I’m shaking.
I feel the tension coiling down the length of me in unsteady tremors that have my every breath quivering and my heart racing.
Maybe it’s the house. All the creepy shit everywhere.
Maybe it’s the storm slamming like some raving beast against the side of the house.
Maybe it’s because no matter how I twist it up in my head, I don’t understand why they’re here, but I can’t bring myself to ask the question burning like a lit ember in my throat.
Who are you?
What are you?
Because it sounds crazy.
Iknowthem. I’ve known them for years and even with the time we were apart, Iknow them.To my soul. To the very foundation that makes me who I am. My core makeup.
It makes no sense and I get that, too. We were close before they left, but this tiny heartbeat puttering next to mine is different. It flutters with something I can’t explain, a feeling so deep I ache with it. Looking into Kellen’s face washed in shadows and firelight, I feel like something in me has known him my entire life and ... I love him.
I love them.
Which makes no sense. And I don’t know how to explain it without the overwhelming surge of emotions I don’t understand choking me, except a part of me feels whole now that they’re here.
“Rina.”
Kellen’s arms enclose me and pull me into the safety of his chest. The promise of absolute protection has me burrowing like a lost creature into his hold and closing my eyes.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” I croak into the hard muscles of his shoulder.
His lips brush the top of my head. “I know, my love. I’m sorry.”
I swallow back the knot threatening to pull me under the crashing waves of hysteria and focus on the soft patter of his heart beneath my cheek.
So steady. So perfectly balanced with his infinite calm.
“Am I crazy?” I ask softly, needing to know.
His hand strokes through my hair and down my back. “No.”
I sniffle before I can stop myself and lift my chin to peer up into his beautiful face. “Are you real?”
If he thinks my question is insane, his features never shift. His gaze remains level and gentle peering down into mine as he sweeps the back of his knuckles along my cheek.
“Yes.”
He lets me continue to cling to him until I pull away. I’m no steadier than I was, but I’m not on the precipice of madness either. Instead, I teeter somewhere in between. A tenuous line that could tip me either way. As I hover over my own potential destruction, it becomes painfully clear that my choices are limited.
I can choose to believe that I am safe with them in this house of horrors with the jar of teeth and screaming books. Or I can try and run. I can flee into the storm and endless night and takemy chances getting devoured by the thing howling against the windows.
“I need a minute,” I whisper, unable to focus when he’s a looming force holding me together.
I do worry for a second, when I untangle myself from him, if I’m going to be able to carry myself out of the room on legs that no longer feel like my own. The knees wobble just enough to cause a flicker of concern, but I manage to make it out into the foyer with its cluster of shadows and endless miles of silence.
Away from them.
Away from all the things that should feel wrong, but don’t, I draw in a breath coated with grime and dust. I flatten a palm across my quivering heart and take every inhale slow and exhale even slower. It’s a technique Mom teaches at the hospital. I’ve seen her walk people through it enough times to guide myself until the pressure eases.
You’re not crazy,I tell myself firmly.
