Page 9 of Fractured

---

My mom listened and then tears hit her eyes, “No... that’s not tr....”

She stopped. Because I knew that she just realized it was true.

My dad sighed, “What else, Honeybun?”

“You got them all new shoes for school and didn’t bother getting me any. So, when my toes were cramping, I went to Mrs. Davis. She took me.”

My dad sighed, “What else?”

This part, I didn’t want to say it.

My dad got a caring but stern tone and asked, “What else, Talia?”

I sighed, “You left me at Gushers. More than once. And a few other places.”

That night, as I curled up in my bed, looking at the string of pearls, I could hear my parents.

Mom was crying, and Dad was talking to her.

My brothers had come in then and walked over to my bed, then they moved so they were all sitting at the end of it, and they apologized.

They hadn’t realized any of it.

And I knew they felt bad about the trip. None of them had remembered my birthday either.

Dominik

I stared at the rings she had left me.

“Give them to the woman who is able to heal your soul and mend your heart. I know that she will adore them and treasure them.”

I wouldn’t know what she had meant until years later.

Almost eighteen of them, to be exact.

‘I don’t trip. I do random gravity checks.’

– Talia’s Secret Thoughts.

Chapter 1

Talia

I was sitting on my couch painting my toenails, and at the same time, I was talking to Harlee.

“Granger! Don’t hit your brother.” Harlee snapped, and I snorted.

Then to me she said, “It’s not funny.”

I snickered, “I know who they got that from.”

Her immediate response was, “Yeah, my husband.”

I snorted, “Nope. You. Who was it that threw a wrench at Dominik’s head?”

She was silent.

Uh huh.

---