Page 174 of Poison Aches

“Ivy…”

I’m completely panicking now.

My heart is racing so hard and so fast, at this rate I might give my own heart a cardiac arrest.

I wrote things in there… things both my grandmother and my brother avoid like the plague whenever I bring it up.

About what must’ve happened to my birth parents.

To Gramps..

To the lady I see in my dreams.

To the boy with green eyes.

And now that little cursed book is in the hands of my dear grandmother, with the little lock hanging precariously on the side. I pause.

“I’m pretty sure that was locked! How did you…”

Like a freight train just ran me down, I freeze in my tracks.

Slowly, like a bucket of ice-cold water has just been poured over my head, I turn around and spot my brother who’s standing motionlessly in the corner of the room.

I expect him to have a teasing look on his face, the one he wears when he knows I’m in trouble and he’s not, but instead, he stands there silently, stoic, with his arms folded with a serious look on his face.

“It was you!”

The accusation flies from my lips without a trigger.

No one else knows that I keep a diary with all my dark secrets but him and, in turn, no one would be able to break into my diary without so much as a key, but him.

“You broke into my diary and gave it to Grammy?” I cry.

“She had to know,” he says seriously.

“Why?”

I think I’m going to pass out from the shock alone.

This kind of thing has never happened to me, ever.

This kind of betrayal is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. My own brother rattled me out.

“You’ve been acting strange lately,” Samuel says plainly.

“Strange? I’m thirteen years old! I’m just growing up!” I cry. “Is that so wrong?”

“It is when you’re headed in the direction that leads straight to hell and brimstone, Ivy,” Samuel retorts in a low but serious tone that makes me almost reel back.

“And who are you to know the direction of hell?” I snap. “If I’m headed there, isn’t it my choice to see for myself and decide whether or not I want to continue?”

“Yeah, well, let me save you the trouble! Our mother abandoned us, Ivy! That’s been blatantly clear for all our lives!”

“Samuel…”’

“Our father? Well, do you know who he might be?” He glares at me, anger flashing in his eyes. “For all we know, it might be some random-ass man out there. And what if he’s dead? What if he’s a monster? We’ll never know, so let it go!”

I suck in a harsh breath, but it feels like my own lungs are twisting up.

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