Page 46 of Body Tox

I sat inside the pantry, watching my mother’s blood leak underneath the door, and listened to my father’s anguished cries.

“Not her. Not my Arabella. Not her.”

I did drown that night. I was never the same. Watching my mother be brutally violated and murdered killed me, too.

I had sat in that closet, frozen for the entire night.

Only the staff member found me the following morning. There was a funeral service, and my father’s company had set it up for my mother and me. My father told me it was best to keep me a secret from the world so I would be safe.

But now I knew.

My father kept me a prisoner all this time because I was supposed to die that night.

Based on his orders.

“I’m correcting the wrong that happened all that time ago. I’m sorry, child. Goodbye, Eira.”

I didn’t turn my back, not once.

I stomached my father’s scream as his gun exploded in his hand. The heat of the fast-growing fire spread, consuming the room. As I exited, the guard looked right through me like I didn’t exist, running past me to extinguish the flames.

I slowly moved down the hallway, my jewelry box in hand. The multitude of screaming staff members running past me ignored me, trying to get to safety from the burning rooms.

I kept going down the staircase, the sound of more rooms succumbing to the heart of the fire. The heat was making me sweat. Even the door was hot to the touch as I left the fabricated home I was raised in. I barricaded the exit, listening to the staff inside.

The staff had blinded themselves to the abuse I’d endured, so they deserved to be locked in there, too.

Putting my hand to the door as the sounds quieted, I said, “Goodbye…Eira.”

As I walked away, the lights from the neighboring homes turned on, and the sirens in the distance sounded. On the hill, I felt the vibrations of the concert of explosions. The night sky lit up with the flames. I was prepared to walk away. He made this decision and would now live eternally in the fire he started.

Aseries of sirens wailed outside. It was from a distance, but if I had to guess, every fire station for miles was on the scene. Not long after, Echo was back, moving around inside the attic. Her hair was nearly black, and soot was coating her clothes.

So, there was obviously a fire happening somewhere.

The robes were gone, but I wasn’t sure how long I’d been unconscious. But everything in my gut told me she started that fire.

“Welcome back, little pyro,” I said.

She wouldn’t meet my eyes. Instead, she shocked me by hopping up on the stone slab I was on and curling up in myarms. I blinked, unable to comprehend exactly what the fuck was going on.

I couldn’t see her ash-covered face, but I felt the coolness of her tears drip onto my chest.

This woman who tortured me, pleasured me, and tried to kill me…was crying?

Not really thinking, I yanked my arms down. The weight and pain of my wrists screamed at me. My muscles ached while cradling her cold form and contemplating my whole damn life. This tornado of a woman had flipped my world upside down.

“Wanna talk about it?” I said, rubbing the black from her hair.

She was silent, and the only sounds were her quiet sniffling and her tears running off my chest onto the stone bed.

“No.” It was all she said and curled deeper into my side.

Pausing my thoughts, I calculated the timing between the siren sounds and when I heard them. It was near her house. So, her father met the fiery end he deserved.

“I’m sorry, my Little Wraith,” I said.

“Me too,” she whispered so softly I wasn’t one hundred percent sure she’d spoken.

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