𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐞

Chapter 18

"You don't remember that either?" She asked with her brows furrowed.

"No, I don't," I replied.

"You three used to always hang out together." She said with a small laugh.

Before I could give her a response my head began throbbing.

Elijah held my hand as we walked towards his house. I was nervous to meet his family but he insisted that I shouldn't worry about it.

He had a love/ hate relationship with them. They adopted him when he was thirteen but always referred to him as the "troubled child". They didn't seem great but that didn't mean that I didn't want them to like me.

"Aaliyah, relax," Elijah said as we arrived at the door.

His instructions fell on deaf ears as my palms sweated. I looked down at my clothes and regretted wearing this yellow sundress.

Is it too revealing?

"Your family is going to hate me," I whined.

"I don't care." He said with a shrug. "The only person whose opinion I care about is Carter, but he's nice as hell, trust me."

Carter, the infamous brother I had heard so much about. Elijah always spoke about him in such high regard and he was the one I was most worried about disappointing.

"And if he hates me?" I asked.

He smirked at me slyly and shook his head. "Then we have to break up."

My mouth dropped open in shock and I gawked up at him.

"I'm kidding, babe." He said cupped my cheeks and laid a kiss on my forehead. "I love you, and so will they."

I muttered an 'I love you too', letting myself relax as he rang the doorbell. It was unusual to see him knock at a place that was supposed to be his home. But I guess since he moved out things changed.

"I should've brought a gift," I said quickly a and Elijah replied with a small chuckle as he moved his lip ring between his teeth. He always did that when he was nervous and considering he was doing it right now...I tensed again.

The door opened before I could process another thought and my eyes landed on a tall, slender boy with glasses and curly brown hair. He opened the door fully and grinned at us, showcasing his dimples.

"Hey bro," Elijah said as he pulled him into a handshake hug that for some reason all guys seemed to know.

Once they pulled away from one another, the boy turned to me and gave me a comforting smile.

"Hi, I'm Carter."

It was only after my memory ended that I released the grip I had on my mother's arm. I slowly let go and saw her looking at me with concern painting her face.

"What was that?" She asked.

I shook my head and rubbed my temples to try to ease my discomfort. "I got a memory of when I met Carter," I admitted shyly. I didn't know why but I couldn't help the warmness that flooded my pale cheeks.

"Interesting." She said.

Very. The memory of that day, unlike my others, was clear as day. After we arrived at the house we found out that Elijah's parents couldn't make it and we ended up ordering a pizza and watching movies all day.

I remembered a vivid argument between Carter and me about whether or not pineapple belonged on pizza. The thought of our banter brought an immediate smile to my face.

Carter always had a way of making people comfortable around him.

"So Elijah is innocent?" My mother asked.

"That's what Death told me. But I had a memory of him wearing the same clothes as the man who killed you but I fell out of my window before I could learn more."

"Fell out..." She began as she shook her head. "Are you talking about your suicide attempt?" She asked.

My what?

I was taken aback by her words and shook my head. "I didn't try to kill myself."

"A few months ago the neighbors called the police when they saw you on the floor of our driveway just bleeding out." She said. "Lizzie and I rushed to the hospital you were in and the doctors told us you had jumped from your room window."

"That doesn't make sense," I said slowly. "Was there by chance another occasion I fell or jumped out of a window?"

The question sounded stupid but I didn't know any other way to get the truth.

"Nope. That was the only time."

"I didn't jump mom, I mean...I did but it was an accident. I was trying to get away from Elijah."

My mother sighed and buried her face into her hands. "You mentioned something about that but I told you it was in your head. You were on a bunch of drugs at the hospital and I thought you might have imagined it all."

I scoffed and shook my head at her.

"What did I ever do to get so much mistrust from you guys?" I asked in a hoarse voice as I remembered all the moments leading to my death where all they had to do was trust me.

She removed her hands from her eyes and looked back at me.

"Do you really want to know, Aaliyah?"