Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“Papa!” Ruby yells, and I spin around, pointing the light from my phone directly on her face. She winces. “Sorry.”
It’s probably not fair to blame her, but I can’t help it right now. If I wasn’t distracted by her stupidity, I would have seen where the fuck Poppy went.
“Poppy has gone, and—”
I snatch the phone off her, continuing our trek farther into the woods.
“You there?”
“What’s happening? Talk to me.”
“Something’s not right. There are people here who Ruby doesn’t know.”
“Wesley on the front door?” he asks calmly.
“Yeah, but the kid is dumb as fuck. Poppy is missin’.” The silence between us stretches wide. Wide enough to make my fucking skin crawl with anticipation. “And he claims she didn’t skip from the front.”
“Alright, keep going. I’ll be there soon.” I hang up the phone, and just as I do, I see a new message on mine and click the unknown number to open it.
She’s not there.
I stop walking, and everyone around me does the same.
Typing off a new reply, I don’t even hit send before another comes in. If you want to see her alive again, we need to make a deal.
I finally punch the final letters and hit send. Who is this?
Another message comes through. Not important. What is, is that you need to make that deal to see your precious sister again, Wicked. You need to go back to the party, tell everyone you know where she is, and bring little Ruby La Rosa with you.
I read over the words, and then read them again. What?
“What is it?” Ruby asks from ahead, and I raise my eyes up to hers. If this has something to do with her papa, then I’m getting to the bottom of it.
I type out my reply, shoving my phone into my pocket. “That was Poppy. She’s fine but wants us to go and get her.” I point to Ruby and me.
“Oh thank God!” Ruby’s hand comes to her chest. She shoves through the grass as everyone starts making their way back to the party. “No offense, but I’m going to kick her ass for stressing us out.”
Slipping into the SUV, I open my phone to another text as Ruby says goodbye to all her little partygoers. We’re going to play some games. Do you still remember how? I stop typing. Darkness clouds over my vision.
Who the fuck is this?
I didn’t need to ask. The problem with trauma is it leaves its scars behind, so it knows exactly where to find them again when it comes back. And it does. It always comes back.
I think you know…
I squeeze the phone in my hand, slamming my palm over the push-to-start button just as Ruby slides into the passenger seat, slowly lowering her purse onto the ground in front of her while looking at me as if one would a rabid dog.
“What’s wrong?”
I slam the gear into reverse, not wanting to tell Ruby because that would mean this is right. That would mean he has come back to deliver his promise like I knew he would… And now… now I know all of our lives are about to change…
Six-years-old
I knew some things more than others. I knew pain. I knew that if I cut myself deep enough, I could feel all of my pain release, but the problem was that all I knew was pain. And to release it all… well… I would simply need to die. I watched anyway, though. I sat in the corner and I watched because I knew it was my time soon. Everyone knew it was my time. The chapel was as old as time. Well, it was older than me. The wooden benches were empty, but dark cloaks stared back at me from one side, where the other wore white. Where the dark cloaks stood with hoodies on, animal masks covering their faces—some elongated cows, some deer, some—a little more human-like, to the right, the Pure stood calm, tall, and at peace. Their robes weren’t hiding their faces, but white paint covered them. Everyone was silent. Silent because tonight was a ritual, one we had waited for.
“Do you think it’s going to hurt?” a voice asked from behind me, and I turned over my shoulder slightly to see another boy, around the same age as me, chewing on his lip nervously. Then my eyes skipped down the line. Head after head. Kid after kid. All the same as me, only different.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “We can only hope that if it doesn’t, death takes us first.”
Present
“Wicked, you’re scaring me…” Ruby’s hand brushes my arm and I pull away from her, driving us farther onto the highway.
“Good. You should be scared.”
“Why!” She looks between the highway and me. “What is happening?”
I think over all the different ways I can tell Ruby without involving her. Now I wish Poppy being taken was Cosa Nostra related, then that way I’d know that I could blame someone else. Take my anger out on other people, and I know, at the end of the day, Victor would make sure we got her back. He had to. But now? Now I know the chances of me seeing my sister again are slim to none.