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These men.
This family.
“Did you give her something?” Noah asks. “Did you drug her?” His voice is dripping with venom, the words lashing out.
Edward laughs again, the sound grating to my ears. He’s immune to the poisonous words that leave Noah’s lips—or they don’t bother him a bit. “Of course not. What lies is that girl spinning?”
“I don’t think they’re lies.” Noah says, and a rush of relief blankets me. I feel less alone knowing that he believes me, that he doesn’t think I’m crazy or a liar.
Edwards scoffs, digging his hands into his pants pockets as if the accusation is amusing, a complete fabrication.
“Did you drug her?” Noah repeats, this time the words louder, angrier, knives slashing out into the air.
But Edward is still unphased, still arrogant. “You’re just looking for an excuse,” he says, his dark eyes focused on me now. He takes a step forward, and I take a step back—toward the cliffs. A dangerous death march. “You just want a reason, anything to hold onto so you don’t have to face what you did.” His eyes sparkle with amusement, with lust, as he turns his gaze back to Noah. “Are you going to tell her or am I?” He raises a brow as he says the words to his son.
“Shut up!” Noah shouts, the anger is still there, his words still deadly, but now laced with something else, something worse. Fear.
“What is he talking about?” I ask, I find myself backing up further, moving away from them, a feeble attempt to escape. The heels of my feet jostle the stones I’m stepping on and I realize I’m on the edge, only a step from going over into the inky black waves beneath me.
Edward only smiles, his teeth showing with the action. “Tell her, Son.” He taunts, “Tell her, or I will.”
Noah’s whole body tenses, every line of his back is taut, but he doesn’t turn around to look at me and he doesn’t say a word. The only sound coming from him is the ragged breaths he drags into his body, his chest rising with each one.
I’ve never seen him like this, riled up. My version of Noah has always been calm and collected, always in control. But this one? This one is feral, on edge, ready to attack.
“What is he talking about?” I ask, my voice shaky and weak even though I try to control it. There’s something happening between the three of us, something unspeakable lingering.
Edward’s eyes find me again, he takes another step closer, knowing I’m backed up as far as I can, nowhere left to run to. That sinister laugh leaves his lips again as he looks at me. “You pushed her,” he says, amusement in his voice. “You pushed your own sister over that ledge.” He points a fat finger at my feet. “You killed her.”
One Year Earlier - Halloween Night
MIK IS ACTING WEIRD.
She has two very different drunk personalities. The flirty drunk. The one where her hands roam my body, light kisses trailing along my neck. She’s happy, fun, energetic. The light of my life.
Or, the bad drunk. The one where she gets weird, sinks into her depression, let’s her demons come out to play. She screams, she fights, she cries. I hate that version of her. The weak one, though I would never tell her that.
It’s fitting that tonight she falls into the second category when it should be a happy night for us. She’s spiraling, spinning out of control and I can’t stand the sight of it. I hate her when she’s like this, and honestly I think she hates me too.
Auden is trying to talk her down, trying to calm her, which seems unfair after she walked through the front door crying herself. Both Wilder sisters have demons hidden inside them, stuffed down so deep.
But I think most people do, I think we all have vaults within ourselves where we hide the things about us we like the least. The parts of us, the memories, the things that keep us awake at night. Some do a better job of stuffing them down and hiding them than others.
I dragged them out to the patio where the two sisters shout at each other with tear-stained faces. Black mascara drips down both of their cheeks, staining them with the dark color. Something happened to Auden, I think, but she won’t tell me, she only wants her sister. And her sister is in no state to comfort her.
And then she saw the rock on her finger, lifting her sister's hand to examine the thing before she brought her heated gaze to me. “You proposed?” she said the words accusingly. “Without her family here?”
In hindsight, I can see why that makes me an asshole, but I needed her to say yes, needed her by my side. I needed her to shield me from my own demons.
With Mik, I’m whole again, no longer the fragment of myself I am at work or with my family. I need that light in my life.
I don’t give Auden the courtesy of an answer, instead I shrug.
“Why are you doing this?” Mik shouts, and I don’t know if it's at Auden or the air.
She’s spiraling, shouting to the wind now. She’s worse than normal. How much did she drink?
“No!” she shouts, and this time she starts running.
