ean. But he won’t be looking for me here. The boat I rented isn’t under my name, and I didn’t use any money tied to me to pay for it. It will take a lot of digging on Langston’s part to find me.
Three days.
I have three days until Langston comes for me.
It will take two to make it to Miami, where I grew up. Where I met the boy who shone brighter than the sun. I’m tired of living in his shadow. In three days, we end this.
I drive the boat straight through day and night. I don’t sleep. Thank God I’ve learned to operate without that basic need.
I’d forgotten how thrilling it is to be driving a boat by myself with nothing but the lights of shore and the stars overhead. I’d forgotten how bumpy the waves feel when you’re alone in a boat. They feel ten times as intense as they really are. I’d forgotten how eery the calm quietness of the ocean seems with only the waves knocking against my boat, reminding me of how quickly the sea can turn dangerous.
But even being here, I’m still not called back to this life. I’d rather be anywhere but here. The ocean hasn’t been kind to me.
I get to Miami as the sun rises on the third day, the day that Langston says he’s coming for me. But if I succeeded, today will come and go without a word from Langston.
I dock the boat, and then I walk down the pier, the sun already heating me as I walk, making me want to strip out my clothes and into a bikini, but I won’t. Not today. Today is about hiding, not being seen.
I rent a car from the car rental down the street; then, I drive to the house I grew up in.
No, that’s not true. The house I grew up in was Enzo’s guest house, and that house burned to the ground.
No, I drive to the house my mother lived in when she wasn’t working. The house I lived in until I was ten but barely remember.
The house we fought in.
The house I begged her to take me away from, to move anywhere but here. She did as I asked. We moved, and my life turned upside down in one night. Forever changed, all because of where we moved to and who my mother worked for.
She couldn’t be a teacher or a hairstylist or a maid in a hotel. No, she had to be a maid for a man who took whatever he wanted with no regard for life. No regard for consequences.
I never thought I’d be back in Miami, let alone the tiny one-bedroom home that I once shared with my mother. That was when I wasn’t sleeping at Enzo’s or even Langston’s. I did anything I could to avoid coming here when I lived here. I never thought I’d visit now that I’m an adult with options.
Still, it’s the place I feel my mom the most. I should have visited before, but I just couldn’t.
“Hey, Mom. You’ve been taking care of the old place?” I ask to the sky as I walk inside. My mom died from an overdose the same night I learned that my jackass father was still alive on my eighteenth birthday.
The house is empty. There is no furniture. No sign any human has stepped foot in here since the time my mom lived here.
I sigh and look at Tiffany’s phone. It’s nine o’clock in the morning. I have a long time to wait.
Thankfully, I have my nightmares to keep me company.
I sit on the floor in the corner of the living room, and I wait, hoping my hiding spot is good enough to hide from the devil.
Two minutes left until midnight.
Two minutes left until I win.
That’s when I hear the car. The slamming of a door shut. The honk of the horn as he locks the car. The heavy footsteps as he approaches the house.
Langston’s here.
I know it without looking up as the front door opens.
He found me.
“You’ve gotten better at hide and seek, I see,” Langston frowns at me.
“And you’ve become more of a monster,” I shoot back.