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“Oh, right. I’ve set mine. I’ll wake you.” I reach out and switch off the light. In the velvet darkness, she’s curled against me like a magical creature, molding to me, soft and warm, small and yet strong.
“Thanks.” She trails her fingers over my chest, and it all fades for a while.
I come awake when she pulls away from me. I reach instinctively for her, not wanting to let go. “Ev?”
“Bathroom. I’ll be right back.” She smoothes a hand over my face. “You’re wiped out, aren’t you? Not sleeping well?”
“I sleep well with you,” I mumble, brain hazed and studded with snatches of dreams. “Ev, stay…”
“I’ll be right back,” she says, but I fall asleep before she does.
A figure stands at the door. It’s dark and I can’t really see, but I know her. She’s sat on my bed often and stroked my hair. She hasn’t been in my room recently, though, and I can’t quite recall her face. Her hair is dark and short, her eyes big and the color of the sky.
Mom… I wait, lying in my bed. I want her to come closer, to sit again beside me. I want to feel her arms around me, her hand on my hair, her lips on my cheek. I want to hear her voice saying my name.
‘Micah, baby…’ Her voice, soft. ‘I’m here.’
But she doesn’t move. She’s just a dark shadow against the light. Then she turns to go, and I’m scared. I know she’s never coming back. She’s leaving. Leaving me behind.
I twist, struggling to get up, go after her, but for some reason I can’t move. I’m tied to the bed, tied and gagged, and I’m not in my room anymore, not in a house, but at one of the group homes. I recognize the bare hanging bulbs and stained concrete floor. I know the faces crowding around the bed, and I see the baseball bats in their hands.
I know what’s coming next, but it still doesn’t prepare me for the first blow. When it falls, I jerk and shout for help. Blow after blow falls on me, and I shout and curse, all in vain.
“Micah. Snap out of it, man.” A male voice. A strong hand shaking me. “Hey. Enough. You’ll wake up the whole building. You don’t want the bitch from next door coming over to complain again.”
Another cry is caught in my throat, and I can’t breathe. A fit of coughing overtakes me, and I curl on my side, hacking and trying to breathe.
“I’ll bring you some water,” Seth says. He knows the drill.
But I sit up with a groan. “I’m okay.”
“Ew, man, cover up.” Seth makes a face. “I don’t need to see your fucking dick.”
I pull the sheet over my lap, and he turns to go.
He stops. The only light comes through the door, and I squint, trying to see what
has him frozen.
A girl is standing there, wearing an oversized T-shirt, her hair hanging over her shoulders like sheets of beaten metal. My overtaxed brain keeps superimposing a dark shadow over her, and I know she’s leaving me.
“No.” I shake my head. “Don’t go.”
“Micah?” Ev, it’s Ev, her wide eyes flicking from me to Seth and back. “I’m not going anywhere. Just… What is Seth doing here?”
“What?” I scrape a hand over my face, hoping to restart my brain. “Seth lives here.”
“He lives with you?
“Got a problem with that?” Seth mutters irritably.
Ev rubs her temples. The T-shirt she’s wearing is mine. Why the hell do I feel warm at the thought of her wearing my clothes?
“It’s not… Not a problem,” she whispers.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Seth grumbles. “And try to keep it quiet, will ya? Trying to get some downtime here.”
He pushes past Ev, who flinches.
