Page 159 of Run Away Home: Tempered

“Let me get you off of...off of the desk, Danny.” He leaves the room and comes back with a kitchen knife. He walks over and starts cutting away at the rope. “It’s j-j-just you and me for now on. No one else. No one, just us. Just us. I promise you.”

“Are you okay? You sound terrible.”

“I don’t feel great.”

“Once you get me off of this desk, you have to go to a doctor.”

“I’m getting better. I’m fine. I just need to r-r-rest...okay?”

The rope snaps completely. I pull my hands in front of my body and roll my wrists. Peter starts cutting the knots around my legs.

“You’re not going to go to the doctor? Peter, what did you drink?”

“I have no idea, but I’m feeling better than I was yesterday. It’s passing out of my s-s-system.”

“No, you have to go!”

“If I start feeling really sick again, I promise I’ll go...b-b-but for now... I just need to...rest.”

The rope snaps off of my ankles. I’m free.

“But you’re going to call the police? You’re going to report what they did to us? Right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Do you think she’ll come back? Do you thinkhe’llcome back?”

“I don’t think either of them are that stupid... Danny?”

“Yes?”

“Will you be all right if I...lay down? Just for a little bit. It’s m-mostly heartburn.”

“I’ll be okay,” I say.

He hugs me tightly for a long time. “Nothing, and no one, is more important to me than you. Got it?”

He pulls away from our hug and looks me in the eyes.

I look straight back at him. Now that I know Peter is alive, my mind goes back to what Tristian called me.Mutt...Like a dog?I think of that Snapchat filter. I never want to see it again.

I want to ask Peter what it means, to be a mutt, but he looks so bad. He probably feels bad too. Maybe later...but it hurts, though. A lot of things hurt right now. Maybe I feel as bad inside as Peter does outside. Maybe we both hurt a lot.

Do we get revenge? Do we ignore it? I don’t know what we do.

“Okay, Peter,” I say. There is no more to say.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I’m scared, and I’m sad. Hayley is gone, and she’s not coming back. I’ve finally won, but I feel so confused.

Peter

JUST LET ME SLEEP...

My cell phone’s vibrating. The sound of it hitting the top of the end table...ugh. It might as well be vibrating on my forehead. My chest still burns. It’s been days. I must have an ulcer. My stomach feels hollow. I need to eat something, but that only makes it worse.

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