By Emerald Barnes
Self-published
Published: 25th April, 2012
Alexia Wheaton’s problems go beyond picking a dress and a date for homecoming.
For seven years, Alex has lived with a painful memory - her parents' horrific murder. As the sole witness, she has kept quiet to protect herself, but when the local newspaper reveals her secret, Alex is plagued with fear that her parents' murderer will soon find her - and silence her forever.
Alex is catapulted into a race against time to save her own life and bring her parents' murderer to justice.
For seven years, Alex has lived with a painful memory - her parents' horrific murder. As the sole witness, she has kept quiet to protect herself, but when the local newspaper reveals her secret, Alex is plagued with fear that her parents' murderer will soon find her - and silence her forever.
Alex is catapulted into a race against time to save her own life and bring her parents' murderer to justice.
- Goodreads.com description
Chapter 6
Finally deciding it’s time, I look at my twin brother. He glares at me, and I can’t take the anger in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You kept it from me. How could you do that?” [he asked.]
“I was scared.”
“But they were our parents!”
“I know. I wanted to tell you.”
“So why didn’t you?’
“I don’t know. I guess it was because some guy threatened to kill me.” I know the sarcasm didn’t help any, but he’s being so ridiculous. Why can’t he understand how that upsets me?
“So why now?” he asks ignoring the sarcasm.
“I thought I heard someone outside my window the night Christian came over. I didn’t want to wake you or Uncle Dave because y’all would ask questions. He did, but he was also just there for me.”
“What’d you hear?”
“Christian said it was just a dog, but I thought he’d found me and was coming to kill me. The dreams had returned.”
“You dream about it?” I guess despite his anger towards me, he’s still trying to be the over-protective brother he’s always been.
“They went away but came back.”
“So he kills you in your dreams?”
“Yeah.” The inevitability of knowing I will die at his hands is overwhelming.
Matty’s silent for a moment. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” he finally says.
“I couldn’t, Matty.”
“What’re the chances of him actually finding out, Alex?” he asks with a bite in his voice.
“They’re a bit higher now.”
“He probably skipped out of town.”
I could die any moment, and I can’t believe he’s acting this way. My life is in danger, and he’s acting like I’m a selfish child.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you, Alex,” he says standing. I look back at him horrified. My brother’s sweeping me under the rug.
Christian and Landon both walk into the living room. It’s then that I know they’ve been eavesdropping on our conversation. I’m not mad at them. In fact, I’m glad to know that they are angry on my behalf because it validates how I feel about Matt. He’s overreacting.
Landon takes a seat beside me and holds me while I fight back tears. Christian stands in front of Matt. I hope it doesn’t end in a fight.
“What’s up with you?” Christian asks. Matt doesn’t answer, so Christian continues, “Why can’t you just forgive her?”
“She kept this from me. How can I?”
“How can you not?”
“Look. You can forgive her for what happened between you guys, but it’s a lot bigger than her ending a relationship.”
“She’s scared, and you don’t even care.”
“I care, but this is a lot bigger than you think. Quit butting in where you don’t belong.”
“I’m exactly where I belong.”
Matt shakes his head and leaves the room. Landon gently rubs my back and says, “We’re here for you.”
Landon pulls me closer to him, and Christian takes a seat on the other side of me. He gently holds my hand. I can’t deal with losing my brother or with the fact that I am tearing best friends apart. Now, Landon and Christian are in the middle of this; torn between me and my brother. They have made their choice obvious. Me. How can I live with myself now? I have just succeeded in tearing apart life-long friends.
Christian says, “Come on.”
“What?” I ask looking at him. He’s pacing the room trying to calm himself. He wants to get away as much as I did.
“We’re getting outta here.”
“Do you think that’s best?” Landon asks.
“Let’s just go grab a bite to eat or something.”
“All right,” I say because I want to get out of there as much as he does, “but you’re telling Aunt Marion.”
He actually laughs and says, “Deal.”
“I’ll be right back,” I say.
Landon relaxes his grip on me, and I stand. I walk past Christian who’s still pacing and down the hallway. I sit at my mother’s vanity and freshen my makeup. I look as rough as I feel, and I hate to go out looking like this. I don’t want to stay in though. Maybe if I’m gone, I won’t be such an easy target in a crowd, and if he’s following me, my family will be safe.
Trying to keep my mind off of that for a minute, I run my fingers through my curls and fluff them as much as possible. If I can’t make my face look any less haggard, I hope I can at least make my hair look decent.
I pull my hair back to see which way it looks best when Christian says, “Leave it down. I always liked it best that way.”
I catch his reflection in the mirror and see him standing in my doorway. He smiles at me, and I blush. I look at my reflection instead of his.
He walks inside and takes a seat on the bed. Our eyes met again, and I smile this time.
“Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Look at me.”
I turn around to face him. He stands from the bed, walks to me, and his lips meet mine in a gentle, yet intense, kiss. My stomach might as well turn flips. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until now. He rests his forehead against mine after the kiss, and I want nothing more than to kiss him again.
Emerald Barnes graduated with a B.A in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women. She resides in a small town in Mississippi and has the accent to prove it. Sometimes she even has to spell Mississippi, M - I - crooked letter -crooked letter - crooked letter - crooked letter - hump back - hump back - I.
She's the author of Read Me Dead and Piercing Through the Darkness. She mainly writes suspense/thrillers in the YA genre, but she dabbles in other genres and her books are enjoyed by all ages! Her short story, Wishes, was published by Phyllis Scott Publishing in their book, Blue Legs and other Coming of Age stories. She also has short stories available for free on Smashwords.
She's constantly working on new novels and has more ideas than she knows what to do with. She blogs at http://www.yaindie.com/ as a contributing author, http://emeraldbarnes.blogspot.com/ and http://ebarnes23.wordpress.com/ which takes up more of her time than she anticipates but loves it very much!
She's an auntie to two beautiful nieces and two handsome nephews who take up the other half of her time, but she couldn't imagine spending her time in any other way!
She's a Whovian, a little bit of a nerd, a reader, a writer, and a family-oriented person. God is number one in her life, and she thanks Him continuously for His love and favor in her life.
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