Page 8 of Time to Bounce

I looked over at her and saw the scar on her forehead.

With that scar came her new recluse nature.

Honestly, I was surprised to see her out of the house.

She didn’t leave it much.

Just went to show how much she loved Gavrel.

I loved him, too.

He was hard not to love.

Me, however, I didn’t get the same kind of treatment.

I felt like my mother blamed me for my dad’s death.

I’d been there the night Mary Beth had been taken. In my mother’s eyes, I was the reason for her life changing for the worse. I was a constant reminder that she’d lost my sister, yet I still remained.

They slowly started to lower the coffin into the ground, and my breath hitched.

Alone.

I was so alone now.

“I want you to stop looking.”

I glanced over at my mother. “What?”

“Stop looking for your sister,” she whispered. “You’re the reason he was there. You had a hunch, so Gavrel went, like he always did.”

I felt her words like a slap to the face.

“He was at work, Mother.” I looked at her.

Was she really that out of touch with reality?

“The only reason he got a job there was because of you,” she accused. “He wouldn’t have come home if you hadn’t asked him to help you look for her.”

I didn’t know what to say.

I mean, my brother had come home because he was too highly ranked to be a field soldier.

He didn’t like the work anymore.

Was she really saying this?

“I don’t want you to look anymore.” She turned to fully face me. “If you keep doing it, I don’t want anything to do with you anymore.”

I couldn’t stop the betrayal from showing on my face. “That’s really what you want?”

My mom twisted away, giving me her shoulder. “I’ve wanted it for a long time. You were just too stupid to see it.”

He’s a ten, but he’s literally just words on paper.

—Athena’s secret thoughts

ATHENA

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