Page 8 of Irreversible

I’m not even allowed one last touch, hug, or tragic goodbye before I’m yanked to my feet by the roots of my hair. A dark shadow materializes out of nowhere. A monster. My worst nightmare brought to life, dressed in black, like twilight and ashes, hauling me away from Jasper.

Scalp stinging and legs thrashing, I whip my hands out, desperate to latch on to him. Scratch him, bite him, smack him, kill him.

I want to kill him.

But I’m a mere one-hundred-and-fifteen pounds of heartache, and he’s a serpent. His arm snakes around me, twisting me toward him, until I’m staring up into two coal eyesthrough the holes of his ski mask as tufts of coarse red hair spill out at his shoulders.

I feel weightless in his grip, like I’m nothing at all. A twig about to be snapped in two. A tiny ant waiting to be crushed by someone’s boot.

My chest heaves with terror as tears crawl down my cheeks. My body resists him, flailing and kicking and fighting, but it’s futile.

I scream as loud as I can, hoping I’ll wake Jasper from the dead.

Then instinct takes over. I lunge at the firearm in his hand, fingers scraping for control.

Pain detonates across my cheek as the gun’s butt slams into my face, sending me sprawling. The floor meets me like concrete, knocking the breath from my lungs in awhoosh. Jasper’s blood seeps into my hair, warm and sticky, tethering me to a horror I can’t escape.

A shadow looms over me, crouching closer. Before I can react, a sharp sting pierces my neck.

No.

Sirens wail in the distance—hope, fleeting and faint—but the wooziness creeps in fast, clouding my mind, sapping my strength. My body slackens, limp and useless, as strong arms haul me off the floor.

He slings me over his shoulder, and I dangle like a ragdoll, helpless as he carries me from my home. From my beautiful, charmed life.

From Jasper.

It happens too fast. One moment, we were tangled in love, the world melting away as I imagined waking in his arms at dawn, the light catching his sleepy smile.

Now I’m jostled with each heavy step as the patio door slides open, and the cool night air steals what little warmth I have left.

As we vanish into the dark, my blurry eyes land on Jasper’s lifeless body—crumpled and still on the floor we’d once danced across. Tears burn down my cheeks, but my fight is gone, drained with every labored breath.

The only thing worse than dying is living another moment without him.

And the only thing worse than that…

Is what I fear will come next.

2

The text comes in at midnight from a number I’ve been ignoring for months.

Dickhead

Need to talk. Twenty-first and Delancy.

Me

Fuck off.

Dickhead

I have news.

Me

I don’t care.

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