로그인After that day, Dad kept visiting the foster care like it had become some kind of secret lifeline he couldn’t quit, and each time he walked through the front door he returned a little brighter than the last, like the house itself was slowly waking up from the long, gray coma it had been in since Mom and Jake left. It was good seeing him like that—really fucking good—especially with the way my own life had turned into a nonstop blur of exam prep and half-finished notes and the constant, gnawing pull of everything I still refused to let go. Finals were breathing down my neck like a rabid dog, every morning starting with me hunched over my desk at 5 a.m. with coffee that tasted like shit and textbooks that might as well have been written in a foreign language for all the focus I could muster. The first few visits after that homemade pasta lunch were tentative, like he was testing the waters to see if the good mood would stick or if the empty house would drag him back under. He’d come
I hesitated for half a second before sliding over, perching on the edge because I still wasn’t sure if this was real or just some temporary high before the crash. “Not cookies,” he said, shaking his head. “Just… talking. Those kids have it rough, some of them way rougher than I did back then. But they’re tough. Resilient. Reminds me that things doesn’t stay broken forever. One of the boys asked me about my old car projects, and before I knew it I was in the garage showing him how to change oil on that junker out back. Felt good.”I nodded slowly, picking at a loose thread on the couch cushion because looking at him too long made my eyes sting in a way I hated. “Hmm. Sounds… nice, I guess. Better than staring at the wall or crying in the driveway, anyway.” The words slipped out before I could filter them, and I winced a little, but Dad just chuckled like he expected it. I couldn’t help the small grin that broke through again. “Just don’t go all nostalgic and decide to adopt a bunch
I drove home in a haze, the heater blasting lukewarm air that did jack shit to thaw the knot off my stomach. The house came into view way too soon, that familiar two-story with the peeling blue paint on the shutters and the empty driveway where Mom’s SUV used to sit like it belonged there. My stomach twisted as I pulled up to the curb and killed the engine. How the hell was I supposed to face Dad after this morning? I’d walked away from him and left him there like an asshole because I couldn’t handle one more crack in the foundation of whatever was left of our family. Guilt had chewed at me the whole drive, mixing with the anger until I felt sick. He’s probably still in that study staring at the wall, I thought as I grabbed my backpack and slammed the car door. Or worse, halfway through a bottle already, wondering why his daughter bailed on him too. Fuck. I didn’t want to deal with broken Dad tonight. I just wanted to collapse on my bed, stare at the fairy lights Camila helped s
Class dragged like it always did now—Mr. Hargrove droning on about derivatives and limits while I doodled in the margin of my notebook, sketching little question marks and the outline of Camila’s pineapple keychain because focusing on actual math felt impossible. I nodded when he called on me, muttered something that sounded right enough to keep him off my back.The bell rang eventually, and I bolted before anyone could ask why my eyes looked red or why I hadn’t turned in last week’s homework. English was next—some essay on symbolism in The Great Gatsby that I half-assed on my phone during lunch, typing one-handed while I inhaled a stale granola bar from my backpack. Lunch itself was a blur of avoiding eye contact with Venessa’s table and ignoring the whispers that still followed me like shadows. That’s the girl whose best friend disappeared. Her family’s all messed up now too. Yeah, well, fuck the whispers. I had bigger problems than their pity.By the time the final bell rang and
“What the fuck do you want!” I hissed, my hands balled into fists at my sides, backpack straps digging into my shoulders like they were trying to anchor me before I did something stupid like lunge at her. Venessa rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck, then pushed off her car with a dramatic sigh. “Oh, shut up,” she snapped, already starting to walk toward me, her boots crunching on the slush like she was on a goddamn runway. She stopped a couple feet away, tilting her head like she was sizing me up for a fight she knew she clearly couldn’t win without her minions. “How are you doing?”“What?” I asked, completely fucking confused, my voice cracking on the word because what the actual hell was this? She glanced around the parking lot quickly, like she was checking for eavesdroppers, then leaned in a little closer. “Alright, I’ll cut the bullshit. I hate Camila. I’m not worried about her one bit, not after she shoved my face in the school toilet, and I genuinely hope
He didn’t answer right away. Just shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight, those stupid fucking slippers making a soft, ridiculous squelch in the slush like some pathetic sound effect from a bad movie. The silence stretched, awkwardly might I add, the kind that made me want to fill it with more yelling just to hear something besides the wind rattling the bare branches overhead. I could feel the cold seeping through my own jacket now, biting at my fingers and nose, but I wasn’t moving until he gave me something—anything—that wasn’t this blank, broken stare.Finally he sighed, the sound dragging out of him. “I’m fine, kiddo. Just… thinking. Got a lot on my mind these days. Your mom leaving, Jake going with her. Feels like I messed up everything, doesn’t it? Like I’m the reason the whole family splintered apart.”I rolled my eyes, but there was no real heat in it, just exhaustion and that familiar ache that never fucking left. “Dad, stop. It’s not all on you. Mom’s th
The days that followed blurred together in a way that felt unreal, like I was watching my own life through a pane of glass. Everything moved too fast and too slow at the same time. One moment I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, the next, people were talking about fabrics, rituals, dates
TESSA~I stormed into the police station, my sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor that smelled like spilled old coffee. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat, choking the fuck out of me. It had been months since Camila and her whole family vanished, and these assholes we
Ethan…And then, just as I thought all hope was gone, I heard it.A low, feral growl, deep and resonant. My ears picked it up through the chaos, but it was different.I froze.There was movement from a distance. The men surrounding Ethan paused for just a fraction of a second, sensing it too.And
It was crazy how fast everything happened. One moment we were fighting for our lives. The next… we were standing in the ruins of victory and loss. My pack won. But my father died. I kept turning that contradiction over in my head, again and again, like a wound I couldn’t stop picking. The thre







