Page 34 of Vicious Hearts

I stare at him in horror. “But…they’re ourpets.”

Mr. Fluffy and Snowball live here, at Coal Creek. But we’ve seen them every other week for the last ten months. They might as well be ours.

“They’re pointless, inconvenient attachments, Una,” he growls. “They are not pets. They’re a lesson. Now…”

He pulls two small knives from the back of his pants. I watch in horror as he hands one to Finn, and the other to me.

“Do it. The neck will be fastest.”

Finn starts to cry. I glance around, looking for Dr. Thompson. But we’re alone out here in the grassy courtyard of the hospital. There’s not even any of Dr. Thompson’s assistants, or any orderlies. Nobody.

“Such a son I have,” Papa hisses viciously. “What a pussy.”

Finn continues to sob and I flinch as our father stoops down suddenly in front of him, grabbing the front of his t-shirt and shaking him roughly.

“You are WEAK, boy!” he roars. Finn starts to cry harder, hugging Mr. Fluffy tightly.

“Stop it!” I yell. “You’re scaring him!”

I gasp, flinching when our father whirls on me with those terrifying blue eyes.

“I’ll do far worse than scare him if that goddamn rabbit isn’t dead in less than one minute.” He whips his terrifying gaze back to Finn, his teeth flashing. “So help me God, boy. I will turn you into a fucking O’Conor if it kills me. And you. That is MY blood you are squandering!”

He winds his hand back, cuffing my sobbing brother again.

“Stop it!” I scream, clutching Snowball in one hand as I try and grab my father’s shirt with the other. “Please! Stop!”

“Thirty seconds, boy,” he snarls at Finn, ignoring me. “You havethirty secondsto do as I command. And if that fucking animal isn’t dead by then, I can promise you the full wrath of the Lord—”

He looks stunned as I shove past him, grab Mr. Fluffy from Finn’s arms, and haul him back.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

The knife flashes. The rabbit jerks and flails in my hand. Quickly it goes still as its blood gushes onto the grass from the slash in its neck.

Finn starts to cry harder, turning away as he collapses onto the grass.

I’m sorry.

I’m so sorry.

Our father says nothing. He looks at the dead rabbit in my hand with an arched brow, then glances at Snowball, who was already dead before I snatched Mr. Fluffy.

Slowly, our father smiles.

“Nowthereis the blood of the O’Conors. You’ve done well, Una.”

I wake with a gasp, heart pounding, reaching for a brother who isn’t there. Looking around for a grassy courtyard I haven’t been to in years, and two innocent rabbits I killed sixteen years ago.

I exhale, trying to calm my racing heart and glancing at the clock on the rickety little table next to my bed.

Two in the morning. And I’m wide awake now.

Great.

I know from experience that waking from dreams involving my fucked-up childhood means I’m not getting back to sleep anytime soon. So I slip out of bed and head to the bathroom to get some water.

Bones greets me with a dull, yowling meow from his throne on top of the toilet tank. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit trying to get him to sleep in my bed. Like, at least on the end of it. But he has no interest.

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