𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠, 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟?
When a runaway finds herself in a reclusive town headed by a man with a morbid fixation on her, she must find a way to stop her past from exposing everything-- especially when her past...
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05 d u p l i c i t y
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SOPHIE FAULKNER WAS twenty-two, with three older siblings— two brothers, Mitchell and Jonah, and a sister, Kylie. Mitchell, the eldest, was backpacking across Europe in a bid to escape the small town. She'd brushed over her parents, but it was pretty clear that they were the old-fashioned type and didn't approve of his adventuresome lifestyle.
"But yeah, if I ever—" she continued while I watched her.
Her rambles about how interesting her family was weren't the important part; it was how they impacted her. Left in the shadow of her hotter older sister, who wasn't all that appealing from the pictures she'd shown me, Sophie had crippling self-esteem.
Her mother was the type to criticize every little flaw and her father was too nice for his own good to notice.
She didn't need to tell me that part, I figured that all on my own. From the way she didn't sit up straight enough, and was always going off on a tangent. That trait of hers meant I didn't need to speak too often, which was a good thing while I cleaned up my new personality.
We'd been sat in Haven's Diner for about an hour, where she had gone completely off-topic on the subject of Amrock fifty-nine minutes ago. All the morning customers had since cleared out, meaning she had all the time in the world to talk to me.
She had me zoning in and out but I nodded along, feigning interest, while my mind worked subtly on how best to navigate her. Sophie was too busy delving into Kylie's natural reluctance to do anything other than gossip about the town and frolic naked in forests. Every second that passed, the less I planned on staying in Amrock.
"Then he dared her to run into the forest, completely naked, and it was like minus-80 out," Sophie droned, oblivious to my internal monologue. "Ma nearly had a heart attack. Pa didn't really care about it, though. He found it funny, I guess."
I chuckled, adding a touch of amusement to my aching cheeks, "Sounds lively. Must be tough being in the middle of all that."
Her eyes dimmed slightly. "Well, I'm not as interesting as them. I'm more of the quiet kind. Always have been. Most people just look over me, because my siblings are, you know, them."
