{completed}
He gave his word with the sunrise, but as night unfolded, she slipped away into the dusk's embrace.
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•Formerly known as Before Knell
• First draft in December 2020
#1 in myeloma
#1 in adaptive
Word count: 30000+...
I sat in front of the mirror, cleaning the remaining blood oozing from my nostrils. I put on a black top and cream pantsuit. While combing my hair, a huge chunk came out through the comb, and I hid it in my drawer with the rest that I had been combing out for the past few days.
I headed out of the room and went to the living room, where I found Harper struggling to get a signal on her phone. Cleo lounged in front of the TV, and Naomi was occupied with putting food into Lane's bowl. She snoozed away every time the dog approached her. She hated animals but was trying so hard to befriend Lane.
"Lane is so cute. I don't know why you're so scared," Harper said, shaking her head as she watched Naomi's futile endeavors.
"That's easy for you to say," Naomi hissed as she continued pouring the rest of the food into the bowl.
I went into the kitchen and made a quick sandwich. As I walked back out, Naomi made eye contact with me but immediately withdrew her gaze. I knew exactly what it was; she was frustrated, didn't understand me, and let herself worry too much. She was like an elastic rubber that had been stretched, waiting to break.
"Where are you going? It's Sunday," Cleo eyed me suspiciously.
"Isn't it obvious? She's meeting up with Ezra," Harper responded as she furiously typed into her phone.
"No, I'm not. I'm going to work; Blair is sick and can't come," I defended myself.
"Yes, yes, whatever you say," Harper answered with a snicker.
"Oh, shut up," I mused as I finished my sandwich wrap and headed out for work.
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As I sent in the last order on my line, my gaze flickered to the guy from that day who joined the second line in an attempt to avoid me. I wondered if lying about being engaged to a cop actually scared him off.
A group of girls walked into the diner, and one with perfect wavy brown hair sat on the stool to face me carrying a condescending gaze. It was Chloe Baywhite, she was the new face of every social event in school.
"Welcome to Wings Haven. What can I do for you?" I greeted her.
One of them mimicked the things I said exactly the way I said them. My faked customer-reception smile disappeared from my face as I watched them laugh about it.
"Not much of a badass anymore, are you?" Chloe asked as she flipped her hair over.
"I'm sorry, do you know me?" I asked again, my gaze flickering to Mr. Graham, who was busy going over the reports from his other branches.
"She's a freshman with an undecided major. Why on earth is he hanging out with her?" One of her other friends eyed me with a look of disgust as she spoke.
"Guilty. Is there a problem with freshmen and undecided majors?" I stared right back at her, unflinching, while she frowned at my response.
"He's a senior; shouldn't he be hanging out with people his own age?" She asked me as she raised her brows in questioning.
