Page 23 of The Aftermath

I close my eyes and let everything from the past hit me at once. Him. Her. The way it all felt. How I felt. The smells. The cries. The pain. The betrayal.

It all becomes too much. I scream because I know no one can hear me. Then I press the tip of the dirty bottle into my wrist and cut. Could it all be this simple? Could it all go away like this?

I scream louder this time and open my eyes, looking down at the blood running down my arm, mixing with the rain, and I’m mesmerized.

The red swims with clear raindrops and washes away as they hit the ground beneath me. I sit still, watching it like a crazed woman, and maybe that’s what I am. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’m insane.

I keep crying even when I have no more tears to cry. Nothing is streaming down my cheeks anymore. I sob silently.

I switch the bottle to my other hand and press it to my wrist. In a way, I feel numb. Numb from all the crying, numb from all the years of having to remember those things and relive them in my dreams. Numb from no one caring and just moving on with life as if nothing ever happened. It hurts. I’ve never felt pain like this in my life.

Not even as I drag the broken bottle down my other arm. Not even as I watch the blood rush from the wound I’ve made.

All I feel is … hurt.

Chapter 13

Silas

I’m angry. I’m pissed off. I couldn’t stand to be in my house for a minute longer than I needed, so now I’m at Rylan’s place. We’re in the basement, hanging out and laughing. I need a fucking laugh. I need a minute to breathe before I continue with what I need to do.

Ry’s phone rings, and he answers it quickly while I play some shooting game on his TV. I’m not really into this shit, but there isn’t anything else to do. I don’t listen to his conversation because it’s none of my business. That is until I hear him talk to me.

“Angel’s gone. You heard from her?” he asks. I glance over to see he’s talking to me, but I shake my head. I haven’t heard from her at all today.

“Not since yesterday.”

“Her mom called Syn and said she ran out after a fight,” he informs me.

“Probably on her way to Syn’s house.”

“No. That was a few hours ago. Syn’s worried. She wants us to go look for her,” he adds. I shrug before shoving off the couch.

“We don’t have anything else to do anyway,” I tell him. He stands, and I follow him out of the basement and out the front door. We climb into my car, since it’s behind his, and take off. I don’t know where the fuck to look for her. So we just drive.

“Where do you think she went?” I ask as we watch out the windows. It’s raining pretty good right now, so I assume she isn’t out walking.

“I don’t know. She only talks to Syn,” Rylan adds. He’s right. So where the fuck did she go if not to Syn’s? It seems like hours when it’s only about twenty minutes when my phone rings. I answer on Bluetooth so that it picks up on my car radio.

“Hey,” I greet, seeing it’s Levi.

“You might want to come over to the cemetery,” he says. I glance over at Ry, and we laugh.

“What the fuck for? We having a midnight funeral?” I joke with him.

“If she keeps bleeding, we might be.” That hits me in the chest. It’s her. I know it’s her but Angel wouldn’t do that. If she’s bleeding, someone hurt her.

“Angel,” I whisper her name, but he hears me. Tires skid on the pavement as I whip the car to the right and take off down the road.

“She doesn’t look good, Silas. Want me to call nine one one?”

“No,” Rylan barks. He hates cops and paramedics. “How the hell did you find her anyway?”

“John was out here cleaning the graveyard and found her. He called me,” Levi tells us. My knuckles are white as I grip the wheel in my hands. I know I’m speeding, and I don’t care. I know I could get pulled over by the cops but fuck them. I don’t give a shit about them right now. I need to get to her.

I don’t listen to the rest of the conversation between Levi and Ry. I just drive. She’s going to pay for this. She shouldn’t be out this late on her own. Anger rises inside of me as I take the next left and pull into the parking lot. I’m out of the car with Rylan right behind me, stomping through the fucking graveyard. I hear Levi’s voice, and that’s where I go. When we’re close enough, I stop. She’s resting against a fucking headstone of an angel. I share a look with Rylan before moving toward her.

“She seems to have passed out,” Levi tells me. I don’t care. I bend down and scoop her into my arms, carrying her lifeless body back to the car with the two of them right behind me. I thank John for calling before we all climb back in.

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