Page 39 of Borden 3

He shook his head. “No, Doll, there is a big difference. Giving in means you lose to me.”

“And giving up is somehow winning?”

“Giving up means relinquishing yourself to me––trusting me.” Now he dropped his hand, frustrated. “Like I did with you.”

“Borden—”

“But have your space, Doll. For now. This conversation isn’t over, though. I will find out about him. With or without your help.”

I didn’t say it, but I shook my head. He wouldn’t find out about him.

That man was a ghost, and he was back to haunt me.

Chapter Fifteen

Emma

Past

“Boo.”

I whipped my eyes open at hearing his voice, a smile already tugging at my lips as the familiar figure loomed over me. My eyes quickly darted to the door of my bedroom. It was still shut, but it wasn’t locked.

“Theo,” I whispered in warning. “Granny gets up all the time to check in on me.”

“She’s dead asleep, Emma. She’s not getting up anytime soon. Get up.”

I slipped out of bed, taking quiet steps around my room. I made Theo turn around so I could change out of my pj’s. I wore my ripped jeans and grey crop top. I grabbed a loose zip-up and threw it over me. I tapped Theo on the shoulder, and he turned around, watching as I gathered my hair into a ponytail.

“Leave it down,” he said. “I like it when it’s down.”

Ignoring him, I tied it up high and he chuckled, shaking his head. “You purposely try not to please me, don’t you?”

That wasn’t true at all. A part of me wanted to please him. To look as appealing to him as possible, but…another part of me resisted that idea. Theo was my world lately, but he didn’t cure my defiance.

We tip-toed out of the bedroom. Granny’s door was wide open as we passed. The room was dark. She was on her side, her back facing me, breathing deeply. My heart stuttered. If she opened her eyes and caught me now, I could handle the punishment, but the wretched heartbreak in her gaze was hard to stomach these days.

She didn’t give me hassle as long as I returned home early, but most of my world woke up in the dead of night, and she was profusely against this. I had to sneak out and hope she was still asleep when I returned because when she wasn’t…

My key hung around my neck. Another thing she had made for me, hoping I would never get it lost if it was hanging off me. I opened the front door and we stepped out. I removed the key, quickly locking it, and then threw it back over my head.

Then we bolted.

Sprinting down the block, him hot on my heels, me laughing into the night. It was a pointless race. Theo was faster, but he humoured me, pretending to give me chase. I loved the feeling of being pursued. My heart climbed up my throat. Adrenaline surged through me. Fear swamped me for that brief moment before his arms wrapped around mine and picked my flailing form in the air.

Panting, he whispered in my ear, “Can’t run from me, Nightcrawler. I’ll always chase you down.”

I smiled widely.

I lived for the chase.

???

It was a kaleidoscope of colour in the poor district of New Raven. Bottles cracked open, alcohol passed along from one kid to the next. There were others like Theo and me. Kids that were hurting. Kids that felt lost. Kids living with a void in their hearts because a piece of their soul had been scooped out of them. Something happens to a kid like that. Something that runs deep and cold, and the only warmth was rattling the cages we were trapped in. Pushing the invisible boundaries of a world full of rules.

Those rules never aided us.

Those rules only served to keep us isolated.

---