5
533words
I became a caged beast,sealing myself off.
I saw Dad’s ghost,his blood-red eyes glowing under my bed.
I curled up,trembling,begging,“Dad,I’m sorry,spare me.”
The hallucinations drove me to the edge.
In my weakest moment,Ethan held me.
His face was shadowed,his voice sweet.“Lily,please me,and you’ll escape pain.You’ll be happy.”
His touch was hot,his breath intense,his body pressing against me.
“You’re filthy garbage,Lily.Who else would hold you but me?”
I sobbed,wanting to argue,but he was right.
No one loved me.
I’d been discarded.
Ethan became my world.Without him,I’d panic,go mad.
Classmates mocked me as a spineless follower.
Girls who liked Ethan cornered me in the bathroom,dunking my head in mop water,laughing that toads like me belonged in sewers.
They stripped me,humiliated me.
I don’t know how I left that bathroom.
I ended up on the rooftop,shirtless,the wind howling.
The world spun.I stepped forward,dizzy.
“Hey!”
I turned.A handsome boy stood there,gaping at me.
Our eyes met.
His pale face flushed.He shut his eyes,shyly saying,“Aren’t you cold?”
“I’m kinda warm.Want my shirt?”
He edged closer,peeling off his white shirt,revealing a lean waist.
My gaze lingered.
“Whoops!”He tripped,falling,but held the shirt high.“Didn’t get dirty,”he said,relieved.
So clumsy.
Blood beaded on his scraped skin.I crouched,staring at his wound.
He blushed,ears red.“Maybe put the shirt on?”His voice was soft,eyes averted.
“No,”I said,clutching it,tears falling.“I won’t.”
He panicked,fumbling to wipe my tears with his sleeve.
“At least drape it over you.Don’t catch a cold.”
“Don’t cry.I can’t handle girls crying,”he said softly,glancing at me.
His gentleness broke me.I hugged him,sobbing hysterically.
I didn’t know then,but that afternoon,as I stood on the edge,I’d saved him,too.
He chose me over death.
But I betrayed him,again and again.
His name was James Dawson,the school’s famed art prodigy.
I’d seen his work in the gallery—dark,lonely,a vortex of red waves swallowing everything.
Yet in sunlight,his face was soft,his brown eyes sparkling,a mole by his eye making him look like a puppy.
“When I’m down,I come to the beach,”he said,skipping school to take me there.
We kicked off our shoes,splashed in the surf,collected clams.
Waves tickled our calves.
Exhausted,we sat on a reef.The sunset burned,the salty breeze tousling his hair.
I stared at him,hugging my knees.He looked away,ears pink.
“Want to hear a story about the sea?”
A butterfly dreamed of crossing the ocean to reunite with its lover.
It braved hunger,storms,its wings torn,body broken.
It fell,exhausted,and died.
Everyone called it foolish—it crossed the sea but found no lover waiting.
But the butterfly didn’t know its lover waited,turning to stone.
“When I was little,my mom flew away,”James said.“I’ve been waiting,but I don’t think she’s coming back.”
His voice was light,but it carried old pain.
That night,Ethan stormed my room,locking the door,his eyes dark.
He loomed over me,shadow pooling like sewage.
He grabbed my throat,pinning me to the bed.
“Lily,I leave you alone for a day,and you’re chasing guys?”
“You’re so cheap.”
His voice was raw,predatory,his gaze ready to devour me.
“Without my permission,you can’t be with other men.You owe me.”
I choked,my vision blurring.
After that night,Ethan told Mom something.
She stormed my school,bursting into James’s classroom,screaming he’d seduced me,ruining my studies.
Her voice was shrill,hysterical.
James sat silently,head bowed.
