Page 26 of Claiming Sarah

Little Brother. Another apparition of my mind. He hefts himself into the bed, crawling toward me and Sarah. I lieback down, my precious treasure tucked close. She resumes snoring.

Little Brother rests his head on a pillow near mine, and the two of us gaze up at the ceiling. Sliding a glance at him, I gape, noting the burns on his face disappeared.When and why did that happen?

“I like her,”he whispers, voice pitched low. Red and Blue are absent.

“What happened to your face?”I ask him, running my eyes over the rest of his small body, sporting a set of fire truck pajamas. He appears as the same age I was when they took my mother, but the flames that night never touched me. Or did they?

He returns my stare, shifting into a fetal position. His lips lack the scars mine have.

“It’s time to let me go,”he says, and I shake my head. Together, we ran through our mother’s house, playing tag, hiding in places we shouldn’t, and pulling pranks that drove our mother mad. Why would he leave me now?

His wise eyes land on Sarah, then shift back to me. I clutch her tighter, hating the understanding sprawling into my mind. An only child living in the creepy Daniels’ Manor with no friends, no playmates, and a mother who talked to apparitions of her own. Little Brother played with me, sharing secrets and nightmares, huddling close during storms.

But he’s as real as Red and Blue. I blink rapidly, tears collecting on my lashes, fingers digging into Sarah’s bare skin. Is this the price for her? Losing the only friends my mind could conjure up?

A small hand lands on my shoulder, and he gives me a sad smile before brushing a phantom kiss across Sarah’s hair. A blink and he’s gone. It’s just me and Sarah, as I promised it would be when I put my cock inside of her.

Silence presses in, all-encompassing and mocking. It is taunting, trying to tease out whispers. My mind remains eerily silent, a fresh grave waiting for a corpse to fall in. Sarah rests on my chest, sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the chaos lashing beneath my skin.

“It’s this house. The walls, the voices, all of it. Do you hear them, baby?” My mother kneels before me, clutching my shoulders in a bruising grip. Brown eyes bounce around in every direction, only occasionally locking on my eyes before flicking away like someone beyond me pulls her attention away. But we’re alone.

I rock to the left, rolling until Sarah lies beneath me, black hair spread out across the pillows, looking like spilled ink. Trailing a finger across a cheek, I lean to brush an airy kiss across her parted lips, face lax in slumber.

“I’ll be back,” I whisper, skin prickling, ghosts tugging at me, luring me back to Daniels’ Manor.

“I’ll finish what she started, then I’ll be back. Wait for me, little raven.” I brush errant strands off her forehead, heart twisting in my chest. Only my mother used to make it flip and somersault until Sarah pumped new life into my lifeless body. I cannot begin anew with my raven until I’ve burned the past to ashes and cinders, burying my misdeeds with them, mind flickering to the severed limbs in my fridge.

Little Brother has left me, but Red and Blue will return, along with the voices of the others.

Purge.That’s the term my mind locks on. I need to purge the illness from me, to be better for Sarah. Nodding to myself, I ease out of the bed, bending down to retrieve discarded clothing.

Making it to the door, I afford myself one final look at the temptress in the bed, tangled sheets wrapped around her lush form.

“I’ll be back,” I mouth again, turning my back on my redemption.

Once more, I’ll walk from the flames burning Daniels’ Manor, stepping into a new dawn with Sarah and the half-brothers she’ll introduce me to. I’ll accept nothing less.

21

DISAPPEARED

SARAH

Blinking open my eyes, my heart sinks at the empty bed cocooning my lax body. Sitting upright, I glance around my bedroom, devoid of Dayton’s tall, muscular frame. My tongue swipes across my lips furiously, mind swimming with possibilities.

He left?

Swinging myself out of bed, sheet clutched to my naked body, I pad to my bedroom door, pulling it open.

“Dayton!” I call down the hall, listening for a reply. Walking out of my bedroom, down the hall and stairs does nothing to erase the confusion swamping me. Dayton’s gone. My empty house mocks me, cream walls taunting me with their barrenness. Barren, like me.

Feeling numb, I sink to the bottom step of my stairs, staring at my feet. My face falls into my waiting hands, elbows digging into my thighs. The sheet pools around me, cool air kissing my skin.

I can’t believe he left. Without a word. Shoving my hair back, I’m fighting tears as I race back up the stairs, a smallkernel of hope burying itself into my chest. When my hands snatch up my phone, trembling fingers nearly misdial.

One ring. Two?—

“Hey, Mom. We’re nearly there. Are you okay? You sounded weird the other day,” Lauren says, picking up mid-ring. My eyes close, remembering our last call occurred before I let my guard down with Dayton, sharing my body and sliver of my heart with him.

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