Page 615 of Rage

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

He smiles. Not in the way someone does when they want to be friendly though...in the way that makes me regret saying what I did.

“In a nutshell...I escaped an asylum and now?—”

I laugh nervously, “Wait, wait, wait, wait...anasylum?”

“Does that scare you?”

Does it?

“I plead insanity when they found me on top of my sister's killer with my hands around his neck.” He waits for me to digest his words, studying my face.

“I’m listening.”

“He raped her, killed her, and kept going when she was dead. He had her in his house for fourteen days before the police found him. She was fifteen.”

A knot forms in the back of my throat, and I squeeze my eyes shut, bright lights flashing before me asstink breathshoves me into the wall.

“No! No! No!” I scream into the void.

“Hey...Hey!” Elias’ voice breaks through the flashback and the pain from my nails digging into my thighs makes me draw back.

“I... It’s...fuck.”

I can’t formulate a sentence, the shock and trauma taking over my body.

“It’s okay,” he kneels before me, his dark hair falling beautifully over his eyes. The jumpsuit now hanging from his hips, his arms covered with tattoos. “It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.”

“I’m so fuckingangry,” I admit.

It feels good to say it out loud. This is the most I’ve spoken to someone in weeks, and it seemsnormal.

“I just want myself back. I want to be the person I was before they did this to me!” My eye stings as the tears come.

“Hey. Look at me please,” he says in a soft voice.

When I do, the green in his eyes ground me as he speaks. “Don’t do that.” He’s careful not to touch me as he rests his hands beside my legs, looking up at me. “Don’t diminish who you are right now. You don’t deserve that. Not after what happened to you.”

“I want to kill them all.”

A slow smile spreads across his lips. “Don’t be afraid to want it. That’s the hardest part, I promise. Once you accept it, everything that follows tastes like a cool ice cream on a hot Sunday afternoon.”

I smile back, feeling a little part of mynewself starting to form.

Taking the last bite of my oat bar, I slide back onto the bed. “I’m sorry about your sister.”

He nods, acknowledging the small bond that’s starting to grow between us.

“This changes nothing. You’re sleeping on the floor.” I smile as I speak, watching him grab the thin blanket on top of the bed.

“I’ve slept on worse,Slasher, this isn’t my first rodeo but I’m excited to be a part of yours.”

Chapter Seven

Elias Cross

It’s been a month since Rue and I met on that fateful night, and I’ve somehow convinced her to come with me as I gather weapons. I’ve taken her with me to a few houses now where I’ve killed the cops involved in my sister's case and each time I return to the car we stole, covered in their blood, I see a new smile on her face. She couldn’t take her revenge in the state she was in and this way, I’ve been able to squeeze information out of the pathetic pigs before taking their last breaths.

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