Page 119 of Eternal

Where am I?

All I know for sure is that I ran.

I sawhim,and I ran.

He crawled out of my nightmares and clawed his way back into my life.

Again.

Dad promised he was gone, but he lied.

Now I’m here.

A sunflower staring at the sun and wishing this time it will take me with it. Hoping the stars pluck me from the Earth and let me live among them.

If I hold my arms out, maybe I can meet them halfway.

I close my eyes and tip my head back, stretching my arms out to either side. The car is so close I can taste gasoline evaporating. I can hear the engine humming. I can feel the pavement rumbling. I can see the end of the tunnel.

The hands of the moon reaching out to take me away.

But something yanks me back. Fingers grip my arm and brutally pull me from taking the final step, and I’m tugged out of the road.

My eyes fly open, and the car rushes past, missing me. It hurts to watch—to miss such a moment.

I spin until I’m wound against someone’s body.

Maybe the car did hit me, and this is what it feels like to die. First, I’m wrapped in a cocoon, then I claw my way out. I escape and become something better.

Something beautiful.

“Teal?” A voice drags me out of the webbing, and I pull back to see the eyes of an angel.

Or God?

If God exists, would they be there for me?

But it’s not God, and it’s no angel staring back.

“Declan?” I pull out of his grasp.

“You’re standing in the road. What the fuck are you doing?” He steps toward me, and I retreat with every step he advances.

“What did you do?” I shake my head, digging my fingers into my hair.

“What did I do?” His voice is colder than the night air licking my bare legs. “You almost got hit by a car. I pulled you out of the fucking road.”

I laugh, but there’s no amusement. Tears soak my cheeks as I tip my head back.

Declan Pierce saving me is ironic. He spends most of his time making my life hell. Maybe I did die. Either that, or I’ve truly lost my mind.

Turning, I walk away from him, wandering down the road past where his car is pulled over.

“Teal.”

“Stop following me,” I yell over my shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be in your fancy new frat house by now, anyway? What are you doing here?”

Sigma House is on the other end of town, but he’s here. Finding new ways to ruin my life when all I want to do is end it.