WP EXCLUSIVE | old/unedited | #1 in freetheboy, traumacore, boyscrytoo, and cynicism | Genre(s): realistic, psychological, new adult fiction.
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Eighteen-year-old Tyler Petrit is tired. He's tired of his drug-addicted father always blaming him f...
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At ten PM, I'm wide awake, eyes flitting around anxiously in search of anything to break light into the sea of darkness.
"Is it working? Are you scared?"
"This is horrible," I screech. I claw at my throat. If I rip it open, I'll have room to breathe. "Can we do this later? When it's light out? I have my court date tomorrow and I can't miss it."
"Now you know how I felt being trapped in a closet," Gio snarks. I can hear him smiling.
"You're not fucking helping."
"Sorry. I thought making a joke would..." Something scrapes across the floor.
I panic, teeth chattering like it's winter. "W-what are you doing?"
"Pushing a chair against the door. You can unlock it from the inside."
"What? No, no, please. I swear to fucking God-" The scratchy wall sticks to me like bramble. It's not wall to wall - it's smaller than that. There's boxes of shit taking away my extra space. "I'm going to die in here. All the air is being sucked out. Open the fucking door."
"If you can talk, you can breathe. There's air going into your lungs. Relax."
I start crying like the bitch I am.
Gio sits directly in front of me, the only thing separating us being the fucking closet door. "Remember the summer before high school started? When you beat up that rich kid because you thought he took your five bucks?"
"Y-yeah. That was the summer we went swimming and you sprained your ankle on a rock. You almost drowned."
"Remember how that made me scared of water? I thought there were things that would come and do me in without me suspecting it. You told me to stop being a loser and pushed me in, anyway. Once I realized it was just me getting in my own head, I calmed down and started to float. You gotta learn to float, man."
"How am I supposed to float when there's no fucking room for me to move?"
"Put your arms out and head back as far as you can. Nothing bad is going to happen. No one's gonna hurt you. You can leave whenever you want."
"Can I leave now?"
"...No."
"What are you trying to do?"
He doesn't answer and my stomach drops. Instead, it's, "Bianca!" I hear more footsteps as Gio continues, "You know how you were mad that Tyler got the job because you thought he didn't do anything? Orion told me that your boss said you were right and that men are better. He only hired you for the diversity quota."
"Fucking redneck motherfucker," Bianca snarls. 'I'll go in there tomorrow and tear the fucking pig's balls off. That's all he's worth."
"Okay. Direct all that anger at Tyler first. After all, he didn't work as hard as you and still got the job. Pretend he's on the other side of that door."
