“Then why bother? She’s not good for you.”
“Love does crazy things. Sorry, you have to die.” Her sad face turned determined. She jumped, hooking her hands on the gutter.
What was she doing? I wondered, but then watched as she yanked the lights down.
“Oh—” I started to warn her, but then stopped. She literally just told me I had to die. Why would I help her? I stood back and let her pull down the old, faulty lights.
“Ouch,” she winced as she got shocked.
Just like Billy had.
Back on the porch, she turned and smiled wickedly. “I’m going to decorate you like a tree. Tobias is going to come back to the house to see you strangled with the lights around your neck.”
My eyes went to the porch, where the snow was melted. I stepped back, and she stepped forward.
The electric lights were snapping and popping and let off a loud hum as she dragged more of them down. I continued to walk backward, watching her footsteps carefully. She stopped moving when she saw what I was watching.
“You think I’m stupid? These lights are old. I’m not getting electro?—”
I ran forward with my hands out and shoved her back, like she’d done to me to get me outside. She flew back into the puddle behind her, still holding tight to the faulty lights.
The lights let out a loud electric hum as her body lit up and then went stiff.
The bottom of my boots are rubber. They didn’t conduct electricity. I stared at her limp body. Her mouth was frozen in shock, her eyes wide and gone. It all happened so fast, I wasn’t sure how to feel. I felt... alive.
I was still alive.
I turned and looked around. I’d made it to the porch for the first time in months. And I survived. A slow smile slid over my face.
I survived.
I left my house and wasn’t immediately murdered.
Ruby was. So was Billy.
But I was alive.
I inhaled the cold, fresh air as if it were the first time.
I was alive.
Good.
Now, for the last one.
Neve.
Rule 11 - Lumen
RUN, BITCH, RUN.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped onto the stairs. I paused, then took another. Then one more, and soon, I was on the ground. The crunch of the snow under my boots was foreign, scary, and yet, invigorating. I looked back at the house. I could have gone back inside, hidden, looked for a phone or tried my internet, but I didn’t.
I’m moving forward.
I inhaled again, steeled myself, and took a step toward the pitch-black trees.
Every step away from the house was like a tether being stretched. In an instant, I could be yanked back, and a part of me wanted to return to the house and hide. Another part of me knew that I needed to do this. I needed to find Tobias.
