Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 129676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Reaching down to grab my sneakers, I felt his hand on my shoulder.
“No, Boy. You’ve been slacking on your math. This time, you’ll do it barefoot.”
Last time I did it barefoot, I limped for a whole month.
Andrin waltzed out to the hallway, knowing I’d follow him.
We walked into the woods for ten minutes. It was prohibited for students to go past the first line of trees, but we ignored it.
The icicles in the muddy ground prickled my feet, twigs slipping between my toes. I felt like a rabbit caught in a net, my pulse out of whack.
When we reached deep enough inside the woods, Andrin tugged a handkerchief from his sports jacket.
He wrapped it around my eyes, double knotting it so that I was completely blind.
“Ready?” he asked.
No, my mind screamed.
Two, six, two.
Two, six, two.
Two, six, two.
I tapped my side. It was a way to reassure myself. To pretend I was in control.
My lucky numbers.
I nodded, then gulped.
An ear-piercing bang rang in the air. The scent of gunpowder filled my nostrils. Nocturnal animals screeched. Wings flapped.
I started running.
More bullets followed. They chased me like bad memories, always too close, no matter how fast I went.
Boots shook the ground behind me.
Andrin trained me to survive without my sight by playing a hunting game.
He chased. I ran.
I’d become an expert at living in darkness. Andrin said people like us, people who were screwed up in the head, they need to perfect the art of living like monsters, in the pitch black.
Instead of my eyesight, I relied on my hearing. I listened to his footsteps, to their pace, to the low but deadly whisper of a cocking gun, to the heavy breathing of the forest animals lurking around us.
My skin tingled at the heat of another living, breathing body in my proximity, even if I didn’t see it. I’d memorized the position of every tree, every trunk, every obstacle in the forest. Mapped out my surroundings in my head.
I managed to escape him, weaving between trees, jumping over obstacles, dodging low branches.
“Boy!” Andrin barked behind me. By the sound of it, he was half a pace away from me. He was getting tired. “It’s your birthday, isn’t it?”
My mind went blank. I gasped and tripped over a tree trunk.
Something soft but firm, probably rotten wood, scraped my shins. The hot, unmistakable sensation of blood coated my legs.
I fell face down into the mud. I heard Andrin walking leisurely behind me.
Everything hurt. Most of all my heart.
A boot pressed against my palm, digging in pointedly to break the little bones. “Yes, it is your birthday. I remember. Seven is old age for an adoption candidate. Your window of opportunity is closing in.”
I pinched my lips together. I wasn’t going to sob.
“You lost.” Andrin grabbed the back of my hair, wrenching me up. “On your feet, Boy.”
I scrambled to stand up, ripping the handkerchief from my eyes. Blinking, I handed him back the piece of cloth. It was soaked with tears. I was nauseous with shame.
“Boy.” Andrin crouched to meet my gaze, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Losing has consequences. You do realize that, right?”
I nodded, bracing myself for his fist.
Andrin always hit me under the collarbone to avoid bruises in exposed areas and questions from his superiors.
“And you couldn’t escape me. What kind of mentor would I be if I don’t punish you for not practicing your survivor skills?” His eyes crinkled in fake sympathy.
I didn’t answer.
“You will get your punishment, but not tonight. Tonight is your birthday. Go to bed.”
I hesitated. Andrin never postponed a punishment. He always took great pleasure in delivering it.
But…he just stood there, waiting for me to leave.
So eventually, I did.
I ran the length of the woods back to the boarding school. Into my room.
I closed the door, fell to my bed, and cried myself to sleep like a little pussy.
The tears were fast and hot, and I went down like a brick.
The next morning, when I woke up, Ares wasn’t there.
Shit. I forgot to open the window for him.
I stood up quickly, pacing toward the window, yanking it open.
My whole body was sore, my shins and knees caked with dried blood.
“Ares!” I called out. “Come in. I’m sorry I—”
The rest died in my throat.
Ares was splayed across my windowsill.
Limp and dead.
A small note was tucked under his lifeless body.
Happy Birthday, Boy.
I waited until Gia left before heading into my office. Shivers rippled across my skin. I was in the dark woods again.
Cold. Naked. Nauseous with adrenaline.
Finally, I was alone.
Here, behind my closed doors, I stripped myself of the veneer of civility. Of composure.
I ripped the bow tie off. Kicked off my shoes. Squirted six pumps of hand sanitizer. Read a favorite line in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
“Not all who wander are lost.”
Still, I was short of breath. No amount of oxygen was enough to satisfy my burning lungs.