“Revenge? How? What?” I frowned, wondering what Seth was cooking up in what had become a dark mind. All I knew was if someone was hurting my friend, I needed to tell someone.
“I’ll kill the baby.” He shrugged like it was nothing. “Then they’ll take me away and I won’t have to see Phillip. Killing someone is a good plan. It’s not like anyone cares about me.”
I wet my lips, worry creeping through me. This wasn’t my best friend. “I care about you. You can’t kill a baby, Seth. It’ll be your new baby sister or brother. You’re supposed to love it and teach it things. Like with me and Cady. I taught her how to braid her hair yesterday.”
He was quiet as his breathing increased, his dark eyes fixed on me. I took a tentative step back. Seth had never turned his violence on me. He’d always been kind and sweet, taking care of me as much as I took care of him.
Something seemed to snap within him in that moment. It was like a lightbulb had gone off over his head. His face went from expressionless to his lips curling into an anguished sneer, his eyes glazing over and darkening into pits of wickedness.
“I don’t want to love it.” He glared at me before closing the distance between us and giving me a shove.
I cried out as I tumbled to my backside. Oscar fell out of my hands and rushed off squeaking as I struggled to sit up. I hit my head on the concrete floor and my vision swam, making my tummy churn and head spin.
“Don’t you get it, Sirena? I hate it. I hate everything.” He knelt beside me for a moment. I reached out to him thinking he was going to tell me he was sorry and help me up, but he surprised me again and fisted my hair. I let a wail out as he tugged so hard I thought he would pull all the dark strands from my head.
I fought, slapping at him. He reared back and punched me in the face, dazing me. Seth was stronger by a lot and twice my size. Even at nine he looked a few years older than other kids our age.
If the hair pulling wasn’t enough, the hot trickle of blood out of my nose let me know this wasn’t one of his wrestling games with me. Seth had never been mean or cruel to me before.
“Stop. Stop!” I cried out as I struggled beneath him as he moved to straddle me. He released my hair, but his fists kept flying at my face.
“Seth! Seth!” I tried to cover my face as my best friend in the whole world went crazy and beat me on the dirty cracked cement, the dying sunlight illuminating the anger on his face.
I was no match for Seth Cain. Black spots dotted my vision as my arms fell limply to my side.
Seth’s sobs and his soft words tickled my ears as I lay beneath him, my face and head hurting. “You’d be better off dead, Rinny, then to spend another moment in this stupid world. I’m saving you. It’s what friends do, right? Sirena?” He stopped hitting me. I felt his warm breath on my face as I stared up at him through swollen eyelids. “I love you, Rinny. You’re my best friend in the whole world. I’m saving you. I promise I am. Wait for me to get there, OK? In heaven? Things will be better then. We’ll be best friends always. I swear it. No more hurting here. I don’t want anyone to ever hurt you. I’m sorry. You’ll be safe forever. Mom says angels always go to heaven. I promise I’ll find you.”
There was relief as he moved off my body. The sounds of shuffling and scraping made me wince before I managed to crack my eyes open again to see him looming over me with a shovel. As much as I wanted to stop what I knew was coming, my body felt like lead. I had to make the effort though.
The shovel came down with a swift crack over my face. The blood gushed from the cut on the side of my face in a hot river. I rolled onto my stomach as he lifted the shovel again and made a feeble attempt to crawl away from him. It was useless. The shovel swished through the air once more, cracking me on the back of the head, sending me to my tummy hard, my face smacking off the pavement. The warmth from the blood drizzled down my neck and onto the floor.
“Seth,” I cried out weakly. “P-Please. . .”
“Wait for me, Rinny,” he choked out as he brought the shovel down again on my head.
The last thing I saw before the darkness claimed me was Seth’s white shoes, my blood splattered on them.
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Double Dare You
A Black Falls High Spinoff Novel
One
Jamie
I closed my eyes to compose myself before blowing out a breath. “I’m sorry, but I don’t set the prices. We do offer credit for other textbooks you may have—”
“I’ve already sold those books back to pay for other books.” The guy shook his head, the dark wisps of hair falling across his forehead. “Why is this so expensive? I literally already work two jobs. I have to have this book or I’m screwed. I-I just don’t have the money. It’s real shit when you have to choose between eating for the month and paying for a damn textbook.”
“I’m sorry,” I offered helplessly. If I had the answers, I’d probably have enough money to pay for everyone’s books on campus.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. “How much do I owe?”
“Uh, six ninety-seven and twelve cents.”
He cursed and swept his gaze over the stack of books. “Did you take calculus?”