All Chapters of To Love A Monster: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

ValentinaPastI watch out the window as the second moving truck pulls out of the driveway of the house next door. The driver takes the turn a little wide, and the front tire jumps the curb before he's out of our private little cul-de-sac. The house sold a few months ago, and I've been keeping an eye on all the construction. I even snuck over a few times to have a look around, but my dad doesn't know about that. I'll have to pretend I'm seeing everything for the first time when we go over to meet our new neighbors later today.Through my binoculars, a birthday gift from Dad, I zoom in on the movers carrying box after box into the house. I even get to look inside some of the rooms as a legion of workers unpack all the nice, new things. Downstairs is easier to see into since the windows are floor to ceiling. Upstairs, I can almost see into one of the bedrooms.Movement along the path from the swimming pool to the detached and much smaller cottage catches my eye, and I turn to see two bl

Valentina"Cielo, come here and meet Tina, darling."Cielo looks up at his mom, then at me and he smiles, but there's something about him that makes me feel weird."Hey, Tina. Nice glasses," he says.I'm pretty sure he doesn't think they're at all nice.I adjust them, pushing them farther up my nose as my cheeks burn. "Thanks," I say, although I'm not thankful. I'm embarrassed. I should have put on my new glasses. They make me look a little less nerdy.Cielo's dad clears his throat. Cielo rolls his eyes but holds out his hand for me to shake. I take it and do the shaking because he just lets his hang there, limp."What's in there?" Cielo asks.I look down at what he's pointing to and remember the cookies. It feels stupid to have them now. I feel like a little kid."Tina baked some cookies to welcome you all. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" Dad says. He squeezes my shoulder encouragingly. I'm sure he knows I feel embarrassed. We're close, my dad and me. I guess that's normal when you do

ValentinaA light goes on in the cottage and I jump, remembering how he'd caught me watching them that first day when they all moved in. What he'd said to me, his cryptic message to a twelve-year-old girl:Some things are better left unknown.Thinking back on it now, it's like he was reading my future.Someone moves around inside. I guess it's the new staff who live on site. Esmerelda Hendrick was staff, and often, Nicholas was treated as staff. I'm not sure how Mira could stand having them on their property, actually.I turn to go, not wanting to be here any longer. It's all too much. I set the binoculars on top of one of the boxes, deciding I don't want them after all. I take the photo with me and walk out of my house and into my car. I put the things inside, grab my dress out from the back and walk across to the Ricci house.There, I climb the stairs to the imposing front door. When I look at the sculpture beside it, I remember how Dad had lifted the heavy thing out of the arms of

Valentina“He wouldn’t have killed me. It would be nice if you had some faith in your fiancé, Tina,” Cielo says as he drives too fast into town. We’re late to meet his parents, and he’s got a bruise forming along his jaw he’ll have to explain.“His mother just died, Cielo. Give him a break.”“She died half a fucking year ago.”“Are you serious?”He glances at me, deep green eyes intent. His blond hair flops over his forehead, making him look younger than he is. Kinder than he is. “He just drives me fucking insane.”I reach over to brush the hair away and touch a tissue to the cut to wipe away dried blood. “You do the same to him.”“Whose side are you on, anyway, V?”Cielo hates that Silas had a pet name for me growing up. I sigh and sit back against my seat. “It’s been a really long, really hard week, okay? Can we just take a break?”He glances over, then reaches his hand out to squeeze my shoulder. “Yeah, sorry. How are you doing?”I shift my gaze out the side window. “They gave him

ValentinaPastSwimming LessonsI love water. I love wading into the sea or any pool—the bluer the better, the deeper the better, but I only ever stay in the shallows.Technically, I can swim. I know how I'm supposed to move in the water, at least. Dad has insisted on lessons. Five years' worth of them. But there's something inside me that just won't let me go deeper. I'm five-feet-four-inches now, and I won't even swim out to six feet even though I know that if I were to go under and panic, all I'd have to do is kick off the bottom and I'd resurface. I know this in my head, but no matter what, I cannot get my limbs to move, to do what I know how to do as soon as I can't feel the bottom.It's weird. Everyone swims. It's embarrassing."Tina," Cielo says, coming up behind me and settling next to me at the pool. He hands me a beer, and I take it, although I don't really want it. Sometimes I think he forgets I'm two years younger than him.He taps his bottle to mine and takes a big swallo