drawn to those hurting around me, and I kept having to fight the urge to reach out and touch.
To see if it happened again.
To find out if it was a fluke.
A mistake.
If I was really losing the sanity those around me thought I didn’t possess.
A girl sat to my left. Her hair was chopped short and dyed jet black, and her face was drawn, the inside of her left arm crisscrossed with old scars in the shape of x’s. The scars were covered with fresh wounds in varying stages of healing.
Even though her expression remained flat, her thoughts swirled around me, almost palpable.
Harrowing and haunting.
Riddled with confusion and grief.
The compulsion to touch her was almost as strong as it’d been with Jenny last night. My hands tingled with the impulse, and energy rushed to my fingertips, so intense I could feel it glowing inside.
I gulped and tried to force it down.
Contain it.
Honestly, I didn’t know what to do with it. How to handle this change that I didn’t understand. How to harness the power. How to wield it and how to control it.
Did it really even matter if I was only going to be hunted down anyway?
After breakfast, I went into the tiny bathroom in the room I shared with Jenny. I stripped out of my clothes and peeled the bandage from my back, hissing as I did. It still burned, the lash fiery and inflamed, but it was finally beginning to heal.
I showered, then changed into a pair of jeans and a soft, fluffy black sweater my mother had packed. It felt like another hug. Another embrace. The same as the bear she’d hidden at the bottom of my bag.
I held on to the truth of her care when the anger threatened to surface.
She didn’t understand.
She only cared about me.
Loved me.
Was terrified for me.
It was on me to understand that.
“Are you doing okay in there, Aria?” Jenny called through the door. “I mean, I love a good shower, but you know, I just wanted to check because you’ve been out for a minute. If you need anything, just holler! I’ll be right here . . . outside the door . . . in our room.”
Amused affection had me biting down on my bottom lip. It seemed I’d found a friend.
“All good,” I called as I opened the door. “Just finished getting ready.”