The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (The Coincidence, #1)

by Jessica Sorensen

The way I feel is irreversible; overtaken, wanted, needed, connected. I’ll never be able to let it go.

Silence builds and it all crumbles out as I collapse into his chest, tears spilling out as the secret I’ve carried with me breaks into lighter pieces. He scoops me up against my protests and cradles me against him as he carries me up the stairs and into the room as I sob out every tear I’ve been holding inside me. He lies down on the bed with me and I bury my face into his chest. Somehow, I stop crying and we lie, unmoving, feeling each other’s pain. Eventually I fall asleep in his arms.

Callie saved me that night from a fight that would have probably left me dead, but she also saved me from myself. Before her, I was dying inside; there was nothing in my heart, but an empty hole.

I shut my eyes as I fight to breathe, but the pain is winning. I think about Callie, what she’s doing, what she’ll do when she hears about what happened. It hurts, even though it’s not supposed to; the thought of me leaving her, of her leaving me, of never having her again. I can’t hold it in.

It’s what I’ve done for ages to shut it off. It started when I was seven when I realized that cutting myself helped me breathe—helped me live through the hell of life. It’s my fucked up secret; the darkness that lives within me.

Nothing could ever prepare me for what I see. Time stops—everything stops. A part of me dies. Lying on the floor, in a pool of blood and a pile of knives is Kayden.