Page 4 of Forever We Fall

If I’d seen him before, I’d remember.

His isn’t a face I’ll forget.

I’m about to burst at the goddamn seams and take the world with me. How is everyone so fucking blind?

Wake up!

Look around!

I need fucking help!

No one notices.

Not the driver on the way over, not the useless secretary, not the stupid attendance clerk, or the shit-for-brains headmaster has noticed the all-out panic barely shuddered behind my resolute chin.

It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.

I lie to myself. I’ve been doing it for a while now. Only today, if I can hold on to my shit, it just might be okay. Not okay okay, but better. A little better. I told myself that last month when we looked at another boarding school down the way. I told myself that two weeks ago when we drove to another.

He didn’t even let me out of the car there.

He. My hell. My uncle. My end. Geoff Parry.

On that trip, the headmaster took one look at my busted eye and frantically darting gaze, looked point-blank at my uncle, and asked how I’d come by that black eye. The bastard hadn’t bothered to answer. He simply crammed himself back into the narrow seat and ordered the driver to bring us home.

Home. Ha! More like a prison torture camp.

I follow these morons as the head dumbass prattles on about the school’s academic achievements as if my tormentor cares. No, the only thing he cares about, more than exerting his power over me, is making certain he gets the money. My money. I’ve told him time and again that he can have it all. I don’t want a dime. Not even two nickels to rub together.

I just want my freedom.

He’s promised to give it to me in the form of my death and no other way.

This boarding school. Any boarding school isn’t freedom. It’s a new prison. Where I doubt the guards will be much more sympathetic. But maybe, just maybe, they won’t be as big, and I can handle them.

We arrive at the main office. I fully expect my tormentor to drop this guy, grab me by the arm, and drag me back to the car. When he follows the headmaster in, I cannot believe it. I move in a fog with only Geoff in my line of sight.

He orders me to sit. So I do so as inconspicuously as I can. My fucking side is on fire. I’m pretty sure he cracked a rib. The fuckhead stalks into the headmaster’s office and closes the door like it’s his own.

That dog exited the chat the first chance he got. It’s the only smart one around here.

I ease back into the seat just a little. It’s hard and unforgiving, but less so than my fucking uncle. I set my bag at my feet.

The useless secretary is on the phone. I think about stealing it and calling someone, but there is no one to call. That’s the whole reason I’m here to begin with.

A sorrow that I haven’t felt in a long time grabs my broken heart and threatens to rip it out of my chest. I avert my eyes back to the door.

He’s running out of time. My parents’ will was shit for protecting me or their money. I don’t blame them. At least, I try not to. They hadn’t planned to leave me completely alone. One clause might save me, though. I have to be enrolled in grade school, then college. A small portion of their fortune has been set aside, earmarked in a trust for my education and my education alone.

“Are you okay?”

The voice is quiet. So quiet that I think I’m finally going insane. I let my gaze slip from the door to assess my surroundings.

My breath stops cold. My heart just fucking stops.

I think it’s okay. Finally, an angel has come to take me away from all this bullshit. Finally, I’ll be with my family. Finally, I’ll be away from this hell.

As much as I want to look at him, to map his features so I’ll have some friendly and caring visage in recent memory to cling to, I can’t. Too much is at stake. I steady my gaze on the door.

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