Page 28 of Dare To Live

I shake my head. “Please stop talking.”

Sometimes I wonder if I can really hear him or whether I’m just insane. I don’t think I’m crazy, but like Arabella threw out earlier—I live alone in the woods with the voices in my head. But if I know the voices aren’t real, surely that means I’m not crazy … right?

I drop down onto the couch and reach for my sketchbook.

What does it fucking matter, anyway? In a couple of days, she’ll be gone and it’ll go back to being just me and the voices.

I flip open my sketchbook and pick up one of the many pencils scattered around. An image of Arabella stares up at me. A moment captured in time. She’s staring directly at a person out of range of the image, her eyes locked onto whatever they’re doing. Her lips are parted, and a hint of her tongue can be seen as it’s creeping out to wet her lips.

I laugh quietly. If she ever saw these … the piles of sketchbooks full of drawings of her, she’d probably accuse me of stalking her. Of being sick and obsessed.

Maybe I am.

Maybe that’s why I’m out here, living alone in the woods. To stop me from following her halfway across the country and watching from the outskirts while she lives the life she planned.

Does she have a boyfriend out in the world? Is that why she’s so angry about being here?

My head lifts, gaze shifting to the hallway.

Or is she angry because I didn’t fall at her feet?

I’m outside her bedroom door before I really consider what I’m doing, with my hand raised and ready to knock.

What the fuck are you doing? Kellan demands from somewhere inside my head.

I ignore him and rap on the door.

“Go away.”

I ignore her as well and turn the handle. The door swings open, revealing Arabella sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed. She lifts her head and glares at me.

“Last I checked go away wasn’t code for come on in.”

“Last I checked the deed for this house is in my name and not yours. You’re an unwanted guest. Why the fuck are you here?”

“Has being out here addled your brains? I told you. Mom was worried and asked me to check on you.”

“You think this is the first time I’ve been sick in the last ten years?”

“Never said that.”

“Okay, do you think this is the first time I’ve been sick while I’ve lived here?”

“Never said that either.”

“Then why the fuck is this time different from all the other times I’ve been ill? Why are you fucking here, Arabella?”

Chapter 17

Arabella

I roll my eyes. “This is the first-time Mom mentioned you’ve ever been sick. It’s the holidays, and I didn’t like the thought of you being out here all alone.”

Eli moves further into the room. “I’ve been out here for years just fine.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“What do you mean you didn’t know that? Hasn’t it been fucking obvious every time you’ve gone to the house?”

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