Page 48 of The Imaginary Friend's Obsession

The radio’s song goes garbled. The lights flicker above us.

“No.No!No,” the radio says, each one a different voice, a different volume.

“If you didn’t do it, just tell me,” I plead. “Then we can go home, Dorian. We can be together. Isn’t that what you want?”

He retreats from me, fingers dragging down the sides of his mask hard enough that I can hear the awful scrape of it.

“What are you afraid of me remembering?” I ask, stepping closer to him. “There is nothing you could’ve done that would make me hate you. You’re my best friend. My lover. My other half. Even if you did something awful, I know it was just to protect me. It’s okay. Even if it wasmewho did it, please just tell me, Ipromiseit’ll be all right.”

He looks up at me, his eyes haunted behind the mask. His mouth moves, and a moment later sound comes through the radio—his voice, whispering.

“Anything,” he says. “I’d. Do. Anything. For you, Daisy.”

“I know,” I say with a sad smile. “So tell me the truth.”

He takes a step closer to me. I stay very still, afraid to scare him off, as he slowly approaches.

“But you—” His voice in the radio gets louder, clearer, the closer he comes. “Betrayed me.”

I jerk back. “What? No, I—”

“Turned me in to—” The radio switches to a mechanical voice, like an old recording. “Melsbach Research Facility.”

“No,” I croak. I can’t remember, but I wouldn’t have done that. I couldn’t have. I refuse to believe it.

The radio goes back to Dorian’s voice. “Abandoned me.”

I step toward him despite my heart pounding in my ears. “But I came back! I was confused, I was scared, but I’m here now. I’m here for you, and I won’t leave you again—”

“After I—” He steps closer too, until we are mere inches apart. “Killed. For you.”

My heart drops. “What?”

“Killed. Your. Parents.” His voice through the radio is clearer than it’s ever been, but I can’t seem to understand through the numbness. “For.You.”

“No,” I say. “No, no, no, that can’t be right…”

“You did this to me.”

And suddenly his hands are around my neck, squeezing.

This isn’t like the empty threat the last time I was here. He lifts me off the ground, grip cutting off my air entirely. His thumbs dig in until I gag. I struggle against him, choking and gasping for oxygen that won’t come.

The door flies open behind me. My eyes dart toward it as my legs kick uselessly in the air. Ezra is there, striding toward us.

“That’s enough,” he says. “Get away from her, Dorian.”

He flicks a handful of something at Dorian—salt—and Dorian flickers out of view.

I fall to my knees on the floor, gasping.

Dorian reappears, standing over me. He lets out a low animal snarl from behind his mask; the radio screeches and the lights flicker above us.

Even when Dorian had his hands on me, a part of me didn’t believe he would truly hurt me. But Ezra…yes, I believe he would hurt Ezra.

“You,” Dorian snarls through the radio.

He lunges toward Ezra, and I jut out a hand. “Stop,” I shout, and the entire room seems to vibrate with the echo of my word. My emotions are a torrent, fear and regret and pain. I reach for my powers and they surge through me in answer.

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