Page 105 of When a Soul Cries

His weight.

My fear.

My voice telling him no.

The ceiling above me.

Aunt Trice slapping me afterward when I tried to tell her.

My suitcase.

The bus.

Running.

Suddenly the Crestmont parking lot disappeared.

For half a second, I was back in Pinehaven.

Back in that house.

Back to being the girl nobody believed.

“You ruined his life,” Aunt Trice accused, her voice cutting through the memories and dragging me back into the parking lot.

I blinked hard and focused on her.

“What?” I asked, disbelief slipping into my voice.

Her face twisted as she pointed toward me. “After you ran your ass out of Pinehaven, everybody started talking. Folks looking at him sideways. Whispering behind his back. People stopped fucking with him.”

I stared at her, stunned that she could stand there and say any of this to me.

Aunt Trice threw her hands out. “His name was fucked up because of the shit you went around saying. Then he left me. Everything changed after you left.”

Disbelief slowly pushed through the fear sitting in my chest.

“He left you because of me?” I asked, staring at her like I couldn’t possibly have heard her correctly.

“Yes, because of you!” Aunt Trice shouted, her face tightening with rage. “You started all that shit with the shit you said Soleia!”

My mouth fell open.

“The shit I said?” I repeated, hurt and disbelief twisting together inside my chest.

Aunt Trice rolled her eyes.

That one little movement made something inside me crack.

I tightened my arm around Halo.

“Aunt Trice, that man raped me,” I said, staring directly into her eyes.

Her face went flat.

No shock.

No sadness.