Page 41 of Psycho

There was no other way for me to move, because if I really gave myself time to think about what I was doing, I would lose it again.

I stood there and looked down at the box on the ground as the flames engulfed everything. My nose wrinkled from the smell, and I hated that I now knew what burning flesh smelled like.

The smoke burned my eyes.

What was I supposed to do now?

* * *

I rodemy bike to Garrett’s house.

He lived in a small ranch-style house with his mom and his older brother, Mitch, who also dealt drugs.

The mom was pretty absent, which probably explained how both boys turned out the way they did. I remembered the first time I came inside the house, I found his brother fucking another girl on a small twin mattress on the floor in his room, with the door open.

It had been obvious that they were both high off their minds, and the brother had looked at me, smiled, and asked if I wanted to join.

Garrett hadn’t done anything or said anything about that, and that should probably have been my first sign that this boy wasn’t meant for me.

I shook away the memory as I got off my bike and moved to the front door.

I rang the bell several times before Mitch finally answered with a scowl. He looked like a more worn-down version of Garrett, even if they were only three years apart. I wondered if life could really wear a person down in as little as three years.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, Princess?”

I didn’t say anything.

He grumbled under his breath and moved to the side for me to enter.

I walked inside the messy, dark house and went to Garrett’s bedroom.

He was asleep on his bed on the floor, a bandage around his left hand. What was more, I could see the bruises that covered his face.

What happened to him—

Whohappened to him?

Something told me I didn’t want to know.

I blinked.

I didn’t really believe it was his thumb, even with the ring, but this just confirmed it.

Moving inside the room, I stopped when I got near him and poked him with my foot.

“Garrett.”

He muttered something in his sleep.

I prodded him harder.

“Garrett!”

“What?” he asked, sitting up.

It took a moment for the sleep to clear from his mind, but when it did, his eyes widened when he saw me standing there. What was more confusing was that I saw fear in them.

What the hell?

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