Page 3 of Give Me Love

You have us, I want to say, but instead, I rest my head

against the seat, swearing that I’ll never let someone

make me weak like he has let her.

“Why do you let the kids see me like this?” she asks

between tears.

“I have no choice, Mary. The neighbors are going to

report us for child neglect. Do you want our children

taken away from us?”

“They’d probably be better off.” She sniffs and wipes her face on her shirt. Anger and sadness fizzle inside my chest. It’s a low burn I always feel when they fight, but waking up at the crack of dawn takes a toll and my eyes grow heavy. She continues to cry, and it’s only a few moments later sleep overtakes me.

Yelling jolts me awake, and I look toward the front

seeing Mama hit Dad.

“Stop it, Mary,” he yells, putting his arm up to protect his face. “Why are you like this? I love you. We love you.” He slams his hand down on the steering wheel. Jace starts to cry.

“I don’t want your love,” she says. “I don’t want any of this.” And in a quick move, she snatches the wheel. My eyes grow wide as the car swerves. My body is tossed sideways and a hard bump causes me to lift up from my seat as the world flips and my arms float above me.

The lock of my seat belt forces me back as my neck is jerked sideways from the impact of the driver side hitting the ground and I feel the hard glass collide with the side of my head.

Pain shoots through me, and the sound of breaking

glass and bent metal is the last thing I hear before

blackness consumes my mind.

ChapterOne

Kathrine

(Present)

“Up, up, up.” My annoying (lately) best friend of all friends barges into my dark room and yanks the covers off of me. The coolness from my window unit instantly sweeps across my unshaven legs.

“It’s been over a month,” she says, pulling the string on my blinds and forcing them up. The sun beams unapologetically, blinding me like driving home at five o’clock.

“What the hell, Claire?” I grumble, grabbing my pillow and forcing it over my eyes. The mattress gives when she sits down.

“This is getting ridiculous. You know it, I know it— hell, everybody knows it. Going to work, coming straight home, and crawling into bed every day, it’s not cool, Kathrine.”

“At least I’m going to work,” I mutter. Blinking my eyes open from under the pillow, I decide I’ll brave the light. Removing it, I jerk back when her face is literally five inches from mine.

“You smell,” she says, wrinkling up her nose.

“Would you move,” I reply and flip over on my back. I blow my locks away from my eyes and scrub down my face, sighing as I look over at her.

“Kat, it’s been a month.” Her voice goes soft, and her eyes tell me this has gone on for too long, like I don’t know this.

“I’m aware.”

“This isn’t healthy.”

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