Page 51 of My Lovely Tragedy
I yank on the door to the truck, arm nearly pulled from its socket when it doesn’t budge. I try to peer in through the window, but the shadows of the night make it nearly impossible to see.
Panic shoots up my throat in the form of a pathetic whimper as I whirl around, attempting the same on his car, coming up just as empty. I keep pulling at the handle, eyes scrunched shut in desperation.
Wood creaking jolts me out of my skin. I leap back, head spinning toward the deck. Tobias stands tall on the top step, hands buried in his coat pockets. The light illuminating from the porch surrounds him like a halo, every bit the fallen angel he appears to be.
How could I have been so wrong? I should’ve… I fucking knew.
But I let myself be fooled by kindness and protection.
By the promise of a reprieve from faking it for so long.
I let him… I let him see me. So impossibly bare and raw. My darkest insecurities taken into his hands.
And he took care of me… He didn’t shame me or berate me.
…it was all a lie.
“Fuck!” I scream, numb fingers yanking at my hair, tugging until my scalp blooms in agony, strands tangling around my digits.
“Brooklyn, please,” Tobias pleads in a soft but domineering tone that echoes out amongst the trees. I glance behind me, following the line of endless evergreens. To the darkness slipping between.
And even though Iknow,my brain still reaches toward him. Remembering his shelter.
“I… I don’t know what’s going on. I’m confused, Tobias. I don’t—I don’t like this.” Tears burn my eyes. I think they fall, but I can’t feel my face. Or my body.
My bones ache.
Am I bleeding?
“I know it’s confusing. But if you let me explain?—”
“You said I was going to run,” I remind him. “You knew this was going to happen. You—you knew I’d figure out you’re just some crazed fucking stalker!” My shouts reverberate, bouncing right back to me. And I wish I could see Tobias’s face.
He moves forward. I step back, nearly falling when my leg buckles.
“I’m not, and you know I am not. I have always given you the truth, and you cannot deny that.” His words piss me off, filling me with indignation because he’sright.His honesty was always palpable and crystal clear, but this doesn’t fucking make sense.
It had to have been a lie.
He holds his hands out in front of him like he’s approaching a wild animal, showing he’s not a threat. And normally, I’d be affronted, but right now, I feel fucking deranged.
“Please just give me a little more time with you—a month—and then you can leave,” he tries to bargain, voice hitched higher in a plea.
“Amonth?!” I screech, affronted. “You want to keep me as some fuckingcaptivefor a month!”
Another step, each of us dancing around the other.
Snow—so cold and brutal.
Darkness all around.
I glance behind me again, searching within the breaks in the trees. The drifts are piled high—even more so by the mounds of snow pushed higher from the plow.
Tobias’s hands never falter, though I do notice the slight twitch in his fingers. “I do not wish to keep you against your will, darling. But I will keep you here, regardless of your consent.”
“Of my consent,” I parrot, jaw hanging slack. I blink, once. Twice. Eyes stinging, burning. The lump in my throat is far too large to swallow down, so I’m forced to choke on it. “How could you be so different than I thought?” It comes out in a sob—against my will. So strong, it wracks my body. Shoulders shaking—although that could also be from the cold, my body’s physiological response.
“I’m not. I am exactly who I have always been. I have never hidden myself from you. And it was truly never my intention for it to come to this, but I’ve realized I have no desire to see you gone. Ican’t.Though, I do promise you, it will not be forever, and no harm will come to you.”
