“I remember that night,” I tell him, making his face fall. “Every last detail. I remember hearing mom screaming from the living room, I remember hiding under my brother’s bed. I remember being tied on the couch and watching as Anton beat the living shit out of you every time you refused to hurt my mom. I remember the tears on your face, the way you shook with fear, the way your will to keep fighting slowly left your body, but more importantly, I remember the way you snapped and plunged that knife into her chest.”
Fat tears roll down my cheeks as Rivers drops his head. “I was afraid of that. You were just a little girl. All these years my only saving grace was that you and your brother were so young that I hoped the memories wouldn’t plague you as they do me.”
“They do,” I tell him, watching how the girl’s hand slips into his, her fingers lacing between his big ones. “Every single night my mind plays over the way you kept looking at me and Blake, how you vomited on the carpet and how your father kicked you in the ribs for being weak. I remember the way the resolve came into your eyes as if you had finally convinced yourself that if you just get it over and done with, that all the pain will just go away. I remember the sound of the blood splattering against the walls. I remember my mother’s high-pitched scream. I remember…I remember it all.”
Tully’s eyes grow watery as a heaviness sits between us. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Skylah,” she whispers. “A very long time ago, I lost my baby sister and it’s haunted me every day. I didn’t lose her to murder as you did. She was taken by Leukemia but I know the pain of loss. I know that feeling of waking up every day and wishing you could see her face. I know what it’s like to go without and believe me, I’d never want that for anybody.”
I nod, looking down at the ground. “Thank you,” I whisper. “I’m sorry about your sister. That couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t,” she agrees.
“Skylah?” A voice calls from behind. “What are you still doing here? You should have left ages ago.” By the time her sentence is completely out, Shay is standing at my back, looking at the two strangers standing at our door. “Who is this?”
A fierce protectiveness creeps through me and I find myself taking a small step to the right to block Shay’s way. “This is Samuel Rivers and Tully Cage,” I explain, swallowing hard as my eyes come back to Samuels. I lick my lips, giving me a second to be able to say the words out loud without breaking. “Samuel is the boy who walked into my home thirteen years ago and ended my mother’s life.”
Shay sucks in a sharp breath and within the blink of an eye, I’m standing behind her with her hands propped on either side of the doorframe, blocking the way. “Who do you think you are coming here and standing on my front doorstep? You murdered my sister in cold blood. You do not deserve to live.”
Samuel reaches out and places his hand against Tully’s baby bump. “I swear on my unborn child’s life that I mean you or Skylah no harm. My actions that night have haunted me and I came here today to ask forgiveness and, if Skylah or Blake felt like sharing, I’d like to know the consequences of those actions. I know Anton took them from that home but I never knew what happened to them after that and that unknown has always plagued me.”
Shay is silent for a while, studying the boy who took her sister to the grave. Her eyes flick between him and Tully and to my surprise, she lowers her hands and steps aside. “Maybe you should come in,” she offers. “It seems that there is a lot to discuss.”
My mouth drops open. Did she seriously just do that? Perhaps I didn’t hear her correctly.
Samuel nods and places a hand to his pregnant girlfriend’s back and leads her up onto the porch as Shay and I take one huge step back, allowing them through the open door.
The door is gently closed behind them as Shay offers them the couch. She walks around, always keeping her eyes on Samuel, not trusting him one bit while I stay over by the door, ready to run in the blink of an eye. Though I wish Shay would move away, she’s far too trusting.
My heart pounds in my chest and I can barely hear my own thoughts over the thumping in my ears but when Shay finally says something, I force myself to take in every last word.