Page 61 of Watercolor Skulls

“No, I just need to go home,” I hiccup.

“Not happening, sweetheart.” Dan scoops me up in one swift motion and carries me inside. It’s alarming he can carry me like I weigh nothing more than a feather. I hide my face in his neck, so I don’t have to see their faces. They must think I’m crazy.

I am. I am crazy. I cry and cry and cry until he dumps me on his bed.

Scurrying to the headboard I curl myself up in a little ball.

I tap on the wood of his headboard with my finger as I listen to the voices murmuring in the hallway. None of what they say makes it clearly to my ears.

If I can get Dan to take me home then I can pack and be on the road by dark.

Why would she have led me here? Why?

The door clicks shut quietly. The bed dips with his weight. He doesn’t say anything.

I wipe furiously at my eyes, angry that I let myself fall apart in front of everyone. Every fucking one.

“I’ll always be your sun, Lily,” Dan says, breaking the silence.

“Please take me home, Dan,” I plead.

“Is this about your dad?”

My head falls against the headboard. “Dan, please.”

“Did he hurt you?” he asks, deadly calm.

“He didn’t hurt me!” I yell, jumping from the bed. “Don’t you see? He hurt them. He hurt them and I didn’t’ do anything to help.”

I grip my hair tightly. Wanting it to hurt. Needing it to hurt.

“He hurther,” I scream, falling to the floor. The pain is too much. Too much.

Dan sits down on the floor, leaning his back against the bed. He pulls me onto his lap. I try to push away but his tree trunk sized arms lock me down tight, my back pressed against his chest. He speaks gently into my ear, “I’m not going anywhere, Lily. We are going to get through whatever this is together.”

“He hurt her.” I moan. There is nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Dan is forcing me to succumb to the pain. It’s almost unbearable.

A knock on the door makes my heart stop. It’s him. I know it’s him.

“It’s not locked,” Dan hollers over his shoulder.

The door creaks open and soft footsteps come to a stop beside us. Raffe lowers himself to the floor in front of me. He doesn’t say anything right away, he just looks at me as I try to reign in my emotions.

“Do you know Jenny?” he asks after I’ve settled down.

I don’t answer. My heart is being torn to shreds as I think about losing these people, this place. But I can’t lie. I’m a terrible liar. Jenny always said so.

Before I can speak, Dan answers Raffe’s question. “Jenny is her aunt.”

Raffe glances from Dan back to me. His brows furrow in confusion. His pain is raw and visible as he reconciles with the fact that his Jenny and mine are not the same person.

But they are.

Oh god they are.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jenny ~ 9 years earlier

---