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“You have to pay.”
I jump at the voice, my eyes springing open as I spin around.
“Phoebe?” My heart rate picks up as I see her standing on the other side of the window—inside my apartment.
“I’m going to do to you what you did to me.” She steps out onto the balcony and I will my feet not to move. “I’ll make sure you have no reason to live. I’ll send you to the pits of hell and relish in every last second you scream out for help but don’t get an answer.”
Her eyes flash with danger and I step back, swallowing tightly. “I know you’re upset, Phoebe, but it wasn’t my fault,” I whisper, my voice soft.
Her fists clench at her sides and her nostrils flare. “Yes, it was! You should’ve been watching her!”
Her hair hangs limply, the rain having soaked it much the same as mine. Water gathers on her lashes and she swipes a fist over her eyes to get rid of them.
“There was nothing I could have done, she died of SIDs.” I try my hardest to placate her but the crazy look in her eyes intensifies as she steps toward me.
“I lost everything because of you!” She takes another step forward and when I take a step back, I collide with the railing. “You killed my baby! My sweet, sweet baby girl.” Her eyes glaze over. “She’d make a gurgling noise every time I’d walk into her room, her little legs kicking out in excitement.” Her focus returns and her lips lift into a sneer. “I still hear her.” She taps her temple. “In here, she’s telling me you did this, you took her away from her mama.”
“No.” I shake my head, bringing my hand up between us. “It wasn’t me,” I plead, but even to my own ears I sound weak. My stomach dips and my hands shake profusely as she takes one last step toward me, wrapping her hands around my arms.
“Ryan left me because of you.” She pushes her face in mine, sneering, “I lost it all because of you.”
“No, no—” I gasp as she pushes against me, my hands flying out to grab the railing.
“I’ll make sure you can’t kill any more babies; you’re dangerous and shouldn’t breathe the same air as anyone else on this earth.”
“Phoebe!” I cry out, my hands slipping as I lose traction. “It wasn’t my fault!” I shout again, the back of my neck starting to ache at the position she has me in.
“Yes, it was!” she screams in my face, spittle hitting my cheek. “Just shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
I do as she says, whimpering as she leans forward more, balancing our weight precariously on the railing.
The rain becomes heavier, a cold wind picking up and thrashing our hair around our faces, but she still doesn’t take her gaze from mine. The storm inside them starts to calm, and I relax for a second, feeling her grip loosen as she closes her eyes.
“You don’t have to do this, Phoebe. I can help you get better.”
Her eyes spring back open, the brown dead and her pupils enlarged. “I have to do my duty.” She nods at herself. “I have to take you away: make you pay for what you’ve done.” She murmurs something else but I don’t hear it against the sound of the wind and rain.
She pushes me, this time with more force and the top of my body tilts at a forty-five-degree angle over the top of the railing. I reach out, managing to grip the thin raincoat she’s wearing.
“Please,” I plead. “Don’t do this.”
She moves her face closer, whispering, “Bye, Beth.”
My eyes widen as she pushes with more force again and I grip onto her tighter. She’s really going to do this: she’s going to kill me. That last thought has my fight or flight instincts kicking in and I thrash against her.
“No!” I shout. “Help! Someone help me!”
Her evil laugh cackles around us. “No one wants to help you, Beth. You have no one. I made sure of that.”
She slams her weight forward, and my heart hammers in my chest. Turning my head slightly, I see the three-story drop to the wet asphalt below.
Meeting her eyes, I grip her arms tighter, trying to pull myself back up, but when she realizes what I’m doing, she takes two steps back, letting go of my arms. Before I can pull myself up to my full height, she runs at me, pushing her arms out and slamming her fists into my chest.
My arms reach out for something but all I manage to come into contact with is her arm. She shouts something at me, but I don’t take any of it in because I’m in the air, staring at the railing we were standing on a second ago.
Everything feels like it happens in slow motion. The air hits me, causing my hair to fly around my face and I’m flying: flying through the rain and wind.
No, I’m not flying: I’m falling.
