Page 157 of Creep

And did he find out before he… overdosed?

I stood up from where I was sitting on the couch and looked around the apartment.

Mael was off doing… I didn’t know what, and I didn’t want to know. I just wanted him to come home safely to me, but I didn’t know what time that would be. It wasn’t like he was a regular man with a regular job and nine-to-five hours.

And I was home alone. Mael had specifically told me not to go anywhere without him, but this felt too important to ignore.

My little brother obviously hid the book in our hiding place for me to find, even if he was trying to protect me from the content inside the book.

I grabbed my purse and phone and walked out of the apartment. Mael’s place was only accessible using an elevator and a code on the door, so I didn’t have the key to get back inside. I didn’t even have the code. But that was going to be a problem I dealt with later. For now, I was calling for a ride back to Dad’s house.

* * *

The car pulledup to my childhood home.

And for the first time, I didn’t get that warm, fuzzy feeling I usually got when I saw it.

For the first time, I wondered just how many secrets it held and just how many lives had been lost so this house could be built.

I looked up and met the driver’s eyes through the rearview mirror. I pulled out some of the cash I had in my purse and handed it to him. “Thank you.”

He nodded, and I climbed out. My legs shook as I stood in front of the property, fighting against the urge to call the driver back, when I heard him drive away.

I closed my eyes.

Another thing I would need to worry about—how to get back to Mael’s apartment once I was done.

I walked up to the front door, using my own key, and went inside.

I looked at everything with new eyes.

It was just all so… tainted.

My feet stopped in front of the portrait of my mom, Caden, and me.

Our smile was frozen in time. How sad was it that I was the only one in this picture who survived? That they had all left me here to deal with the reality of who my dad was.

My eyes focused on my mom.

Did she know?

Her sad eyes haunted me. I always thought those eyes were simply because of how she appeared, and that was all, but the closer I looked at the picture, the more persistent the thought became that those sad eyes of hers were from something else.

“What are you doing here?”

I jumped about a foot in the air when I heard Dad’s voice coming from my left.

I looked over to see Dad standing by the mouth of the hallway connecting the living room and the kitchen. His clothes were wrinkled, and his brown hair was standing up on end. There were heavy bags under his dull green eyes. I might have my mom’s eyes, but I took after my dad. Caden was the one who looked like our mom, and for the longest time, it was hard to look at him and be reminded of all the things that I had missed out on because my mom had left this earth too soon.

“Dad, what are you doing home?”

He frowned at me. “I decided to work from home today. What are you doing here, sweetheart?”

“Huh? Oh, I think I left my sweater in my old room the last time I was here,” I said, the lie coming out easier than I thought it would. Even still, I didn’t think he believed me.

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I resisted the urge to shift on my feet and give myself away.

“Okay,” he said finally.

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