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Started reading
February 9, 2025
His eyes snapped to mine. So red, so swollen, I could barely make out the chocolate brown. “Adeline.” I took a step back. His voice broke with a hushed crack. “Addie.” Papa groaned beneath him, pushing off the floor. I stepped back again. “I’m sorry. Please don’t look at me like that, baby. I’m sorry. I’m fucking sorry.” The strange skin on his face scrunched, red and raw.
2% in and im already crying
More tears. Men didn’t cry, at least they weren’t supposed to, as far as I knew. But Papa cried when I wouldn’t eat, and Tommy cried every day since he came home from the war. I wanted to cry too, but that would hurt us all worse, so I blinked my tears away.
We were siblings, and that was stronger than anything. He
The broken soldier son and the crazy devil-worshiping daughter. The deaf man and the woman who refused to speak.
I’d never felt comfortable in my own body, in the brain Tommy said was broken, Fairville said was evil and my father said was cursed. The vessel keeping me tethered to this earth was just that—a hollow, timid thing that could never be shared, or the Woman in White would keep it forever. A farmer with dirty hands and wind-burnt cheeks, not a thing of beauty. Perhaps it made me vain, but I liked this hidden side of me.
“Everyone underestimates us girls, yes?” I nodded. “That’s because they forget.” She tapped the corners of her eyes, then her ears. “We’re the background noise. The little flies on the wall. I’ve developed a soft spot for you, so I’ll tell you my secret. Men deal in violence, we deal in talk.” She gestured around the room. “You’re in it now, darling, so here’s how you play the game. Listen. Get smart. You can’t shoot a gun or throw a fist, but you have something far more valuable at your expense.” She leaned in close, a vicious grin glinting around sharp teeth, “Secrets. Gossip. The sway of
...more
Now my father was dead, my brother practically a stranger, and I had no one to turn to but the apparition my mind created. But what did it say about me if all that were true? If my mind was truly fractured . . . and found solace with the worst sinner of all.
needed more of this feeling. His hypnotic beckoning into the dark. The way I seemed to forget all my pain, all my loss, all my endless misery inside these dreams. If I was nothing but insane, that was the purpose he served, after all. God wasn’t here, but the Devil was.
Because deep down, maybe he wanted me to be just as screwed up as he was. That way neither one of us was ever alone.
Men didn’t walk into a room and set the place on fire unless they had a history of watching the world burn.
expected of me and the parallel bond I had with Jack. It’s your choice. Was it though? That was exactly what handsome men told silly women every day, all across the world. Everyone thought they made their own choice when they were manipulated to think that way. It’s your choice. What
Warmth curled the air, fresh with the scent of rain. Without turning, I murmured, “Long day at the office?” “No, had to stop for hookers and blow on the way home.” He fell into the chair beside me. “How were they?” “Terrible. None of them looked like you.” I shook my head. “You’ve got a screw loose, Jack Warren.”
We don’t want you boys to worry about the important stuff.” Her serpent eyes flashed. “The women will handle everything.”
father protected me, but he never prepared me. One more rung. My brother loved me, but he forgot to believe in me. Another. Jack told me I would have to save myself. He was not a hero, no knight in shining armour, but I was no damsel in distress and that was okay. Because he was mine. He was mine and our bond was ours and I told him I could do this, so I would. I would climb. I would rise. I would believe in myself for once in my fucking life. I would not die here.
