Page 68 of The Wonder of You

It hits me that I only had the chance of rebirth because the witches cast a spell on me. They wanted me to relive again, they wanted me to go through a childhood of hell and forget my previous life. So, if I just die at the hands of another person today, will I actually die for good?

“You’ve grown,” he says. I am frozen into the spot. It feels like I’ve done a backflip and all my organs have fallen out around me. I’m dead, but somehow, I’m still alive. It reminds me of the sleep paralysis I struggled with as a teenager. I knew what was going on, but I was unable to move, unable to scream.

Carl has always been the demon haunting me.

“How are you here?” I finally mumble, my inner child finding its way into my brain and making my voice sound weak.

“I got out, did no one tell you? It isn’t hard to get into a locked door, little Renée.” He grins.

Little Renée.

I feel sick to my stomach.

“You told on me, you bitch. You ruined my life. I told you not to tell.”

“I didn’t tell,” I whimper. “I was a child. Nan used to bathe me, dress me, she knew without me telling her. How can you think otherwise?”

It doesn’t get through to him. He actually thinks it wasmewho ruined his life and not the other way around.

He’s still evil even after all these years.

Maybe Grandad was right, maybe he was born this way. Maybe there was nothing anyone could have done to make him different. But no matter what, I can’t return the power back to his hands. I’m stronger now. I have to fight for myself the way I couldn’t back then.

“I want you to leave,” I choke out.

Come on Renée, you can do this!

But there is a look in his eyes that tells me he has the upper hand.

It’s me who needs to get out of here.

“I don’t think so.” His lips twitch into a smirk and I run towards the door.

I scream as he arms wrap around my waist. He throws me onto the floor, grabbing my hair, lifting me and slamming my head onto the table. My vision blurs and bile fills my throat. I kick out and manage to boot his leg. It might be weak with my dizzy head, but it catches him off guard. I run towards the living room, knowing there is no point in trying to get to the door when he’s standing in front of it. I need to look for something big to hit him with, but as I run, I feel like Iam on a rocking boat. I can barely stay upright, but I need to work through this potential concussion.

Panic rushes through my bones, so much so that it wants to overpower me and just let me accept death.

But no, Carl cannot win and I want to live.

That’s right.

I want to live.

I am brutally reminded that I may not get the opportunity as a punch hits me in the back of the head and I fall to the ground. Large hands spin me around to my front.

My heart slams in my chest as Carl leans over me with a knife in his hands.

Chapter 49

As the knife skims my throat, I think how Dad won’t live with this. I imagine Nan and Grandad screaming in terror in whatever world they are in now as they watch this play out. Both my grandparents died in this house. If I die here too, will I get to join them? See them one more time? I imagine Phoenix will kill my uncle in fury, and then my sister too in resentful rage before taking himself out.

My ache for Phoenix makes me cry out and Carl laughs. I can’t believe he will be the final face I see before I die. At least if he kills me quickly, I don’t have to worry he will do anything else to me. I’m not sure a slit to my throat will be a quick kill, but I hope it just sends me into shock so that I know nothing else until my last breath.

Oh Phoenix, we nearly had it all.

“You deserve it, you little bitch,” Carl shouts and holds the knife up. I screw my eyes shut. He’s not going to slit my throat, he’s going to stab me to death… just as I’m about to give in and imagine Phoenix’s face before I die, Carl grumbles.

My eyes shoot open and I see his head being pulled backwards.

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