Page 135 of Running from Drac
“Then let him die! He deserves it after what he did to my sister and best friend. This world would be better off without him in it.”
“You need to calm down. I know you’re upset, but I will arrest you if you continue threatening him the way you are.”
“Threatening? You haven’t even seen threatening yet!” she rages, leaping from the chair as she stalks across the room in an angry huff.
Is it possible to hear your own heartbeat? Because that’s what I hear, a thunderous pounding that speeds and slowswith every frantic breath. My vision dots with white spots before the room starts spinning. But all of this is nothing compared to the visions that flash before me… Amber running away… Pippa’s villainous laughter… her screams before she fell… the way she looked splattered across the jagged rocks below. It’s all hitting me at once, suffocating me, getting closer and closer like the walls are starting to get tighter and squeeze.
“Breathe, Eddie,” Cipher coaches. “Take a long deep breath and let it out slowly.”
Something crashes to my left, and I see Poppy throwing things to the ground. The little ceramic dish I made Amber our senior year, a picture of all of us at an amusement park in California. She’s smashing whatever memories I have left of her—the stuff that didn’t matter enough to Amber to take.
“Amber—” I choke on her name, the sound clawing out of me like a caged beast.
“Don’t say her name!” Poppy throws a metal paperweight at me, that Cipher catches mid launch. “You fucking broke her! You shattered her so bad she’ll never trust anyone again. She so fucked up that she left Reno because of you. She’s not dead, but you killed her anyway! You tore every piece of trust out of her. You think she’ll ever be whole again after you? S—She left me—left everyone,” she stutters. “She won’t answer my calls, and I don’t know if she’ll ever come back because you broke her down so far there’s nothing left for her here. She’ll never love again. Not when you left her hollow and without purpose!”
“Love? How can you talk about love when you don’t even know what it is?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“You act like you’re so perfect, Poppy. But you’ve ruined people too. Take Wesley for example.” His name cuts the air like a blade. “The guy went to prison fighting for you! He laida guy out because he fucking dared to touch you. Now he’s five years in because that’s his way of showing you how much he cares—how deep his love actually is for you. And what did you do, Poppy? You called him trash and treated him like he wasn’t worth the dirt under your feet.”
Her mouth trembles, but she snaps it shut, venom spilling to cover the crack. “Don’t. Don’t you dare put that on me. Wesley did this to himself! He’s a fucking loose cannon and criminal!”
“You don’t believe that.” I take a daring step forward, blood dripping from my lip, my voice nothing more than a ragged snarl. “I see it in your face. You pretend to loathe him because you think he’s beneath you. But he’s the only one who’s ever bled for you. And you hate him for that too, because deep down, you feel something for him you’ll never admit.”
She slaps me so hard my head whips sideways, my ears ringing. “Shut the fuck up!”
Cipher barks out, “Enough!” but neither of us back down, both of us are hurting in our own separate ways.
“You pushed away Amber too. Always choosing Pippa before her, putting your own selfish needs before anyone else. Where’s those good grades and academic scholarships going to get you now, Poppy? Were they worth losing your twin sister and your best friend?”
Her eyes shine with tears, but she doesn’t blink them away. They stream down her cheeks, carving her open until her voice trembles with pure hatred. “I hope you rot in Hell for what you’ve done. I hope every breath you take burns like acid, and you feel my sister’s death like she’s cursed your damning soul.”
“Your wish is my command, Poppy, because I’m already feeling the repercussions for what happened up on that mountain.”
“That’s because you don’t just break people, Eddie, you hollow them out. You might as well have killed them both.”
The room tilts, my lungs seizing. Every word feels like a goddamn anvil, crushing me to the ground, my insides bleeding and torn to pieces. My heart slams against my ribs so violently I swear it’ll split them open. My vision tunnels, black spots freckling the edges.
Cipher steps forward, his tone commanding the room. “Sit down, Eddie. You’re hyperventilating. Keep your eyes on me. In through your nose, out through your mouth.” When I don’t move, he yells even louder. “Goddamn it, man! Fucking breathe!”
But Poppy’s voice keeps cutting through, even as Cipher crouches in front of me trying his best to center me in this anxiety drenched haze.
“She’s not dead, but you killed her anyway.”
“That’s because you don’t just break people, Eddie, you hollow them out.”
“You might as well have killed them both.”
“She so fucked up that she left Reno because of you.”
My hands claw their way into my hair, pulling so hard my scalp burns. The floor tilts sideways, my body collapsing under the weight of her words as I crumple to the floor in a heap of grief. Cold sweat soaks me to my core, my stomach twisting like barbed wire.
Cipher grips my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “You’re having a panic attack now. Focus on my voice. Right here. Don’t give her words power.” He points to his eyes, but I can barely see them behind the darkness that’s already building.
It’s too late for that. Her words are already inside me, crawling through me like slow poison.
Poppy’s anger turns to raw, hysterical sobs, her body shaking violently against the cushions where Cipher shoved her down.
