Page 49 of My Turn

Fuck.

Putting a finger to my lips, I moved onto my knees and got closer. “Hey, Alicia. It’s okay. I’m the good guy.”

“Who are you?” she demanded, her gaze going to the door.

“You can think of me like a guardian. I’m just keeping you safe.”

“Like an angel?”

“Eh, no.” I scooted closer so that I was beside the bed. She leaned backward, looking afraid. “But I’m what you might call an antihero. I’ll fuck up the really bad guys, the monsters. That’s why I’m here. I took out a pretty gnarly one in your closet.”

Her lips pursed. “I’m nine. I’m not an idiot.”

I breathed a laugh and shrugged. “Yeah, I should’ve known you’d be a smart kid.”

“Why are you wearing a mask?”

“Because my face is super fucked up. You don’t want to see it. Want to see the lights on this one?”

She chewed on her lip and looked at the door again. After a moment, she nodded. I flipped the neon lights on and her eyes widened.

“Cool?”

“Creepy,” she breathed. “But cool.”

“I thought so too.”

“Are you…” She looked down at her hands. “Are you going to hurt us?”

“Of course not.”

“Oh.”

My head cocked. “Has someone hurt you?”

“No, not really.”

“What do you mean by that?” My stomach was churning, coming up with the worst possible scenarios. If I heard something terrible in this room, I wouldn’t hesitate to remove that man’s balls.

“Mom died,” she whispered.

“I know.”

“How?”

“I’m here to keep you safe, remember? I couldn’t do that if I didn’t know things. Tell me about your dad.”

“I don’t know him. I met him a couple of times.”

My eyes widened and I was glad she couldn’t see my expression. “You met him?”

She nodded quickly. “I was super little the first time. And then before mom… died… we went to the park with him.”

“Did you like him?”

With a shrug, she started picking at her blanket. I waited for her to go on, but it didn’t seem like she wanted to. I hummed thoughtfully, which drew her gaze back to me.

“Do you have a phone?” I asked. She nodded and pointed to her nightstand drawer. I pulled it out and typed in the number I used as Erebus. “If you’re ever scared or something’s wrong, you text me, okay?”

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