All That's Left of Me (The Suicide Parties Book 1) by Sarah Blake

Author:Sarah Blake [Blake, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Luminous Literary House
Published: 2025-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

“Is that everything?” Dallan huffed, heaving a garbage bag into the back of his car. He and Emera scrambled around his parent’s house, packing the trash from the bathroom, their bloody clothes, and the bandages from Dallan’s arm—any trace of their presence.

Emera nodded, throwing things into the back seat. “Did you grab Aaron’s messages?”

“Yeah, in my pocket.” He closed the hatch and moved around the car. “How much time do you think we have?”

She slipped into the passenger’s seat, getting ready to buckle in. Her expression drew down with a sour note. “Depends on the judge. Once they have a signature, though, they’ll race over here.”

“We don’t have time to wait for my father then,” Dallan opened the driver’s door, getting ready to step in.

The door to the house burst open, scaring Dallan out of his skin, but to his relief, it was only his mother, carrying an armful of leftovers and blankets. She ignored Dallan as she kicked open the lid of an old cooler and packed them down inside, each little shove combined with a huff of irritation.

He stood transfixed, watching her. “Mom, what are you doing?”

“Taking care of you,” she replied. Tears clung to the corners of her eyes which refused to look up at him while she worked. “I’ve packaged these leftovers and some blankets and drinks and snacks. Take them with you. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

She pushed the cooler towards his feet, a stack of blankets teetering on the closed lid, and stood. Her shoulders squared and her jaw tensed until the veins in her neck stretched under her skin. He recognized that look. She made it every time the world around her began to crumble.

His face softened, and an incomprehensible mixture of regret built inside him. Emera was right. His mother loved him. He swallowed hard, trying to compose himself as much as the woman standing before him.

“You did more than enough,” he said softly, swallowing back the little voice that blamed so much of his downfalls on her. Despite any failures he perceived in her, it was his choices that were about to make her life miserable. “Thank you. I know what you’re about to go through, and I’m so sorry.”

She nodded stiffly. “You can repay me by keeping yourself safe.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“And keep Emera safe, too.” She nodded toward the car, and Dallan glanced back, seeing Emera blush as she pretended not to listen. “Look out for each other. Stay together.”

“We will,” he murmured, a tiny smile cracking across his face. “I promise.”

She reached out like a handshake, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip, and he wished, more than ever, this was her reaching out for a hug. Instead, they squeezed each other’s hands, shaking on his promise, and she swooped down to put the cooler in the car. Together, they set it in the back, and just as Dallan shut the hatch, the garage door lifted.

Qing’s car glided in and stopped beside Dallan’s car. The driver's door swung open, and the lift beneath the driver’s seat carried Qing out in his chair.

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