Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
He was also nine years older than me. Because of that, I’d always figured I was a mistake for my parents. I wasn’t planned. The age gap was too big. Luckily I turned out to be a precious little girl, which probably softened the blow.
“Mitchell, stop it!” I jumped off the bed and found his large hands, gripping them. I looked up at him, meeting the brown eyes that swirled with hurt, anger, and something I just couldn’t understand.
“I can’t be here, sis,” he murmured. “I just want you to know that I love you no matter what…even if they don’t.”
“But they do love us,” I whined.
My defense wasn’t enough.
Nor was my begging, my beseeching.
“No…they think we’re objects. They think I’m an object, something they can toss and juggle like a fucking schedule. They want me to live up to whatever they want me to be. They never ask me how I’m feeling or what I need. I just can’t anymore…and Coach Kord… God…” He yanked away from me, roughly raking his fingers through his curly, dark hair. “Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.” He cursed so much that day.
“I’m sorry, Jenny, I’m just…” He blew a breath, gathering most of his composure. “I shouldn’t be talking about this with my baby sister…but you’re the only person in this house that understands me—the only one that listens.” Mitchell finally looked at me, his face turning serious. He then dropped to his knees, grabbed my hands, and said, “No matter what I do or what happens to me, I want you to be strong, Jen. You’re the better of us two. You have much more to accomplish. You’re so young—” His voice broke as he looked me deep in the eyes, swallowing hard to clear his throat. “I need to get away,” he breathed again. “I can’t keep taking it….I can’t keep doing it just because he thinks it’ll be worth it in the long run. He doesn’t understand how painful it is—how wrong it is. And I can’t tell them. Especially Mom. It would ruin their lives, and I can’t risk that when you’re here. I need you to stay safe.” Mitchell studied my face, the tears collecting at the rims of my eyes. He heard a door shut downstairs and looked over his shoulder with extreme paranoia.
“Mitchell! Hurry down! Coach Kord is here for dinner!” we heard Mom shout.
He shuddered as he looked at me again, his face turning paler than a blank sheet of paper. “When it’s time for dinner, tell them I won’t be joining them tonight.”
“Where will you be?” I pleaded as he started to pull away from me.
Mitchell stood up straight and shrugged, looking around my bedroom. “I don’t know, Jenny. I honestly have no clue.” He looked down at his feet. “But it won’t be here.” He bent down, kissed my cheek, and then hugged me so tight it caused the unshed tears to spill down my cheeks.
I watched him leave my bedroom, but I should have stopped him. I should have held him up, begged for him to just stay in my room so I could protect him from Mom and Dad.
I knew I couldn’t fully protect him, but I could try—even if I didn’t know what he was running from back then. I would kick and scream, punch and slap. I’d do whatever it took to protect my Mitchell.
Unfortunately, I had no clue what was going on. I didn’t know why he was so distraught. I mean, I didn’t like my parents very much either, but they were tolerable enough.
I didn’t understand why he was so hard on them… or why they were so hard on him.
I guess none of it mattered in the end anyway, because I never saw Mitchell again.
A tree branch snapped behind me, pulling me out of my memories, and I gasped, spinning around.
Two girls rushed through the line of trees, giggling as they stumbled their way towards the party. Relief took worry’s place, easing me for just a millisecond.
I looked around, up at the bushy, dark trees that surrounded me. The strange animal noises made my skin crawl and my stomach clench again. I paced a little more, collecting much needed oxygen.
As I pressed my palms to the hood of the car, I heard another one pull up behind me. The engine was loud, a deep growl that clearly belonged to some type of truck or SUV.
Peering over my shoulder, I watched as the headlights shut off and three boys climbed out of the metallic blue pick-up truck, hooting and hollering, ready to get their night started.
One of them looked my way, frowning. “What the fuck is she doing?” He laughed with the other boy that joined his side. They were making fun of me.
I tore my gaze away, avoiding their eyes at all costs, a blaze making my chest burn. When the two boys were long gone, I realized there was another that hadn’t made his way towards the bonfire.