Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
This had been on purpose. Who could it have been?
Than was here. He put his gun back in its holster before dropping to his knees beside Saylor who was bent over me as her tears rolled down her cheeks before dropping onto mine.
My eyes found Than. I could see the severity in his grim expression. This wasn’t something I could survive. He was pale. Anguish stared back at me through his gaze.
Saylor was pulled back; I could hear Gathe cursing, and I knew he had taken her. He’d be there for her. Deep down, I’d always known a part of him envied me because he wanted her, yet it was me she loved.
Than slid his hand under my head. “It’s gonna be okay,” he assured me, but we both knew that was a lie.
“No,” I managed to croak out.
I began to feel strangled, as if my lungs were filling with water. The sense of drowning began to escalate.
Halo. Oh fuck! Halo.
I couldn’t die. She needed me. I didn’t want to leave her. I tried to fight against it, to move, but nothing worked.
“Easy,” Than said. “Try to take small breaths.”
He didn’t understand. I couldn’t take any fucking breaths at all. The world was fading. Blackness was seeping in on the edges of my sight. This was death. I’d always wondered if it’d hurt, and I could affirm that going out this way was a fucking bitch.
“Halo,” my voice was barely a whisper, wishing I could tell him where she was. How to find her. That she needed me. Heaviness settled on me before I got the chance.
There was a loud wail in the distance, and then a, “Fuck NO!” came out in a guttural shout from Than’s chest.
It was over.
I
“From the deepest desires often comes the deadliest hate.”–Socrates
One
Halo
Two Months Later
The house was almost empty. I stood in the living room. It was the center of our three-bedroom house. The kitchen was directly behind me. To my right was the master bedroom, and to my left were the other two bedrooms and only bathroom. There was nothing left of our family who had lived here, except the things that belonged to me and to Nick, my father. It still smelled the same without them here.
Iris, my stepmother, had packed up all my sister’s and brothers’ things and left. Tears stung my eyes. Would I get to see them again? She hadn’t even told me they were leaving. I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to stop the tears for the second time tonight. Crying was not going to fix anything, but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take before I cracked.
The fighting between Iris and Nick had gotten worse lately. I’d been worried about it and even mentioned it to my brother Ares when he called last week. He had said Nick was a bastard, which was his normal response to anything involving our father.
Two months ago, Ares had left for boot camp. He’d enlisted in the Army right after graduation. Nick hadn’t bothered to be here to tell him bye, wish him luck, tell him how proud he was, or any of the things a good father would do.
I had thought that was the last straw for Iris. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my own problems, then I might have realized she was planning on leaving.
She was the only mother I’d ever known. My mother had taken her life when I was three months old. Nick never would talk about it or give me the details.
All I knew was that he’d met Iris and knocked her up months after my mother’s death. Ares was only sixteen months younger than me.
Three days before I turned four years old, Carina was born. Two months after I turned nine, Alvin was brought home from the hospital. Dennis was the last of Nick and Iris Talley’s children. I had been thirteen years old when Dennis was born.
Nick adored Carina. She was his princess. He claimed she was the prettiest girl in the world. I couldn’t even be jealous of her because I agreed. Her pale blonde hair and bright green eyes were angelic. She looked a lot like Nick.
Iris often said that she’d been fooled by his handsome face. The bitterness in her tone when she said it made it clear she wished she hadn’t fallen for Nick’s looks.
Had my mother felt the same way? It was something I often wondered, but would never know.
Alvin and Dennis soaked up any attention Nick threw their way and did everything they could to gain his approval. I just tried to keep out of his way, and Ares ignored him. To the three youngest Talley kids, Nick was Dad, even if he did little to earn that title.