Page 1 of Borden 3

Chapter One

Emma

Past

14 Years Old

And in my loneliness, and in my grief, he found me.

A boy much older than I.

With steely green eyes and bloody fists.

He emerged from the darkness, and I looked up from my corner of the alleyway—from the hidden spot I had found in a world that no longer made sense.

The smoke of his joint billowed my way as he stood before me, his back facing me. My vision blurred from the fresh tears I’d shed. I made no sound as I watched him smoke quietly.

He was wearing jeans and nothing else. There were blood streaks running down his back. Fresh cuts marred his shoulder blades. I watched a streak of blood run straight down his spine in a perfect line.

I didn’t know he’d noticed me.

But he’d known.

He always knew.

“You lost?” he asked in a low voice, like he was having a secret conversation with me.

I didn’t startle. Nothing frightened me anymore. Not the darkness. Not the streets. Not the sudden attention of a boy that looked like danger.

“Yes,” I whispered.

He turned his head to look down at me. His eyes pierced mine, and I saw the trouble that lurked in their depths.

The cause for more pain.

My future ruin.

He smiled crookedly at me. “Good,” he uttered. “I am, too.”

Chapter Two

Emma

Blackness.

Blackness everywhere.

I couldn’t move.

“Help.”

The silence was loud. I tried to take a breath in, but there was barely air left in the box I was forced in.

“Help.”

Hysteria flooded through me, seizing me in place. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t even move my arms. They were bound by my sides, and that was strange. I could usually move them.

“Help!” I cried.

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