Page 55 of At the Edge of Surrender

EMERY

Darkness reigned in the room.

Thick, soggy, and disorienting.

I stared blankly at the nothingness of the ceiling, barely able to make out its form in the night. Exhaustion weighed me down, my back pinned to the mattress, but it didn’t matter how tired I was, how hard I squeezed my eyes closed and begged for sleep, it wouldn’t come.

My mother’s soft snores echoed in the room, and Maci’s sweet breaths were panting into my arm where she lay at my side, snuggled up with her blanket and doll.

Locks of her hair tickled my skin where it was splayed wildly around her.

She’d decided she wanted to sleep with me tonight.

Every night, she’d said with her adorable, gut-wrenching grin.

Now, I lay there listening to the rhythm of their sleep.

I willed myself to follow it, but I couldn’t find the respite I was aching for.

Blowing out a hushed sigh, I carefully slipped out from beneath the covers, unplugged my phone from the charger where it sat on the nightstand, then crept out into the living area of oursuite.

The window that overlooked Culberry Street was wide open, the drapes pushed all the way back to the sleeping town below.

I went to the mini-fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, undid the cap, and guzzled half of it down, hoping it might stand to cool this raging inferno inside me.

No such luck.

We were scheduled to be in Moonlit Ridge until Monday, day after tomorrow. I’d had the urge to pack our things and run the second I’d gotten back from the altercation with Kane earlier this afternoon, but somehow, I’d managed to keep my cool and spend the afternoon playing with Maci as if nothing had happened.

But I’d been wrought with anxiety the entire day.

The same way as I was then.

I paced in it, wandering the room, as if it could assuage the turbulence.

Seeking a distraction, I thumbed into my phone.

I frowned when I noticed I had a text notification. One that hadn’t been there when I’d attempted to go to sleep at eleven.

I swiped into my messages, and the twines of that complexity only tightened further when I saw it.

Winding.

Constricting.

Confounding and terrifying.

It was from two hours ago. At about twelve-thirty.

Unknown

I want to meet her.

Dread sank to the pit of my stomach, and a cold sweat broke out on my skin. My head began to whir, spinning through the muddle that instantly dragged me into a pit of despair.

I replied with the first thing that rose to the surface.

Me

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