Page 99 of Sage Haven
All carefully arranged as if I had placed them myself, exactly where I always put them at home.
Except this wasn’t home.
And I hadn’t packed them for some sort of twisted vacation.
A shiver slid down my spine, cold and sharp, as realization dawned.
He had brought them here.
Gone into my life, into my space, and brought these pieces of me to this room.
As if he had always intended for me to be here.
I stepped back, my hand catching on the doorframe to steady myself.
But I didn’t stop there.
I turned and crossed to the closet, needing to see.
Needing to know.
I reached for the door, hesitating only a second before I pulled it open.
My clothes hung neatly on matching hangers, arranged in a perfect color gradient. My boots. My sneakers. Everything.
But that wasn’t all.
There were others.
Dresses I didn’t recognize. Blouses and jeans that I never owned.
Lingerie in delicate fabrics that were never mine.
Items that didn’t belong to me.
A sick twist coiled in my stomach.
The last girl, I thought bitterly.
The one who wore these things before me.
I stumbled backward out of the closet, breathing ragged and uneven, my chest tightening like something sharp had lodged between my ribs. I collapsed to the bedroom floor, my legs folding beneath me. The weight of it all pressed down hard, and I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
What was happening?
Why had he done this?
I wrapped my arms around myself, but it didn’t help. It only made me feel smaller, more vulnerable. The questions clawed at my mind, digging deeper with every passing second.
What had happened to her?
What would happen to me?
I was lost in my mind’s spiraling thoughts when I heard a scream.
It was faint. Muffled. Distant.
But it was real.
