Page 127 of Give Me Love

“Where’s my brother?” I say, trying to move.

“Careful. There’s glass everywhere.”

I don’t care about the glass. I crawl out and stand, but I’m wobbly as I turn around. My mind spins, and I look down.

Dad.

His body is limp, and half is out of the car. His arm is in an awkward position, but he starts to move, frightening me.

“Don’t be like me,” he says, looking up at me. His eyes are bloodshot, and his legs are bent and mangled. He starts to crawl, and I stumble backwards.

“Don’t let her make you fall,” he says, reaching his hands out. I feel something cold running down the back of my neck. The forest turns black, and everyone disappears but him.

“No!” I scream. “Stop. You’re dead. You’re not real.”

“Bryce.”

I get snatched backwards, and my father fades from my vision. Where’s Jace?

“Bryce, wake up.”

I’m shaken, and my eyes open. I look around

frantically.

“Where’s Jace?” I ask.

“He isn’t here,” a woman says.

Wait, a woman?

I look to my right.

Kathrine.

“You were having a nightmare. Are you okay?”

I throw the covers off me and run a hand over my head and down my face, trying to wrap my mind around my dream. But it wasn’t a dream.

It was a memory.

A heartbreaking memory.

Sweat glides down my back as I move, my feet touching the floor.

“Bryce?” K says.

“I need some air. Go back to sleep.”

I head out and down the hall to the stairs. Mom startles me when I walk past her room. “I heard you yell,” she says. “Are you okay?”

She’s the reason for this. She’s the reason I have these damn nightmares.

“Fine,” I reply, deadpan. I head for the stairs.

“You’re clearly not fine,” she says, following me.

“Get back up there,” I say, stopping and pointing.

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