Page 84 of When We Fall: Part Two
I watched her bottom lip tremble. I hated this. Fuck, I hated this! Holding her and telling her everything was going to be OK was a fucking lie. Nothing was OK. It might not ever be again. I didn’t want to lie to her. I didn’t want to shatter her world.
“Sleep,” I repeated softly as I watched her cry. “Please, sleep for me.”
I moved to the chair in my room and sat, watching her as much as she watched me.
I thought she’d talk. She didn’t.
What could she even say to me that I hadn’t screamed at myself already? That I was a failure? I fucked up and should have listened? That all of this was my fault?
Her lashes eventually fluttered closed, and she slept once more. I managed to doze off in my chair, my nightmares the same as hers.
At least we still had that.
TWENTY-FIVE
ETHAN
After they’d taken Fox from me, I was moved. I wasn’t sure if it was the same day, the middle of the night, or a day later. There were no windows in the underground.
Just screams.
Tears.
Whispered prayers that eventually turned to madness.
Fox could already be dead.
The thought was driving me insane.
But I suppose that made me fit in down here.
They’d drugged me. My head was full and weird feeling. I felt disconnected from myself, which, in a way, was helpful.
Terrifying, but helpful.
My back ached from being tied to the metal chair for so long. When the heavy door creaked open, I whipped my head around to see what fresh hell awaited me.
I froze.
Everett Church sauntered in with a man wearing a doctor’s jacket.
I swallowed hard, my body trembling.
“Hello,Luka,” Everett murmured, stopping in front of me. “It’s been too long, hasn’t it?”
I trembled as I stared up at him.
“Your friend screams so pretty.” He inhaled deeply, a tiny, twisted smile on his lips. “I’m surprised you couldn’t hear it all the way down here.”
I shook, the nausea burning my throat.
Please, god… Please, let Fox be OK…
“God can’t hear your prayers down here, sweet boy,” Everett continued as if he were reading my mind. “Only I can. The devil.” He let out a soft, wicked laugh. “So tell me. What do you wish for?”
I stared up at him, my jaw quivering.
He didn’t move as we locked eyes.
