Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 15
CASSIE
I’m standing in a kitchen that I’ve been in before—several times—but I don’t know how I got here. It’s Dylan’s house. Russell and Dylan must be…
An unpleasant feeling begins to churn in my gut. I glance out the sliding glass doors that lead to the back porch, but I already know I won’t open them. It’s the most direct way out back, but the guys will see me as soon as I open the door.
I go out the front door instead. The weather’s warm. I can’t feel it, but I know from memory it was a warm night, so the party is spread out all over the place. I pass two people sitting on the front porch steps as I make my way down to the cooler set up in front of the house. There are cold beers inside, but I root around for a bottle of icy cold water.
As I uncap the bottle, I walk around the side of the house. It’s dark outside, and shadows scare me more now than they used to. Everything scares me now more than it used to. I used to feel safe.
I don’t want to think about that right now, so I shake it off and take a drink of my water. I screw the cap back on as I near the back of the house, where the deck is. Where the guys are sitting in lawn chairs, talking about whatever guys talk about when their girlfriends aren’t around.
I know I’m in a memory, so I know what I should see when I peek around the corner. It’s the night I lost feelings for Russell. When I heard him and his friends talking, and I didn’t like what I heard.
Only he isn’t sitting there with them now.
I frown because that’s not right. This feels like a dream I know by heart, but the script seems to have changed, or an actor didn’t show up to read their lines, and the whole production is off without them.
Where is Russell?
Suddenly, I become very aware of the dark.
The whole mood shifts, dread sneaking up on me.
I no longer feel safe out here, so I turn around and head back up front, but when I get there, it’s not Dylan’s front porch anymore. It’s mine.
Another familiar sight, but this one much more recent.
It’s the night Tor brought me home, and Russell was waiting for me.
My chest tightens, and it gets a little harder to breathe. My heart beats faster as I walk toward the shadowy front porch, and even though I know when this originally happened, I didn’t like what I saw there either, I want to see him now. I want Russell to be hiding in the shadows on my front porch. I want that so much.
Emotion overwhelms me, and in my dream state, I can’t figure out why. I don’t push too hard, though. Maybe deep down, I know I don’t want to know why.
“Russell?” I call out gingerly, stopping in front of the stairs.
He steps out of the shadows, and my heart sinks. He’s wearing dark jeans and a black hoodie with the hood pulled up, casting most of his face in shadows. I know it’s him, though. I recognize his mouth.
“Russell?” I say again.
“Run,” he says.
My eyes widen, and I look over my shoulder.
Tor is striding toward me, and dread explodes inside my chest at the realization.
For a moment that stretches on too long, I’m torn between the instinct to run away from him and the knowledge that if I do, he’ll know I’m onto him. If I run, I had better be faster, because if he catches me…
In the background of my mind is a quiet voice that sounds delusional, telling me no, Tor wouldn’t do anything terrible to me. Tor cares for me. He’s on my side.
But my instincts don’t believe that.
Run.
I’m running out of time to make a decision, and Russell’s voice echoes in my mind.
I take off up the front porch, pushing the door open and throwing myself inside. Wanting to put a barrier in front of him, I reach back to close the door, but when I do, I see him gaining on me with a cold, murderous look on his face.
Oh god.
I leave the door and run, reaching ahead for something, anything to grab onto. Anything to get me away from him faster.
I grasp the handrail of the staircase, realizing as I do that’s not right. There shouldn’t be a staircase here.
I realize this isn’t my house anymore.
It’s the lake house.
Helplessness claws at me. For a moment, I’m tempted to give up. I can’t get away, so what’s the point?
But no, I have to try. I’ve already jumped in—I can’t just stop swimming because it’s hard. I’ll drown if I do.
I see Tor’s family standing across the room, watching me. Myra’s wearing the same dress she wore in court on the day the verdict was read. “Why are you running away from him? He won’t hurt you.”