Page 48 of The Liar's Wife
I swallowed, rubbing a hand over Gray’s back. “Kat, I’m…I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t fix this, Ben. It doesn’t fix me. Ineededyou.I needed you the most, and you walked away and started over with someone new. Someone better.”
“I didn’t know what to do, Kat. I was scared. I was terrified I was just making it worse for you—”
“And when I saw her at the hair appointment, I knew what she must think of me. I knew she believed she’d won, but I had to win. I had to win.”
“There’s nothing to win, Kat. Please, just let us go. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to hurt us. Please…” I took a step back, and she raised the shovel. “You don’t want this.”
“You should’ve just killed me when you had the chance,” she said, shaking her head with tears in her eyes.
“I don’t want to—”
“Put him down,”she screamed.
“I don’t—”
“Now, Ben. Before I hurt you both.”
I kissed Gray’s head, laying him down on the grass, and took a step toward Kat, ready to take the shovel from her. “Come on, now, let’s talk this th—”
I never got to finish my sentence because at that exact moment, she swung.
After that, there was only darkness.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ben
When my eyes opened, there was only darkness. Darkness like I’d never seen before, with not a hint of light anywhere. A clump of something heavy and moist sat in my mouth.Gray? Where was Gray?
Panic.
What was happening?
Ice-cold fear flooded through my veins at lightning speed.
Where was I? What had happened? I tried to sit up, tried to shove myself free, but I couldn’t move. I was frozen in place, kept there by some invisible force. It was heavy and thick, a texture I didn’t recognize at first. I’d been placed inside of something. Under something. I couldn’t tell.
I inhaled, and the thick clump moved further down my throat. I couldn’t breathe. My body flailed and convulsed, trying to free itself as my mind went to a flash of bright light.
Was I going to die right then and there? In some unrecognizable place? Alone and cold? There didn’t seem to be any other options.
I panicked, trying to cough and struggle against the force holding me down.What is happening? What is happening? What is happening?I fought through the cobwebs of my nightmare-filled memory.
Finally, my hand wriggled free, moving through something thick and unrelenting to touch my face. At first it didn’t register what was happening. Where I was. How I’d gotten there. What I needed to do. Then, all at once, realization slammed into my chest. I realized where I was and what was happening. I knew who had put me there.
I knew I was going to die.
With as much force as I could muster, I shoved my hands upward, roaring through the mud in my mouth and throat. I fought through a thick layer of the moist, wet earth, and then my hands were free. Like a zombie from the grave, my hands tore through the earth to reach the fresh air above. Was my assailant still there?
I didn’t care. Couldn’t. I was free. I felt the cool night air on my skin as I pushed myself to sit up, coughing and spewing mucus-covered soil from my mouth.
I looked around me at the fresh dirt that was meant to be my grave. The night air was cool, and there were no stars in the sky. No light to be seen, and yet, still somehow the air was lighter than being underground. I stood up, dusting myself off. The dirt was caked into my teeth, my nails, my clothes, my hair. I was walking proof monsters existed. If I came upon me in the woods, I’d run.
I spit again, trying to free my mouth of the sour, bloody taste of the dirt, and brush the mud from my hair. Where was I? Which direction should I go?
I had no idea. No idea about any of it. No idea how I gotthere or wheretherewas. I reached up and touched my scalp, then jerked my hand back in agonizing pain. When I pulled my hand away, warm, sticky blood coated my palm. Though I couldn’t see it clearly in the darkness, I knew what it was. I put my fingers to my scalp again, feeling the open wound just above my temple. A piece of skin hung over, so loose I could’ve pulled it off if it didn’t sting so badly.