Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Matthew
How could you do this to me? Oh fuck, how could you?
Matthew
I’m dead, Cash. Fuck, I’m dead thanks to you.
Fear impaled him, and his head felt fuzzy as he tried to process what the hell to do.
Cash
No, man, you’re just freaking out. It’s going to be okay.
Matthew
It’s not okay.
Matthew was wrong, he kept trying to tell himself, but there was a sense coming over him that made him sure that he was the one who was wrong. The one who’d miscalculated and misjudged.
Trepidation driving him, he tapped out of that thread and into a different one.
Cash
Hey, something came up with my brother. Have my parents drop you off at home and I’ll come by later. I’m really sorry.
Wallflower
Is everything okay?
Cash
Just Matthew being an idiot again. I need to take care of it. I promise I’ll make it up to you.
Wallflower
Is there anything I can do?
Cash
Just go home so I know you’re safe.
He wasn’t even sure what possessed him to type that, but he knew that’s what he needed. To know she was safe. To know his brother was safe. He returned to the thread with Matthew.
Cash
Where are you? Just sit tight and I’ll come talk to you. We’ll go to the police together.
Matthew
It’s too late. I’m getting my things and leaving town. That’s if I make it out of here.
Cash
Come on, man, just wait for me. We’ll talk this out. I’ll be home in like thirty minutes.
About ten minutes later, the bus was rolling into the school parking lot and rounding to the backside of the gym.
The disquiet only amplified when Matthew didn’t text him back.
The team piled out, all heading for the showers before they would hit the town, but Cash ducked out before they noticed. His hands began to shake as he hurried for his truck.
He unlocked it, and the old door groaned as he pulled it open. He jumped inside, and the engine chugged to life when he turned the key. He put it in gear and turned it in the direction of his house across town. Figuring it was the only place he was going to be able to cut Matthew off.
He’d try to talk some sense into him.
Get him help.
Sweat dribbled from his nape and down his spine as he traveled as quickly as he could, hopping lanes to get around slower traffic, his thumb anxiously tapping at the steering wheel.
“Come on, come on,” he shouted at a red light before he was gunning it again when it turned green.
He made the left into their neighborhood, taking the old truck hard up the road toward his house.
And he couldn’t quite decipher the feeling that overcame him as he came up on it.
Wickedness, he guessed.
The sense of evil crawling through the night as he approached the driveway. He yanked at the wheel to pull his truck off the side of the road, and he jumped out, his eyes scanning as he tried to discern what was wrong.
Smoke.
There was smoke coming out of the right side of the roof, and he could see flames licking up through the living room window, consuming that entire side.
“Oh fuck,” he gasped before he went running up the drive, fumbling to dial 911 as he went.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“House fire at 4523 N. Milligan. Hurry.” The words were shards, choked and hard as he ran up the drive. He started to angle for the front door when he noticed the muted glow on the left side of the house.
It was coming from his bedroom window.
And he knew…he fucking knew that Daisy was in his room. She hadn’t gone home. She was waiting for him there.
He didn’t even think it through.
His body moved on compulsion.
He shifted course, his feet pounding across the lawn and around the side of the house. He scaled the tree in three seconds flat. When he made it to the top, he found the window was closed against the howl of cold wind that whipped through the night air.
Frantic, he smacked his palms against it, and he pressed his face to the glass.
Smoke filled the room.
“Daisy! Oh God, Daisy!” he screamed. “Daisy!”
There was no movement, just the crackle and howl of the fire as it spread across the house’s roof.
He shifted, gritting his teeth as he turned and drove his elbow through the glass.
It shattered into a million pieces, and he shoved the fragments away, not caring about the pain as a piece of glass sliced through his skin as he pushed through the window.
“Daisy?! Daisy?!”
A cry erupted from his left. He covered his nose and mouth with his shirt and began to crawl in that direction.
His hands flung and smacked out ahead of him.
Searching and searching.
He finally felt it.
A leg.
He wrapped his hand around it, and he used it to guide him up until he had her in his arms. He basically dragged her back to the window, and he somehow managed to get her onto his back as he climbed from it and out onto the tree.