Page 1 of Falling Too Late

PROLOGUE

WREN

Even after everythingthey did to me, I never wanted to die.??

I never wished for death. I only wanted the pain to stop.??

But I knew they would never stop; she would never love me again.??

I was no longer her daughter, and she wasn’t my mother.??

We were too far gone.?

But even though I never wanted to die, even though it was never my idea, I tried anyway.??

Unfortunately, drowning was not an option. I couldn’t just allow myself to sink to the bottom.?

I always knew how to swim.

CHAPTER 1

WREN, 11 YEARS OLD

“It’s all your fault.It’s all your fault!”??

Mom flipped the coffee table and its glass top shattered everywhere. I was on the floor hiding between the side of the couch and the wall. I wasn’t really hiding; she knew I was there. That’s why she chose the living room to destroy.??

She ripped photo frames off the wall and tossed them into the pile of broken glass. Then she pulled a picture out of the last remaining frame and ripped it into tiny pieces.??

It was the last picture we had of dad. She’d destroyed the rest.??

It’s my fault he’s dead.

“Get out here. Right.Now.” Mom’s voice was quieter now.

Slowly, I crawled out of my spot and stood, keeping my head down. She didn’t like it when I looked at her. She said I had Daddy’s eyes, and I didn’t deserve them because I’m the one who killed him.?So I kept my eyes to the floor, willing myself to shrink into nothing.

“You are pathetic. You are worthless.” She said the words slowly. Quietly. “Everything wrong in this world is your fault. You are the reason we live like this. You are the reason he’s dead.”??

I heard the slap before I felt it. It was slow to hurt. I bit my lip, trying to get it to stop shaking. I balled my hands in my shirt to keep from touching my cheek, to soothe the pain.

“Mrs. Jacobson, open up!” Three loud bangs hit the front door, causing us both to jump.

“Shit.”

She jerked me by my hand, pulling me to the door with her. Suddenly, she was mom again. Her voice was high-pitched. She opened the door.?

“Hello, Mr. Lloyd,” she said in a sickly sweet tone.?

“Mrs. Jacobson, I’m getting complaints about you again.”??

Mr. Lloyd looked to be my dad’s age, with greasy dark hair and a round belly. He had a newspaper rolled up in his hand, and he was using it to point at my mom. I could tell she didn’t like it because her nails bit into the skin of my hand. He craned his neck to see around her inside the apartment.??

“Lynn, your downstairs neighbor said they heard a loud crashing sound. What’s going on in here?”? He wiped a hand across his sweaty forehead.

“Oh yes, I’m so sorry. You see, my daughter was running around like a crazy kid.” She dropped her voice into a harsh whisper. “She got into some sugar, and you know kids and sugar these days.” She waved a hand absently. “Anyway, she tripped and fell onto our glass coffee table and broke the glass top. Lucky for her, it’s that tempered glass, so she didn’t get all cut up,” she explained, as if that was the silver lining.

I covered my eyes with my free hand, trying to stop the tears. She always had some lie ready on the tip of her tongue.

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