Howl by Heather MacKinnon

Author:Heather MacKinnon [MacKinnon, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

I brought Charlie with me up to the roof with the hope that holding his warm, furry body would settle my rattled nerves. We walked silently as we ascended the staircase leading to the roof and took seats on the outdoor furniture. I tried to sit on a single chair, but Abraham took my hand and led me to the plush sofa. He pulled me down next to him and wrapped his arm around my shoulders once we were settled.

I took a deep breath. “I don’t even know how to tell you this,” I admitted.

Abraham squeezed my shoulder. “Just start at the beginning. I’ll listen to anything you want to say.”

I let out a gust of air and stroked Charlie’s back. This was much harder than when I’d had to retell the story in court. Then, I wasn’t concerned with what the lawyers and judge thought of me. I was rebellious and angry and nothing anyone said could penetrate that.

Here, though, I felt vulnerable. Like I’d be opening up a part of me to Abraham that I hadn’t ever shown anybody before. I didn’t know what would happen when I revealed that piece of me. I could only hope he’s still holding me like this when I’m done.

“I was fourteen,” I began softly. “I was dating this guy Tyler, and he talked me into breaking into this old abandoned house. It was in our neighborhood and we’d never seen anyone come or go from there before, so we thought it was empty.

“He picked the lock on the back door to let us in. The first thing we did was knock over any breakables we could find. Nothing was too big or too small to escape our destruction. Finally, we made our way to a living room and Tyler convinced me to make out. When things got heavy, I told him we had to stop. That I didn’t want to go that far with him yet. It made him so angry.”

I took another deep breath. “There was a huge china cabinet in that room. Tyler ripped it from the wall and it crashed to the floor making this God-awful noise. I’d never heard anything so loud. He just stood there, a wild glint to his eyes I’d never seen before. I watched him surveying the room for something else to break when we first heard him.”

“Heard who?” Abraham asked quietly.

“The old man who lived there,” I whispered. “He must have been upstairs asleep and got woken up by all the noise we made.”

I wiped my sweaty palm on my jeans and absentmindedly scratched behind Charlie’s ears. “All we heard at first was this creaking thumping noise coming down the staircase. We didn’t know what it was, so we were both frozen in place until he came through the doorway.”

My hands clenched, and I must have made Charlie uncomfortable because he hopped off my lap.

Abraham’s deep voice pierced through the memories I was lost in. “What happened when he saw you?”

I took a shaky breath.

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