Page 163 of Meet Me in the Valley
“Being here is too much for me, Tia. I can’t— It’s … it’s fucking tearing me apart.”
“Being back in Oakwood Valley? I thought we were past this. I thought?—”
“No, Tia,” she cuts in, pulling away from my reach like she can’t get away from me fast enough. Her arms fold around herself as if holding her own pieces together.
“It’s not the town,” she whispers, voice barely holding steady. “It’s beinghere.” Nora gives me her back, staring at the front of the house.
“I knew you were acting weird as soon as we got here. What is it? What are you not telling me?”
My heart slams against my ribcage so hard it makes my vision blur. Every breath feels thick, like I’m inhaling through molasses, trying to stay grounded as the silence stretches between us.
Finally, Nora slowly turns to face me, as if the weight she’s been carrying is chained to her very bones.
“I can’t be here,” Nora whispers, her voice and hands trembling as she points to the King Estate behind her. “Because … b-because …”
A pause. A bated breath. A detonation to life as we know it.
“B-because Cali’s dad … is one of them.”
