A lack of empathy is a sociopathic trait.
I'm sitting in the car watching them all spill their tears, scream, freeze in shock, enveloped by grief, sinking into the dark abyss of death. They don't know what losing somebody is like. They never had Jake Fitzgerald. He was his own person and he kept his distance from all of them, never got too close. Smart boy. I didn't take him away from them, he separated himself.
But him? They took him away from me. They played him and they played me and Piper should have killed them all when she had the chance. But she was an amateur and I don't know how she got away with everything until that one dreadful night when death took her from us.
I stare at him and exit the vehicle but I have to keep my distance. Just like Jake did. I need to be careful. Can I do it? I can't do it. I need to be close to him. I can't. If I get caught he will never know how much I love him.
"Let it go," she whispers in my ear, her cold breath like a million daggers piercing my flesh. "It's too soon." Her hand is on my shoulder and she tugs me backwards towards her car. I follow. There is nothing I can do.
Now is not the time.
