Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
My heart thuds in my chest, and I hesitate to answer. “I don’t know everything-” I try to finish, but she cuts me off.
“Yes you do,” she says quickly in a whisper. “I’ll tell you a secret, John. No one left that house with a sound mind.”
Chapter 12
Robin
I don’t know what’s more disturbing, talking to John about what happened in the past, or staring back at the blinking red light. It’s just like the cameras that were in the ceiling. The ones that watched us in our room.
“You gave it to him?” I ask Jay, and he peeks over his shoulder as he continues to lead me up the stairs from the basement to the main floor.
“Gave him what?” he asks me. I tighten my hand on his as the wooden stairs creak. “The camera,” I reply, and the answer itself makes my heart hurt. My body tenses and I try not to close my eyes because I don’t want to see it.
‘I thought it would help,” Jay says as if it’s not fucked up.
He opens the door at the top of the stairs and warm light floods my vision for a moment.
“The room, the dog, the camera…,” I say without thinking and pull my hand from Jay’s to rub my eyes. When I pull my hand away, he’s staring at me, a look of worry on his face. “It’s not okay, Jay,” I whisper.
“It’s a second chance, little bird.”
He shifts from side to side, but his body is tense. “You don’t know what it’s been like,” he says in a tight voice, the anger coming through. “I’m trying, but some things need to be shown to him,” Jay says, and my throat constricts at the thought of John.
“Jay,” I speak softly, reaching my hand out to his, but he turns away and runs a hand through his hair. “Please listen.”
“We do it my way first,” he says, pushing the words through his teeth, his piercing eyes shining into mine and narrowed with authority.
“What if it makes it worse?” I ask him. He’s playing with fire. I can already feel the creeping heat threatening to consume us both.
He licks his lips and takes my hand in his, looking past me as he says, “We’re going to be alright, Robin.” The way he says it reminds me of when we were children, only then it was the opposite.
He’d never admit back then that there was hope. Never.
“Let me show you your room,” he says and then he blows out a low steady whistle. My muscles tighten as the large German shepherd trots into the room. With his tongue hanging out just slightly and his ears sticking straight up, he looks approachable, friendly even. But I can’t breathe.
“Jay,” I say his name like a warning.
Jay bends down, crouching on the floor and petting the dog’s head with both of his hands. “We have to face our fears, don’t we?” he says with a sad smile. I remember the scar on his leg from when he was a boy, and I take a hesitant step forward.
“Is that why you got him?” I ask him, but keep my eyes on the dog. My palms itch with a faint sweat, and my heart races. It took me years to overcome my fear of them. Even my family dog when I got home, a golden retriever named Chloe who was almost eight years old scared the shit out of me when she barked. I cried constantly, unable to stop the fear and the pounding of my heart, but knowing it wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t her fault. I loved her before, but the barking only reminded me of the terror I’d run away from.
Jay follows the dog, leaving me watching and forcing my legs to move forward.
The hall is small and short, and all of the doors are closed, but they have character. The house is old. Although the fixtures are new and the paint fresh, it’s designed like an older home. The doors are carved and made of hard maple. My fingertips glide along the wall and then dip to a door and back up to the plaster wall.
“Whose house is this?” I ask Jay to change the subject.
“Mine,” he answers without turning around and steps into a door at the very end. A door that’s closest to the end of the hallway and the opening to the living room. I grip the inside of the doorway, partly to keep me from running, but also to make sure Jay knows I’m not leaving as I lean out and take a look.
The ceiling is tall, taller than I imagined for the hallway being so small. A large ceiling fan whirls and the small gust makes the floor to ceiling curtains sway. They’re thin fabric with an organic quality to them.