Page 124 of Yearn
His final message came in.
Dominic:Don’t worry. I put Scott to sleep tonight.
What?!!!
The phrase blew the air out of my lungs.
Sleep like a nap?
Sleep like a threat with a pillow over its face?
I tasted metal.
The class’s warm light tilted.
What do you mean you put him to sleep?!
My thumbs went numb.
I typed, backspacing twice, terrified of the permanent shape words could make.
Me:What do you mean?
Three dots showed on the screen.
Then nothing.
Then three dots again, slow, like a heartbeat being measured.
I could hear my own blood.
Then his new text popped up.
Dominic:I’ll explain when you get here.
Oh fuck. What did he do?
Terror dropped into my stomach and kept falling.
I rose from my seat, said quick goodbyes, and rushed out of there.
Lord. . .this week keeps getting crazier and crazier.
Chapter twenty-two
Law and Order
Teyonah
The drive home felt like I was steering through a thunderstorm no one else could see.
Streetlights strobed across the windshield while my brain ran every version of “put him to sleep” on a loop—Scott snoring on the couch, Scott slumped on the floor, Scott not breathing at all as Dominic buried him in the backyard.
Lord Jesus, what am I about to walk into?
My hands cramped around the wheel.
I kept checking the rearview like guilt had a siren.
