Page 257 of Phobia
“Asa, come with me.” Jules grabs me, dragging me, feet skidding, away from the room. “You don’t need to see that.”
“Get off me!” I roar to life, struggling out of his grip. “That’s my sister!”
I sob, breaking free and running to her. The stench of death is too much. I can’t breathe at all. But still, I crash onto her bed, crying and wailing.
“Lena… I’msorry…”
“Asa!” Jules tries to grab me again.
That’s when I notice the piece of paper in her hand.
I snatch it up… And through my blurred vision, I see that it says my name…
To Asa
“Asa, come here,” Jules cries, sniffling behind me while he pulls me away, out of the trailer.
My sister is dead.
And it’s all my fucking fault.
Chapter 8
Slow motion.
Everything around me is moving like we’re under water.
Blue and red lights flash, bouncing off the trailers. Riot Park is swarming with cops.
Everyone is out on their lawns, talking to officers, or just converging, hoping to get the inside scoop as to why Asa’s trailer is surrounded by yellow tape.
I don’t think I’ve blinked once in the last twenty minutes.
I’m so…itchy. My skin is still covered in dirt and dried cum because we haven’t even showered yet. I tried asking Asa if he wanted to shower at my place, but the words wouldn’t even come out.
He’sbroken.
I can see it on his face. He stopped crying when the cops arrived, only to crash onto his knees in the dirt when the coroners brought Lena’s body out in black plastic.
Now he’s just… staring.
Staring at nothing, and maybe everything all at once. Sitting on the ground, surrounded by plastic flamingos, gray eyes full of dark clouds and pure anguish.
“Does he have anywhere else he can stay?” An officer asks me, but I can’t look away from Asa. “Maybe with you, or a relative…? He shouldn’t go back inside that trailer until someone’s able to come and steam clean the thing—”
“He’s staying with me,” I cut him off, stomping over to my…boyfriend?
I mean, I called him that earlier, and he didn’t hate it. Then we said we loved each other… Before his whole world fell apart.
It still stands, right?
God, I’m fucking praying this doesn’t change that.
Asa was right there. He wasso closeto realizing that he can get some sleep without devastation and destruction happening around him. And then… this.
His sister… is dead.
And he had no idea.
