Seventeen year old Safaya Bennett must navigate young adulthood under the stresses of her sins, her crumbling relationship with her twin sister, Rue, and a crippling mental disorder that makes her very dependent on her relationship with Nate Jacobs...
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You know that thing that people say about twins? How they have this like telepathic bond and can feel when something is wrong with the other? Yeah, well, Safaya and I never had that until now.
*play Drop Dead by Holly Humberstone*
My sister sat in the car parked on the street with nothing but anger running through her. She had just left Maddy's house, brain spinning, not able to fully process or understand what the brunette shared with her. She was hurt and upset and above it all confused. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't look at Maddy being so broken and still think that she was lying. The pieces of the puzzle were making sense and now she was able to see the bigger picture. She couldn't keep running from it anymore.
Safaya hopped out of the car, pulling Nate's hoodie closer to her body as the chilly air hit her. She walked up the familiar porch, knocking her knuckles against the front door and waiting. She had to know the other side of the never-ending story. Not just the lies that Nate was spoon-feeding her.
When the door opened, the curly-haired girl stared at a fearful blonde.
"You can't be here." Jules said shakily, not even making eye contact with my sister. She looked past the girl in search of the frightening silver truck that's followed her numerous times in her neighborhood. She thought it was a trap.
Safaya cocked her head to the side. "Jules...I know what he did to you. I know about everything, I want to help you but you gotta let me—"
"I can't be around you, he told me to stay away." She shuddered. "I'm sorry but you have to go."
"Jules, please—"
And then the door slammed in her face.
Jules was shaking, absolutely terrified, and unable to process what Safaya said. She wasn't sure how Safaya found out about everything, but, she was scared shitless and embarrassed that everyone seemed to know how to she fucked up. For a while Jules thought my sister was in on the whole "Tyler" thing, but, she could see how sensitive Saf was and Jules knew my sister wouldn't be okay with that. Even though Saf's best friend was a brooding piece of shit, my sister was Bubbles from the fucking Powerpuff Girls.
Safaya stood on the doorstep. Blinking in disbelief that the door just closed in her face and now she was standing there embarrassed. Jules looked like she wanted to melt into the floor just at the mere glimpse of Saf, and my sister was starting to lose her shit. Because of Nate, she had been villainized to not only Maddy but now Jules as well, and she had every reason to believe that they weren't the only ones.
In all my life I'd never seen my sister so hurt, and enraged, and even broken. When our father died it was more heartbreak than anything, but now, she didn't feel like herself. Safaya didn't know who she was anymore. She sat in our mother's car, chewing on her thumbnail as rage filled her small body. She checked the time seeing it was late evening on a Thursday. Without a second thought, and with one thing in mind, she put the vehicle in drive and made her way through the streets of our neighborhood.
