Tell Me I’m Not The Villain (Tell Me You See Me #1)

Prologue

Lydia-Age Eight

“Where the hell is it then?” Daddy yells as he slams his fist on the wheel. “You use all my shit and then lie to my damn face about it? Do you think I’m fucking stupid, Elaine? Do you really wanna piss me off right now?”

I hate when they fight like this.

“I didn’t touch anything, Chris! You took the last of it this morning and don’t even remember because you’re so far out of your fucking mind to keep track of your own shit!”

Daddy backhands her—hard, making me flinch in my seat. I watch as my mom holds her face, and I can see the blood dripping through her fingers. Camilla grabs me and pulls me next to her, trying to cover my ears.

I know she’s trying to protect me, but it doesn’t really help. I still hear Mom crying and Daddy yelling.

“Don’t tell me what I did! You stupid bi—”

My sister squeezes my ears tighter, muffling the noise.

I hear my mom begging him to stop.

They aren’t always like this, but when they take a lot of that medicine, it gets pretty bad. It makes them really mean to each other…and to us. Well, they’re always mean to us, actually.

I wrap my hands around Camilla’s arm and press my face into her shoulder, not wanting to watch Daddy keep hitting her. The car keeps jerking, and the seat belt digs into my neck. I try to move it a little so it will stop scratching me, but I can’t get it to stop. I hate the way it feels.

He keeps yelling about the pills and trust and how much he hates her and hates us, how he wishes he had never gotten stuck with someone like her. He keeps calling her the B word I’m not allowed to say, and a whore. I don’t know what that word means.

When she tells him to stop the car and let us out, that she’ll take us and go away so he doesn’t have to deal with us, he tells her she can’t leave him.

We’re going so fast.

When I look out the window, we’re passing all the cars around us. It looks like they’re all going in slow motion with how fast we’re going.

“THE LIGHT!” Mom screams. “CHRIS, THE LIGHT IS RED—”

Everything happens so fast, yet it all seems slowed down at the same time.

I hear a loud horn, and then I can’t see anything.

All I can hear is glass breaking and a big crunching noise that hurts my ears.

I feel the seat belt pull so tight on my throat that I can’t breathe.

Camilla’s arms tighten around me, and I hear everyone screaming, but I can’t make any noise.

I can’t even ask what’s happening. The screams turn into ringing in my ears, and I can’t hear anything anymore.

My head hurts, my stomach hurts, my legs hurt… and I’m so scared.

The car keeps flipping and then finally stops.

I don’t feel Camilla holding onto me anymore, and when I try to lift my head, I don’t see my mom or dad in the front seats.

All the windows are gone, and I can barely see the hood of the car.

It’s really scrunched up. It hurts to lift my head, but I still try to look around.

I look past the windshield that’s now gone—and scream.

I see Mommy and Daddy laying in the road.

There’s glass and blood everywhere, and their bodies don’t look right.

Mom’s hair is covered in blood, and I can’t really see her face, but she looks…

broken. My dad isn’t far from her, and there’s something inside his stomach, hanging out… it looks like a piece of the car.

I feel really sick, like I might throw up.

They don’t look okay…they look…dead.

The screaming won’t stop.

Somebody, please make it stop.

I turn my head and see Camilla not moving either.

Nobody else is around. It’s me screaming.

I try to reach out and touch Camilla, but I can’t move my left arm. I use my other arm and try to tap her, but she doesn’t move. I try to shake her, and still…nothing. I don’t stop. I keep shaking her and yelling for her to wake up.

Then I see her eyes slowly blink open.

My heart is beating so fast.

“CAMILLA!”

“Yeah…” She struggles to say much, but she tries to reach for me. “It’s…okay…Lydia…we’re going…to be…okay.”