Page 55 of Dare To Fall

I stuff my phone back into the pocket of my hoodie and clutch the key tightly in my palm. Hurrying out of my room, I take the stairs down to the senior boys’ floor. I have to wait in the stairwell for the hallway to empty of the few students entering rooms. The second they’re gone, I dash along to Eli’s room. It takes a couple of seconds to get the door open because I’m shaking so much. I make it inside just as a door opens somewhere to my left.

Heart beating rapidly, I press my back against the wood and listen to the sounds on the other side. Minutes slip by, and no one comes to demand why I’m in Eli’s room. I relax a fraction and take a look around. Kellan’s side is neat, while Eli’s is a chaotic mess.

I cross to his desk and trail my fingertips over the hoodie hanging on the back of his chair. I’ve seen him wearing it so many times. It must be his favorite.

My attention lands on the pile of sketchbooks. Picking up the top one, I flick through the pages. There are ones of Kellan in different poses, and some of a girl I now know is Zoey. The next book is filled with images of the tomb and chapel, the vibe moody and dark. In the third, I find doodles, half-finished pictures as though his mind had moved on elsewhere and he’s lost concentration. When I pick up the final book, my breath hitches.

Jace, Brad, Garrett, and the other jocks are on the floor, limbs broken, and bloody faces twisted in anguish. The next page shows Lacy, Tina, Maggie, and Linda tied to wood stakes, flames licking upward to consume them as they scream. The violence in the drawings leaves me disturbed and uncomfortable. Dark drawings fill the pages, each one more violent than the next.

My heart stops when I see my face staring back at me from one of them. Blonde hair spilling down my naked shoulders, I’m on a cross covered in blood. The malice behind it is clear.

Does he loathe me that much? Want to see me in that much pain?

My phone pings.

I drop the sketchbook in panic and pull out my cell.

Unknown number: Destroy his drawings. We want a photograph of proof when you are done. Remember to keep one.

The thought of destroying Eli’s artwork leaves me with mixed emotions. He’s spent hours pouring himself into them, but at the same time, the darkness I see in the last set leaves me agitated and troubled.

They want one of the violent drawings, and the book is full of them. Ripping out the one of me, I fold it in half and tuck it in my hoodie pocket, then grit my teeth.

Eli is an asshole.

I rip the first drawing in half.

Eli is an asshole, and I hope seeing his precious art destroyed hurts him the way he’s hurt me.

I go to town on the rest of the sketches, tearing them into fragments.

The only book I leave untouched is the one of Kellan and Zoey. I carry that one to his dresser and tuck it underneath his t-shirts.

Once I’m done, I take a photo of the mess I’ve made, and send it off to my blackmailer.

Chapter 35

Eli

“It’s someone in here.” Kellan’s voice is low as he hands me the cell to read the texts.

I sweep my gaze over them, tensing when I read the command to destroy my art.

Will she look through it all?

I try to remember whether I’ve left all my sketchbooks out. I don’t think I have. I usually have four or five on the go at any given time, one for each mood, and another full of sketches of Kellan and—

I stand abruptly.

“Where are you going? Sit the fuck down.”

“My sketches of Zoey are on the dresser.”

Kellan’s eyes close briefly and he sucks in a breath before he opens them again and looks at me.

“We can’t stop her, Eli.” His voice is soft. “She has to do this.”

I sit back down, and the air between us is tense while we wait for her to say she’s done. Ten minutes pass, fifteen … and then the cell chimes. My eyes jerk down to it, then up to Kellan.

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