JACQUELINE I cut a piece of chicken and bit delightfully into it. Mom had come home early to prepare a delicious lunch of asparagus and chicken.It was the tastiest meal I’d had in a while.I looked towards Mom, who was eating slowly, and said,“This is so delicious; I’m afraid to ask how much it cost to make this.”She smiled faintly, her fork hovering over the plate. “Less than you think. Besides, I wanted us to eat together tonight.”The smell of roasted garlic and lemon was still clinging to the air. The kitchen light above the table made the chicken skin glisten. My glass of water was half-empty, a little condensation ring forming under it. I shifted my foot against the leg of my chair and felt the rough patch on the wood where the varnish had peeled.Mom’s eyes lifted from her plate. “So… How was your day?”My fork paused halfway to my mouth as I thought about everything that happened earlier in the day. I thought about the horrible trance in the hospital and the nurse who had
EZRA I kept her face between my palms, my thumbs brushing her cheeks as though I could memorize every curve of her skin through touch alone. The kiss deepened without thought, her breath mingling with mine, warm and unhurried. She made a small sound against my mouth, something like a laugh caught in her throat, before she leaned back just enough for her lips to part from mine.“I’m hungry,” she said, eyes glinting with that mischievous softness I had missed for far too long. “If you’re not, I’m ready to eat.”Her words curled through me like the flicker of a flame. I didn’t let her go right away. Instead, I pulled her closer for two, maybe three more kisses, slower this time, just to feel the shape of her mouth and the faint tremor in her breath when she smiled into them.“I am not finished with you,” I murmured, but my grip loosened. She gave me a look that said she knew exactly what I meant and exactly how much I meant it. Then she slipped from my hands and turned toward the door,
JACQUELINEI should have known, though; I should have known that no matter how I tried to mind my business, Nina wasn't going to mind hers. She took delight in trying to make my life a misery. I knew before I even looked up that she had walked towards my table. The scent of her perfume reached me first, sweet but sharp, like fake strawberries.When I lifted my head, Nina was standing there at the side of my table.She looked slightly different. Her platinum blonde hair was whiter than usual and made her look almost old. Her face looked caked, like she'd rubbed too much foundation. I shook my head, because there was a time this devilish-looking girl had been my best friend, a time when I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. A time when I would have vouched for her innocence and pureness of heart. She tilted her head a little as she regarded me, nothing but contempt and hatred in the depths of her eyes. Before she could make a sound, something moved fast in my peri
JACQUELINE Blair was still staring at me like she could see the dream crawling under my skin. Her eyebrows were pulled together so tight there was a little line between them.“That is really messed up,” she said, shaking her head. “Like… nightmare messed up. I don’t even have words.”I let out a breath I had been holding since I woke up. “I know. It is the scariest thing I have ever experienced. I keep thinking about it and my whole body just—” I rubbed my arms. “It is like my skin remembers it.”She glanced at me, the corner of her mouth twitching like she wanted to say more but wasn’t sure if she should. “Do you think maybe it is just about… him leaving?”My stomach twisted. “Ezra?”“Yeah. The heartbreak. The pain. All of it piling up until your brain makes up something awful.”I shook my head. “It feels like more than that. It is not just sad. It is heavy. Like someone put a lid on me and I cannot move or scream or breathe. It does not feel like something my mind just made up. It
JACQUELINE I woke to the sound of someone whispering my name.My eyes blinked open to light that was too white and too bright. The first thing I saw was Blair’s face leaning over me, her eyebrows scrunched together so tightly they almost touched. Beside her was a nurse in pale blue scrubs, staring down at me like I was a puzzle she was trying to solve.For a moment, I didn’t move. My body felt heavy, and there was something strange about the way my arms rested. I turned my head, and that was when I noticed the straps. Thin, soft ones around my wrists. My legs too. I was strapped to a bed.A hospital bed.My heart gave one hard thud against my ribs. I looked from the straps to Blair, my voice breaking before I even finished the words.“What… what am I doing here?”Blair’s lips parted like she wanted to answer, but the nurse stepped in first, holding her hands out as if calming a wild animal.“Jacqueline, take a deep breath for me. You’re safe here, okay? Just take a breath.”I wasn’t
EZRAThe moment I opened my eyes, I knew something was wrong. I hadn't even realized when I fell asleep. Gyai, my sweet little Gyai, had been in my arms, and I'd been stroking her long silky hair. That was the last thing I remembered.I yawned and stretched as I wondered just how long I had slept. My body ached from lying still for too long, and when I shifted, the sheet slid against my bare skin.I reached out a hand to pull Gyai's body against mine, but all I touched was the cold bedsheet. The bed was empty.The place where she had been was cold, the faintest dent in the mattress the only sign that she had ever been there at all.My pulse quickened.I pushed myself up, the blankets pooling at my waist. For a second I told myself she was just in the next room. That she’d be back any moment. But the part of me that had lived three hundred years without her was already moving before I could talk myself down.My feet hit the floor. The wood was cool against my soles.Had we had some s