Page 27 of Unmasking You

“Okay. What do I need to do?”

“Are you family?”

My mind goes blank. What am I to him? No one.

“Jamie. If you tell her you’re no one, they won’t tell you anything.”

Only when Ruby’s voice comes from the speaker do I remember I never ended the call.

“I’m his partner.” Oh my god. I’ve lied again, and this is something I can’t take back.

“It’s okay, baby. Breathe. Everything is going to be fine,” says Ruby on the other end of the phone.

I do as she says, trying to forget I’ve just lied to the policeandto the hospital.

“Follow me.”

And that’s what I do.

I want to cry when I see him. His eyes are still stubbornly closed, his face paler than the white sheet he’s resting on, and the machine he’s attached to is beeping so loudly in the otherwise silent room.

I follow but don’t pay attention, because that’s split between my prayers for him to open his eyes and look at me and him lying motionless on the bed.

I wait outside while they bring him into the room and attach everything he needs to have attached. Once they’re done, I sit in the big chair next to the bed and reach for his hand.

I turn my thoughts to the universe and begin my bargaining once again.

“Please, please, bring him back to me. If you do, I promise I’ll listen to whatever he has to say.”

I watch Shane, but nothing happens, so I sit back until I’m resting on the backrest. I close my eyes and continue praying.

Chapter 10

Shane

Ten years ago

Three months and we’re as inseparable as brothers, though I’ll never see him as one.

I’m not sure what I feel when I’m with him, but it makes my insides quiver, and my skin comes to life every time he touches me. I lock away every sensation he gives me because each one of them is new to me, and I never want to forget.

I’ve never been important to anyone. I’ve never been loved for who I am, but Jamie has never even questioned any of it. He just likes me for who I am. I don’t need to be the best. I don’t need to be the strongest, and I don’t have to be more than I am. For him, I just need to be Shane, the Shane I have inside, who never really saw the light of day until Jamie entered my life.

We don’t spend enough time together at school, between my friends and all the extra-curricular activities I’m forced to take to please a demanding father—who’s never pleased. Everything but Jamie is hard work. With him, I have peace, a peace I want to keep close as much as I can. I’m whole, and I have hope, hope for a future that’s not already fully written for me.

Jamie is the key to open the door of my golden cage.

Every day, I hope it’s the day I get to fly. When I get to be free, when I get to follow my dream.

Every day, the crack between my imprisonment and my freedom becomes bigger, but I’m still watching, waiting for it to slam shut. Because every single thing I’ve ever wanted has been taken from me, and now I want Jamie.

I’m gripping it, and him, with both hands and all my might, as I’m sure it will end one day. Because of me, because of my name, or because he may see that the darkness inside me is stronger than the light he brings out.

“Shane?” Jamie’s whisper next to my ear makes me shiver.

I bring my hand up to rub that spot and make the tingling sensation disappear before I turn to him, hoping my face doesn’t display what he did to me with just one word.

“Yeah?” I say, turning slightly towards him where he’s sitting next to me—very close—because he forgot his book.

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