Page 30 of Peak Cruelty

I wait.

“Rachel lies.But you—you just stood by.You knew what was happening and you allowed it.Maybe because it was easier.Maybe because you thought it wasn’t your place.”

Her lips part.I don’t let her speak.

“You tell yourself you were being loyal.That it wasn’t your business.But I’ve seen that kind of loyalty before.It isn’t love.It’s self-preservation.”

She swallows hard.

I gesture toward the wheelchair.“It’s time you see what it’s like.”

She laughs.Not loud.Not amused, either.More like disbelief trying to find a place to land.

“You’re serious.”

I nod once.“It’s time you see what it feels like to be helpless.To rely on someone else to decide whether you eat.Whether you piss.Whether you see daylight.”

She sighs and shakes her head like she knows there’s only one way this is going to go.She’s smart, I’ll give her that.

I take her arm.Firmly.

She pulls back, more instinct than fight.

“You can walk,” I say.“But if you do, I shoot you in the spine.You’ll end up in that chair either way.”

I give her a second.

Finally, she nods and inches into the chair.

She doesn’t ask where we’re going, or what comes next.

She already knows it doesn’t matter.

The straps snap into place across her chest and legs.Not tight.Just enough to hold.Enough to humiliate.

She doesn’t protest, which is kind of nice.They always do.

And for some reason, this gets to me more than if she’d screamed and fought and tried to claw her way at freedom.

We don’t speak on the way down the hall.The wheels are too loud on the wood.

The morning is overcast.The air tastes like ocean and electricity.She breathes it in like she’s trying to memorize it.

We make it to the edge of the bluff.The water below looks calm, but it’s not.It never is.

I set the brakes.

She doesn’t ask why I brought her here.She’s not that naïve.She knows this is a stage.

“This is where she would’ve sat,” I say.“If it had been her.”

No response.

I crouch beside her.Again.Close enough to see the salt on her skin.

“Well, I’m not her.You made a mistake.”

I nod.“I did.But we’ve already covered that.”

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