A gust of wind howled through the evergreens, swishing and churning through the towering spikes that touched the heavens, and I thought I heard the clatter of footsteps retreating in the distance.
I hustled along the side of the brick building in the direction of the disturbance. It was chaotic. An upheaval that shuddered in the frozen air.
I ran headlong into it, overcome by the need to hunt down any fucker who would do her harm. Hurt her. Stop it in its tracks if we were being hunted.
I rounded the corner only for that whooshing in the trees to become the air whooshing from my lungs when a rod slammed into my stomach.
Pain shattered through my body.
I was hit so hard my footing failed, and the ground came up quick under me. My face impacted the pavement before the rod struck my ribs.
Agony flash-fired up my side.
I clawed to get up, to get to my feet, to face this piece-of-shit who lurked in the darkness.
The voice was at my ear. “It’s the only warning you’ll get.”
Then he shoved off and ran into the cover of the forest.
I managed to climb to my feet. The sky and ground spun. A whorl that became one. The pain almost dropped me to my knees again, but I forced myself to stand, swiped the blood from my mouth, and shouted into the distance, “Pussy. Next time, show your face.”
I felt the hatred that blistered back.
I bottled it. Took it down. Made it mine.
Then I stormed back to my car and got inside.
TWELVE
ASTER
I staredout at the endless winter night through the frosted panes of my bedroom window. My fingers reached out, tracing the cold. My finger looked so odd without the ring that I’d removed.
Everything felt foreign. The crush of emotions and the tangling of need. A contrast of sensations that’d left me up pacing half the night.
There was a time in my life I’d dreamed in color.
In vivid hues and lush textures. In laughter and song.
I used to believe in truth and light. In faith and beauty and the goodness of humanity.
I’d once dared to trust in love. Dared to believe that we would end up where we were destined. Our paths leading us to the exact point we were meant to be.
I’d dared hope for a family.
All of it had been sparked by a connection that was real and true and had stolen the breath from my lungs every time he came into the room.
Until one day those colors went dim. It was the day joy was sucked out and darkness set in.
I’d exchanged the safety of his arms for the torment of everything I had lost.
Exchanged a blossoming of hope for a lifetime of loneliness.
I’d done my best to shut it off because it was too painful to experience each day.
I attempted to harden myself to stone, but as far as I’d gotten was a hollowed-out numbness. For years, I’d drifted through memories that never quite felt real.
As if I’d conjured them as a way to survive the hand I’d been dealt.