Before by Talie D. Hawkins

Author:Talie D. Hawkins [Hawkins, Talie D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 36535730
Published: 2017-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

I noticed that my hands were covered in smudges from the pencils so I tossed the sketch pad on the floor and stretched out on my bed. The drawing had helped me release something and I felt slightly relaxed. I didn’t fight my heavy eyelids and it wasn’t long before I was fast asleep. I was in that place between being awake and asleep when I heard a noise and in a rush I was sitting up and rubbing my eyes as my heart raced from being startled.

“You look like crap. Are you going to school today?”

“What do you mean? I just dozed off for a .....” I stopped answering Carter when I noticed the sun was bright in the sky. Everything felt a little upside down as I tried to come to terms with it being a new day. “Don’t break into my room,” I complained as I grabbed a pillow to hug.

“I wouldn’t have to if you would leave it open.”

“I wouldn’t have to lock it if I didn’t find lovely gifts like that waiting for me,” I said, motioning to the mess of papers on the floor

“That shit again? Did they really think you’d have a change of heart and sign?”

“I’m not going to school. I don’t plan on leaving my room today.”

“Well, you need to eat. I’ll bring something up in a bit.”

“Thanks.” It felt weird to have someone take care of me.

The clock told me that school was already well into second hour, but that didn’t stop my phone from buzzing with calls from Rachel and Jack again.

“Here we go,” Carter said as he placed a plate of eggs and toast on my desk. “But you have to get motivated. You’re having a birthday party Saturday, and it would be a little weird if you stayed in here the whole time.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll spend my day searching for motivation.”

Carter sat next to me and his normally carefree look was replaced by a concerned one. “I don’t like what I’m seeing, Avery.”

“And I don’t like what I’m feeling, but what am I supposed to do? The person who attacked me is out there and he could come after me again, and no one would care.” I grabbed my pillow and stared out of my window.

“I care. Whoever is calling you non-stop cares. You’re letting him do this to you again. Not eating, not leaving your room, not talking to anyone. You’re letting him win.”

“Maybe, but I just can’t yet. I was dealing really well with the surprise of his release...or at least I thought I was. I think I was just pushing the real stuff down. Seeing those lawyers made it all sink in and I don’t know if I can do it anymore.”

“You can. Take a day, clean up, take a shower, and get back on track. I have to get to class. Eat that,” he said, pointing to the plate as he walked out of the room. I made a mental note to toss some out of the window to make Carter feel better because my appetite was gone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.