Page 232 of Poison Aches

“What if she wanted to retaliate for all that pain she suffered? How would she feel if she could watch them all fall? If they all collapsed beneath her feet?”

If they all fell? If they all suffered…

In this moment, I’m totally putty in Emmett’s palm. He knows it too, because that’s when he delivers the final blow.

“What if she was that kind of woman? Fake, smiling in the face of being mocked, pretentious? Pathetic…like you.”

That hurts… like he just wrapped my heart with a thin copper wire, and now he’s slowly pulling, squeezing everything until I start bleeding. Shredding my heart into raw chunks of nothing.

I shake my head, denying the truth.

“No…”

Emmett smirks. I hate that smirk!

“I’m not like that! I’m not… I’m not fake and I don’t wish any violence on anyone!”

Fat teardrops fall on my cheeks.

Emmett watches it all without saying anything, but his silence only drives me insane.

“My curiosity is just that! Curiosity! It’s not…”

Malice.

I’m not a malicious person.

I don’t want revenge.

Why would I care about that? It’s none of my business!

They roped me in, made it seem like they’d been looking for me all these years, but Grammy and Samuel had been hiding me and now… they found me to use me.

Anger unlike anything I’ve ever felt comes crashing down on me.

I start breathing heavily, not knowing what to do.

Do I scream? Do I cry? Is this why I came into this world? To be the spare for everyone?

“That’s not true!” I whisper.

“You don’t have to pretend in front of me. I’ve seen just how dark and malicious you are right from the start.”

Is he right?

Am I as malicious as he says?

No, this is just because of the circumstances! I’m a good person.

Then why am I here?

“And now, I’m debating if I want to make you repent for all your sins or not.”

Lightning strikes somewhere in the distance, illuminating the dark room for a moment.

“Repent?” I whisper brokenly.

“For lying to me. For believing I’d ever fall for someone as fake, cowardly, and pathetic as the naïve wallflower you made yourself to be.” I gasp, looking away from him, but he’s not done. “And for other things you’ll be getting down on your knees for.”

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