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Kyle covered her mouth again, swallowing up her nose too this time. Katie's fingernails ripped at his forearm, her heels popping against the floor, eyes screaming at him to let him know she couldn’t breathe.

But he already knew. She could see it in the satisfied gleam of his eye and the gleeful upturn of his lips.

WheeeeEEEEE!

The kettle rang out, stunning Kyle into loosening his hand enough for Katie to twist her mouth free. "I’m sorry, Kyle. I'm so sorry, I’m so sorry," she panted, gulping in oxygen through a searing throat.

WHEEEEEEEEE!

"Oh, you’re going to be sorry. That’s for sure. That’s for damn sure. You’re going to learn Katherine Marie. You’re going to learn why you can’t treat the people that care about you like dirt."

WHEEEEEEEEE!

"GOD DAMN IT, MAKE THAT STOP!"

Palms up in surrender, one eye fixed on his gun, Katie didn’t fight when he forced her to her feet and dragged her to the kitchen.

WHEEEEEEEE!

Kyle tried to stop in front of the stove, but Katie didn’t let him. She dug her stance into the ground then barreled forward, shoving him further into the kitchen with her shoulder like a football player defending the line. He stumbled, catching his balance on the chair he’d been eating in just minutes earlier, but Katie's fingers were already around the handle of the tea kettle. She flung it and his head swung to the side, the scorching metal orb missing his cheek by centimeters and smashing into the wall, sending out spews of boiling water. Kyle didn’t even flinch, too hopped up on rage to feel the burns.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, YOU STUPID, FUCKING CUNT?! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

He came for her, but Katie was already following the kettle up with the pot of soup. It wasn’t boiling anymore, but hot enough, and this missile hit its target straight across his face.

An ear-piercing shriek rang out from behind her as Katie made another scramble for freedom, her socks slipping on wetness, bringing her down to one knee and costing her valuable time. She lurched out into the living room, just as Kyle’s hand clamped around her ankle.

He was crazed now, completely unhinged, dragging her beneath him, straddling her chest, wrapping slick hands around her neck.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, you little piece of trash? You were nothing before me, just an ugly little bitch who couldn’t even hold down a job. I will kill you! DO YOU HEAR ME? I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" His fingers squeezed deeper with each word, crushing her larynx shut until her arms flailed and her eyes bulged.

This was it. This was how she was going to go out of this world. Her entire life didn’t flash by like they said, just moments. A long, hot afternoon at the ballpark with her dad. Singing at the top of her lungs alone in her car while she drove herself across the country. Giggling with Ellis in the break room. Landon tossing her that baseball.

Kyle leaned his weight forward, his lips pursing in determination as if he knew she was thinking about someone else. Another man. A man he could never, ever come close to living up to.

Katie’s eyelids squinted into slits, framing Kyle’s face in tiny sparkling dots. This mistake—this monster—he wouldn’t be the last thought she had in this world.What do I have power over? What do I have power over?She couldn’t even breathe this time, but she at least had power over her last thought.

Her panicked fingers fell away from clawing at Kyle's wrists, her eyelids closing the curtain as she took her mind elsewhere: Landon smiling at her in the coffee shop. Landon waggling his eyebrows. Landon kissing her. Landon grinning ear to ear after stealing second on a slide. Landon with his hat up in the air as he crossed home plate. Landon swinging a bat with pure and utter perfection, smashing the ball so far out of the imaginary stadium in her mind that it bounced in the parking lot. That one made her smile. That one allowed her to let go.

It took only a flash, the snap of a finger, and she crossed to the other side. Kyle’s weight lifted off her chest and air seeped in.Sweeter, cleaner air up here, she thought. She could tell that much already as it swirled into her lungs, quenching the ultimate thirst. Yes, this was heaven. Definitely heaven because it smelled like Landon. It had the soundtrack of Landon. She could even hear him saying her name.

"Katie, oh my god, Katie!"

Mmmmm, yes, his gravely voice warmed her insides and melted them into giddy goo. But she couldn’t say anything back, her throat swollen shut, burning from the inside out with a pain that didn’t make any sort of sense. Not in heaven. Heaven wasn’t supposed to hurt.

But Katie did hurt. She hurt all over in fact—her throbbing head, her aching stomach, the red burn slashed across her forearm. And Landon. He was in pain too.

"Katie! Katie! KATIE! Oh fuck, oh fuck, no baby, no, KATIE PLEASE!"

Her eyes flickered open and she finally saw him. Not just sensed or smelled or heard, but saw him with her own eyes, hovering over her in his dirt-stained uniform, way closer than she’d been able to get to him for the past few days. But even with all that, even with the stabbing agony of real life pain all over body, she couldn’t believe this was real. It just didn’t make any sense. Not unless she’d been battling it out with Kyle for six whole innings.

She squinted up at him, deep creases furrowing between her brows before she managed to croak out his name. "Landon?"

“Oh my god, yes baby, it’s me. It’s me. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. I'm so sorry, baby."

He dropped kisses all over her face, trying to gather her up in his arms, but Katie pressed him off, shaking her head, twisting her face to look at his.

“Landon?"

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