The Secrets We Keep

The Thirty-First Chapter

Author's Note: Hey guys, I know I said the last chapter was the end of part 3, but I wanted to add an extra chapter before I upload part 4. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the story thus far!

Hayden

I hear a door slam somewhere in the house and it wakes me up from my fitful nap. Since Nathan left, I've moved from my room to the living room couch. It just felt strange being in my room. Every time I sleep there, I have nightmares and without someone in there to chase them away, it feels too scary.

When I sit up on the couch, something catches my attention from the corner of my eye. I twist my head to see my brother walking around the kitchen without any of the lights on.

"Damien?" I call out and my voice sounds groggy. "Is that you?"

He stops what he's doing to peek out of the darkened kitchen. His eyes are unreadable as he comes close enough for me to see. "Yes. It's me."

"Where's everyone else?" I ask, feeling disorientated. I feel like I've either slept for a minute or a day.

"I don't know where mom is. But Dad's still at the station. Speaking of which..." he says and takes another barefoot step into the room. "You're in trouble."

I guess that means that Chrsitopher has done his duty of telling on me. But I can't bring myself to be mad at him. For once, Christopher is acting like the sane person in our dynamic by doing the right thing. Huh. Who would've guessed?

Everything comes rushing back in then. The school. Johnson. His hands around my neck. My hands go there unconsciously as though I can tear his phantom hands away from my throat.

Damien's eyes go to where my hands are and his eyes widen.

"Hayden," he says, taking frantic steps to near me. "What the hell happened to your neck?"

He grips the back of the tartan couch I was sleeping on and his knuckles go white as his eyes flicker over what must be bruises all over my neck.

I swallow and the simple action hurts. "It's nothing," I say, trying to maintain my non-existent calm. "I did something stupid and suffered the consequences for it."

He opens his mouth to say something, but just then the front door opens with a slam.

"Damien," my father says after storming into the room. "Where's your sister?" His words are a bark and once he sees where we've congregated by the couch, he starts marching toward us. "After everything we spoke about, Hayden, why I am hearing that you confronted a teacher you think killed Amelia Gibbons? Are you out of your Goddamned mind?"

Damien backs out of the way as our father takes his place and angrily peers down at me on the couch. I'm too tired to be upset by his anger. So all I can do is look down at my hands while I feel his heated eyes bore a hole in the back of my neck.

"Dad," Damien says, a warning in his voice.

But he ignores him. I feel his rough fingers under my chin as he pulls it up and says, "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

I know the moment he sees what Damien has. In an instant, the fiery anger in my father's eyes dissolves and is replaced with shock.

I force my chin out of his hold and I look down again, pressing my fingers tightly together. "I'm sorry," I say, and he'll never know just how much I mean those words. "I know I messed up."

I'd known it was a bad idea before I even went into the classroom. And even though I'd managed to turn the tables on Johnson, there was a moment there that I felt terrified. He had his hands around my neck. He was screaming and angry and he had a secret I wonder if would've killed for.