AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wakeup in a small room. Four walls box me in and the lighting is dark and murky. I look up and find a large, metal, barred gate closing me in, with Puck leaning on it, watching me. I try to make sense of what’s going on before he speaks up.
“Some sort of prison, mate. Fuck knows who’s in here, but it’s some sort of secret organisation the Districts have been working on.”
I look up at him and see the look of defeat in his eyes. I’m glad to see him alive, but then my heart shatters as I remember the events of the last, what, twelve hours maybe? Who knows.
“They killed her, man,” I whisper, my eyes filling to the brim before overflowing and flooding down my cheeks.
“I know,” he mumbles back.
I look up at Puck as he walks into my cell and drops down on the shitty mattress, holding me in his arms.
“I know.”
* * *
For many weeks,the only emotions I can fathom are grief and despair. I’m lost and angry and ready for revenge, but at a loss on what to do. Me and Puck have each other’s back throughout. But even though I’m hurting and grieving the loss of my poor innocent sister, there’s still one thing that won’t leave my mind.
Theo.
And I hate that even after everything that’s happened, I’m wasting my time thinking of her.
I never replied to her that day and I have no idea if she was waiting for me. But I do know this. As much as she made me feel alive, I can’t shake the feeling that if I wasn’t so caught up in her, I might have noticed what was going on at home more. If I wasn’t sneaking out or constantly talking to her, I might have noticed my sister was pregnant and in trouble.
What happened wasn’t Theo’s fault. But my actions were. And for that, I hate Theodora Harlow.
* * *
I sit at my desk,nursing a bottle of Jack, trying to gather my thoughts. Thinking back to nine years ago brings up emotions I’d long since buried. I let my feelings towards Theo turn sour, using her as the thing to blame for all my problems back then, all because I was happy. How could I have been so happy when my sister was pregnant and struggling?
But thinking about it now, I know I was wrong. Theo wasn’t to blame for my problems. If anything, she helped. Instead of completely drowning in grief, I had memories of her to keep me afloat. Whether they made me angry or not.
I grab my phone off the desk and scroll back to that one message I’d received just over two years ago.
King, are you there? I need someone.
The message from Theo still sits in my inbox unanswered.
When I got out of the prison after a year, I never reached out to her as much as I’d convinced myself I should have. Too much had happened and I couldn’t handle my emotions. Besides, it had been a year. I was sure she’d found someone else.
But two years ago when this text came through, I didn’t know how to react. So I ignored her. Again.
It wasn’t until a couple days later that I’d found out her mother had died. She was reaching out to someone and I wasn’t there for her. So how could I reach out again?
I didn’t know that Theo was holding onto that moment I abandoned her all those years ago, just like I didn’t even realise I was holding onto the memory of her to keep me going for all these years.
I need to tell Theo why I left her nine years ago and why I’ve hated her ever since.
But I don’t hate her.
Not even a little bit.
25
THEO
After yesterday’santics and my showdown with King, I snaked my way through the corridors and finally found the bedroom I’d been staying in and locked myself in.
I curled myself up in the sheets and cried. Cried for what my life had become.
