Chapter 20
twenty
-Ares-
Brynn lifts her eyes to look at me, noting the fight in my gaze.
This is as hard for me as it is for her, maybe even more so since I also need to fight to keep the monster within at bay.
She’s probably still weighing whether she should start talking or just get up and bolt.
But there’s a silence in the air, telling her it’s time to bring the demons of her past into the present.
“I never knew my parents,” she starts, letting out a heavy breath like the effort of even speaking is more than she can handle now. Yet, she does it anyway. “I grew up in different foster homes... being more of a job than anyone’s kid.”
Her fingers twitch against the rim of the glass, the tremor barely noticeable. But I know it’s there.
“It was okay. I kind of got used to it, even got used to being the outsider.” She shrugs like she’s trying to make it sound smaller than it is.
“I was constantly switching schools and friends… Well, not exactly friends, I didn’t have any.
I was mostly an introvert. Kept everything to myself.
Never let anyone in. This was my life until I was around sixteen.
Never had a best friend till then. Never kissed a guy.
Never told anyone what I felt.” She pauses, her gaze meeting mine like she’s afraid of what she’s about to say next.
Like she just realized she’s about to make a confession.
And she never makes confessions. Never lets anyone in.
But I stare back at her, the intensity of my gaze making her realize I’m not letting her back out now. I need to know. I need to help her overcome this. Whatever this may be.
“The summer I turned sixteen, I was relocated to a different family in Kent, not too far from Seattle. And for the first time in my life, things were going amazingly. Maybe it was anyone else’s normal, but for me, it was a dream come true.”
She smiles, but I can see the bitterness tucked behind it.
“The family had adopted another girl a few years back—Liz. We became best friends pretty quickly, even though she was a couple of years older than me—already in her last year of high school. I guess what tied us together was that she was the only person who truly knew what I was going through. Because she’d been in my place.
She even helped me make a few friends in high school.
It was the first time kids weren’t laughing at me.
The first time I had decent clothes. The first time I went to the mall after classes, hanging out with kids my own age.
” She swallows, her voice thinning. “That lasted about a year. Best year of my life. And the last year I felt alive.” She stops, and I know that feeling all too well, feeling numb, feeling like there’s nothing more to life.
Until I found her.
“There was a guy. Jack Krieg.” Her whole body tenses at the name, and my fingers twitch to hit call and have someone dig up everything on this fucker right now.
“A couple of years older than Liz. He used to hang around one of the diners we went to after school. I never liked him, like something was off about him. But Liz... Liz was crazy about him. They started dating—well, not exactly dating. More like they were seeing each other, and he was just using her for his entertainment. She changed so fast. Locked me on the outside. Started hiding things from me, like the fact that she was running different errands for him, taking product to his customers.”
Her jaw clenches.
“Then he started coming to our room at night. They’d have sex while I pretended to be sleeping.”
I feel my nails dig into my palm, a threatening hum vibrating in my throat, though I try to stop myself—so she won’t.
“Liz was pissed at him at first, but he was so pushy that over time, it became a normal routine. I confronted her about it one day, but she just asked me to keep my mouth shut and even promised me some of her clothes or makeup for my silence.”
She lets out a laugh, the sound holding no real amusement.
“I didn't need her things. I just needed to know she was safe. After a few weeks, she started showing up with bruises on her arms. And one day, I accidentally walked in on her in the shower. Her whole body was covered in them. I tried to reason with her, asked her to tell someone about it. She refused, begged me to keep my mouth shut. Said she was clumsy, that she fell down the stairs. But she couldn’t tell anyone, because no one would believe her, and everyone would suspect Jack.”
She breathes deeply, like she’d suffocate if she didn’t breathe right now.
“He got bolder every time. The sex got rougher, and she wasn’t into it.
I could hear her crying, but I didn’t do anything to stop him.
I was too scared. And even if by some miracle I could find my courage, when I confronted her, she asked me to stay away.
I even slept at a friend's house for a couple of nights. But I couldn’t do it forever, and I never knew when he’d come to our room at night through the window. ”
Her hands are shaking now, and my chest tightens, because I think I know where this is going.
“And then, one night, he came. I could hear Liz giving him head. He sounded so fucking drunk that he barely finished. Blamed her for being a lousy fuck. But it wasn’t enough for him. He got up from her bed... and came to mine.”
She draws her knees up closer, curling into herself, and I grind my teeth until they’re nearly breaking.
“I remember his footsteps on the floor. My back was to him, but I knew he was coming for me.”
She stops again. And this time, my breathing becomes erratic. There’s a pain in my chest, spreading toward my limbs. My jaw’s locked, teeth almost breaking.
“Did he give you the scars?” It’s all I manage to ask because I’m afraid there’s something worse coming.
And my darkest suspicions come true with her next words.
“I wish,” she says with a sadness that sends a cold chill down my spine. “That night, I was lucky because he was too drunk to function.”
Her lips quiver.
“But he slipped a hand beneath my blanket and into my T-shirt, going straight for my breasts. ‘You’re next on my list,’ he whispered, and his fucking breath reeked like a distillery.”
She doesn’t look at me as she says it. Her eyes are pointing at the floor like the damn thing might crack open.
“His threat haunted me for days. Somehow, in the middle of all of this, Liz managed to be pissed at me. That should’ve been a major red flag, but I told myself she was under his spell. The man scared me to death.
“Then, less than a week later, Liz went missing. She hadn’t come home for two nights.
“Everybody went crazy looking for her. She wasn’t answering her phone, and even though I told our foster parents about this Jack guy, no one knew where to find him.”
She’s interrupted again by the sound of my grinding teeth. If I keep this up, I’m going to have to focus on growing new ones by the time she’s done.
“My parents were at the police station when I got a text from Liz’s phone, telling me to meet her outside. Something felt off, so I picked up a knife from the kitchen and tossed it in my backpack on my way out.
“When I got outside, I saw Jack’s car in front of our house. The smart thing would’ve been to call someone, but deep down, I thought she wanted to run away with him. And telling someone would’ve gotten her in trouble, too. She talked about going away with him a lot.
“He just gestured for me to get in the car, and since Liz was the one who’d texted me, I figured she was waiting in the backseat.
“She wasn’t.” Her voice dips lower.
“But he said he’d take me to her so she could explain everything. Said she needed my help with something. I knew it had to be a trick, but I was too afraid he’d hurt her if I ran back inside. So, I went with him.”
Every cell in my body is pulsing now, but I stay still. I have to.
“He drove for a few miles to an abandoned building. The place was a mess—paint falling off the walls, the doors barely held together, and the stench of rot so strong it overpowered all other senses.”
She swallows again.
“I followed him through a few hallways, and while we were walking, I managed to grab the knife from the backpack and hide it in my jacket. I didn’t trust him and had every reason not to. But there was that chance he really knew where Liz was, so I had to take it. I had to follow him.”
She closes her eyes.
“He stopped in front of a door and told me to go inside... to talk with Liz. I fucking knew he was lying, but when I turned to walk away, it was already too late.
“His hands were on my waist, pressing me against the wall. I tried to fight him, but he was too strong.
“He shoved me onto a dirty mattress on the floor that made my stomach turn. Then he climbed on top of me. He was so powerful, rushing to unzip my jeans. Too strong for me to stop him.”
I’m trying to refill my glass, but all I manage to do is shatter it in my hand.
That doesn’t stop her though, not this time.
It feels like if she stops for even a second, she won’t find the power to pick up where she left.
And I don’t blame her. This shit feels impossible to hear, let alone talk about.
“That’s when I grabbed the knife. Took it out of my jacket and stabbed him in the back.
“Two hundred thirteen times.
“And I wouldn’t have stopped, but Liz came into the room when she heard him screaming. I was so glad to see her. I hoped she’d check on me, see if I was okay. Instead, she started crying for him... and called an ambulance.”
Brynn starts to laugh again, the bitter sound echoing in the air.
“She told everyone I was jealous. Told everyone I killed him because I wanted to be with him. People betray your trust so fucking easily.”
Her shoulders shake, but she keeps going on like she has to get this out.