Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
I reeled back to fling my cell as far as I could—
Stop! I halted with my back arched in half. Take a breath. Think. Call for help.
Sucking in a shuddering sob, I lowered the phone on my lap—breathing in and out, slowing my thumping heart as the ringing came to a blessed stop.
A glance around didn’t reveal much other than trees, dirt, dark, and more trees.
Back in high school, there were a spate of accidents on the backroads, and my friend Courtney organized a petition and protest to get more streetlights in Lantana.
They must’ve missed this street because I couldn’t see anything beyond the glow of my phone light.
But we can’t have veered far from the street. I tried to stand and fell forward, clutching my spinning head. I’ll wait by the road for the police.
I gazed into the gloomy blackness that swallowed Sue. They’ll know what to do.
Pressing call, I typed in 9-1-
My phone went off again, flashing Dan’s true name across the screen. Rage flared in my soul and ripped a snarl from my lips.
I’m bleeding in the dirt next to my dead sister, and this evil, predatory piece of shit was blowing me up because I missed the date he blackmailed me into.
“I’m not fucking coming, you controlling dung-licking shitbag!” I screamed, or tried to. A raspy croak was the most my ruined throat could manage. “Release all the videos you want, my life can’t get any worse than this!”
I slapped End Call and went back to the call screen, my thumb hovering over the final digit.
I didn’t move.
When the police came, they would know what to do, but... I also knew what they’d do.
They’d tell me everything was okay. That there was nothing I could’ve done, and that Sue’s death was a tragic and unavoidable accident, but...
My mother wouldn’t.
The cops would drive me to that house. To my mother. And she’d demand to know why.
Why couldn’t I swerve in time? Why wasn’t I paying attention? Why was I driving so fast? Why wasn’t I careful? Why wasn’t I safe? Why didn’t I try to save her? Why did I drag my sorry ass into her home with nothing to my name but my sister’s corpse and a sex tape currently trending on the Ajumma Gossip Network? Why was I a fucking failure who couldn’t even get a family reunion right?
Why didn’t I die too?
I rocked back, tears springing to my eyes as my phone sounded off again.
The big, triumphant moment that I’d always been waiting and wishing for—the day my mother apologizes and welcomes me back—would end with her throwing me right back onto the street.
Maybe she would let me hang on to her final gesture and not remove me from her will once again, but even if she didn’t, ten thousand dollars and old furniture weren’t enough to cover IVF, and it certainly wasn’t enough for what happens after IVF.
It wouldn’t cover getting me and my baby out of a drug-infested apartment building surrounded by cops. It wouldn’t pay for me to go back to school and get my degree. And it wouldn’t pay for me to give my baby the good parts of my childhood, like flying back to Korea for Chuseok with the whole family, or drama summer camp with her best friends.
I turned my head, gazing in the direction of the manor. “There’s nothing waiting for me there...” My eyes drifted back the way I came. “...and there was never any life worth living back there.”
Dan blew up my phone again, drowning out my whispery croak.
“I’m the one who should’ve died.”
Dropping my head in my hand, I answered the fucking phone.
“Hello.”
“Sar—! Wait, hello? Who is this?” His irritation filled my ear. “Who the fuck are you, man? Why are you answering my girl’s phone?”
My mouth wanted to snap that I wasn’t his girl...
...but nothing came out.
He doesn’t recognize the smoker’s hacking cough that’s become my voice.
“Hello?! I said who is this? Where’s Sarah?”
I dropped my hand, slowly lifting my head up, and up, and up—my gaze latching on eyes I couldn’t see.
“Hey! You better fucking answer me!” he roared. “I swear, if that bitch is fucking around on me, I’ll—!”
“She’s dead.”
“What?” His anger snapped like a cold front—all heat and fire doused under frigid shock. “Wait, what did you say?”
“I... I...” My mind raced a mile a minute, throwing words at me like a dealer tossing product out the window with the cops on his tail. “There was an accident,” I rasped. “I pulled over to see if everyone was okay, and if they needed help and... she’s dead, man. There’s nothing anyone could’ve done. I’m sorry.”
“No, no, no, stop,” he cried. “Just stop!”
I’d give the bastard something. He actually sounded stricken.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. What accident? Where are you? Where is she!”