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Stopping her body from slumping to the floor, I move her back into a comfortable position in the chair, no fight left in the small, lifeless body. Amy looks flustered, her eyes scanning over the young child. Tears roll down my cheeks, painting Lily's front in wet abrasive splotches.
Oh my god! I can't be a few pages in and we are killing little kids.
I feel the gnarled skin beneath my fingertips while I pull up my pants. The birthmark lingers on my skin, standing out in a way most Unfortunates do. Ugly and unnatural.
Sus
Regardless, she hasn’t told my father, and the few times Kai has seen me take a pill, he often ignores it as if he can wipe the image from his mind. I know deep down my father has suspicions, but it's easier to have him believe what he wants rather than give him another thing to add to his list of reasons why he is disappointed in me.
Weird
Not one crack can be found in the sidewalk's smooth, concrete surface.
Not them using their tax dollars...
Mrs. Auburn’s light, genuine smile leaves her face, replaced with a look I have never seen on her before. Her relaxed demeanor goes rigid. Her once slumped posture is now as straight as one of the pencils in her hair. Her hand, once on my own, now clasps her other so hard her knuckles are white. Her eyes are narrowed like a cat's. Any love radiating off the woman has washed away like rain down a storm drain. She's cold, distant, and utterly closed off.
Creepy
“You seem to forget you owe me,” Josh whispers. My mind races back to that night. The night I try so hard to shove away from my mind. I see the Untouchable's cold expression. Several odd moments transpiring that night before he hit the pavement. Many silent seconds of staring over the edge of that roof. Many more seconds pleading for Josh to leave me out of the incident report. It all comes rushing back. Even now, the thought of that night turns my stomach.
Murder?
I feel my mouth curl into a smile at his blatant lack of care toward the numerous rules he has just broken in a single conversation.
We got some issues here...
At that moment, for the first time in a long time, my defiant mind suddenly felt a little less lonely.
For shame, Little Dove.
Page 88 and we already have petnames?!
But that's impossible. Nothing can live for more than a few days beyond the ward. Or maybe that's just what we say to convince ourselves we aren’t in confinement.
But I need more than perfect. I need flaws. I need something to feel real for once in my life.
A pain passes over my head once more. It makes me slump forward, pressing my head into the ground. I claw at the Earth, trying my best to stop a scream from escaping my throat. “Get up before they notice,” Fallan whispers, yanking the back of my shirt, forcing me back up.
Oh maybe they both are immune to the mind control?
The impossible is entirely plausible. I can't trust anyone or anything, even the recollection of my memories. And the worst revelation of all is that I might be losing my mind.
His hand rests on the back of her neck. It's a gesture so few know will calm her.
How did he know???
“They can confuse you. Make you remember things wrong … even Marked like us,” Fallan says,
“It always is. That's my hell,” a voice whispers back, clearer than ever. No, not just any voice. Fallan’s voice.
Of course the love interest can communicate with her in her mind.
“Have you felt the touch of another before? Not hugs, not the bullshit regulated stuff they allow. I mean, genuine intimacy with another person?” Xavier questions.
Hate this for some reason...
“You’re sticking around then? You don’t think I'm crazy?” I question, unable to fully control what I’m saying. “I think you are exactly what you're supposed to be, and you can guarantee I’m not going anywhere,” Xavier whispers, turning my head over my shoulder.
Sus
Human connection. Just another thing our society shuns.
“Kai,” I snap, cutting off the question before he could finish it. “All I’ve done is let Max kiss me a few times. Xavier and I have done nothing.
POV your brother thinks you are a hoe and he might be right
“Well, you’re alone again. It's much easier to speak to you when your mind isn’t distracted by someone else’s hands all over you,” Fallan says, making my stomach flip. “You saw-” “Felt. I felt your pleasure, as much as I wish I didn’t,” Fallan says with a groan, only growing my list of questions.
Eww...
I’m doubtful they’d have the capacity to accept or understand. It would destroy their reality, and I don't think they’re ready for that. I don’t think anyone is ready for that.
Two souls locked into an eternity of never understanding the bigger picture.
I run my finger over the rough skin beneath the cuff on my wrist once more, feeling the mark that lingers there.
Dad's tainted too?!
“I have never seen someone look so tormented in the fleeting moments between when you look at him and turn away.
“I told Joshua I would keep him safe and told myself each time I input code for the two of you that it would be different,” my father continues, fidgeting at his desk, finishing off what's left of the glass of scotch. “Every time, I think it's different, but we always end up back here,”
Giving Shatter Me energy
“Fallan’s father," he begins, looking up at me with sorrow. “My best friend,”
What?!
she is very pretty for an Unfortunate, able to pass as one of us had she been given the proper clothing. She wears a gold ring around her wedding finger, its band made of twisting vines, creating a beautiful piece of jewelry.
Oh Fallon's mom!
“Forest, what you just did creates a connection you cannot even begin to understand. One that will put you and that boy at risk,”
So sharing blood is making a bond...
“I am you. The fact you're seeing me means you finally have some clarity.
Now One Dark window vibes
I think there's a long-time friend there we’d both like to see.”
Who??? Mark!?
The scar that burns hot every time I’m near an Official.
Bro is tainted too?
“You're his father,” I whisper, finally finding clarity in the importance of such a small photo.
Mark is Grandpa!!
Each one of his thoughts is revolved around her.
Mind reader?
“The deal was you keep some of your memories, and in return, you let her live her life without you in it,”
I am haunted by every moment I've looked at her and she's looked right past me.
Hunter closes his eyes when he feels my brother’s touch. I wonder if it’s the first kind touch he's felt in a long time. Kai quickly retracts his hand, his cheeks growing flush as he realizes what he’d just done.
Oh he is so gay
“She’s a bit odd. Keep your eyes on her,” it whispers, no longer relying on just reflections to communicate. “Noted,” I say out loud, giving the woman one last smile before moving inside the building.
Sus
He stands close to my side, my heart rate picking up at the presence of someone so close to me. He watches me work, never letting up on my hands as they continue moving. I notice how much smaller his hands are to mine while we work together.
Ghost
“Does my heart still beat?” Fallan questions down the bond, his voice low and solemn. I nod, not needing to say anything else. “Then you will never be alone.”
At what point did both sides of me become so hard to understand?
And I’ll tell you, when you put the Unfortunate pigs together with nothing but a blade, eventually, you see why we call them animals in the first place.” Fallan clutches his tray. Xavier’s head is down in shame. “You make the Unfortunates murder one another?”
Now Hunger Games!?
A chair lingers beside the mattress, no doubt where he tried to sleep before Forest knocked on his door.
Of course he didnt actually sleep with her
try to see the appeal in how the material showcases her body, but I'm unsure why I struggle so
YOU ARE GAY BABE
It's ironic how such a great evil could create such a bright light.
“To think I was going for you,” I whisper, her mouth dropping at my response. Fallan’s mouth curls into a smile. Aaron’s eyes widen at the statement. Looking over her face, her cheeks begin to redden. Her reaction to my touch is all the evidence I need to prove why she’s been so cold towards me. “She has a crush?”
Of course this TOTALLY makes sense...
My feelings for Fallan are deeper than I could have imagined… and I think these feelings have been there all along.
“Your name's Xavier,” I whisper, unsure what he wants me to say. With a saddened expression, he pulls away, his hands slowly loosening their grasp.
Maybe he is part of her past too or wanted to be daddy...
“No matter what, I’m with you,” I say, keeping my hand between us.
Finally she picked one
“A Shifter breached the ward,” he says, giving us both a long look. “And it's come for blood.” He turns away, guiding us in a sprint down the alleyway.
Convenient...
