Celeste's childhood wasn't something she loved talking about. It was filled with nothing but painful memories. Whether they were the ones from when her father, along with her brothers, left, or the ones from her mother's death and her stepfather's a...
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FAINT LIGHTS illuminated the dark hallway, and frigid air danced within its corners. The deafening jangle of keys resonated across the entire space, and the lock's loud click filled my strained ears as Armani proceeded to unlock the door to his apartment.
I let a soft sigh slip past my lips before I took a step to my right, subtly inching closer to my twin whose firm grip had been the only thing that supported my fragile body and kept it from falling to the floor beneath it ever since we had left Dante's car—a few minutes earlier. My grip tightened slightly around the grey T-shirt Marco had worn, and my heart almost skipped a beat once his attention drifted to me, an encouraging smile playing faintly across his lips.
I hesitantly let the corners of my lips lift a bit, and my gaze brighten a tad more than it had done when I had first heard that I was allowed to leave the hospital this morning. I swallowed the lump that had formed within my throat and forced my mind to focus solely on the fact that I was no longer trapped within the four plain walls that belonged to the hospital room, surrounded by an annoying beeping sound and a dull view of the sky.
I pushed the racing thoughts about my brother apart—a bit further away from my mind's reach—by telling myself that he was alright; that the message he had sent me was nothing but the truth.
I told myself that he hadn't answered any of my calls or responded to any of my messages either because he had fallen asleep or because he hadn't heard his phone ringing. He was safe. He had to be. I tried to convince my exhausted mind of the bitter lies it had grown tired of and miserably failed in doing so.
I knew better than anyone what Jack was capable of doing, after all. I was very well aware of the limits he could so easily cross whenever he'd be drunk or angry and the pain his punishments would always offer whenever anyone would do a mistake, no matter how tiny it was.
Let it be disobeying his orders or breaking his rules. Answering back in an argument or sobbing when the pain of his punishments would be too agonizing. The consequences following any of those actions were so deeply—so clearly—engraved on my mind.
Jack had made sure to let me memorize them over the years. Just like he had done with both Momma and Enzo. He had perhaps liked the power he held over us, or he had perhaps enjoyed seeing us sink so deeply into the dark pits of fear and pain. I had no idea, and it didn't matter at all. Not at the moment.
Because all that mattered now was the fact that Enzo was all alone with him—that Jack had picked my brother up from school yesterday when he had never bothered to do that in the past, not even when Enzo and I would spend so many hours in front of the school, waiting so eagerly to be picked up by any of our parents the way the other students would.
And not even when we would get lost while walking back home.
I swallowed harshly, forcing my thoughts to pause a bit. A few moments of silence engulfed the air surrounding me, and it seemed as though I could breathe properly again. My chest rose and fell. Oxygen filled my lungs and left them with every inhale and exhale of mine. My tears sank to the back of my eyes, and my vision wandered across the corners of the hallway until it landed on Dante's figure.
