29

For a week, I managed to avoid Aiden and Xander. It might have to do with the weekend. I studied as much as I could, but whenever I was left to my thoughts, it was chaos. I keep watching the steps of my house, expecting Aiden to show up unannounced like he did the other time. He doesn’t corner me like he used to, but he’s spending more time with Kim. His ‘Morning, Reed’ has morphed into conversations, and I don’t know how to scream that he’s manipulating her without sounding crazy. He knows all the buttons to push and all the things to say to sound proper, and loveable even. Kim believes him just like Aunt and Uncle did. No one knows him the way I do. No one saw the void behind his eyes or has heard his low threats. If I scream bloody murder, I’ll just appear insane. I wish Aiden and I could go back to the stage where glares had been our only language. When I battled with how long I could keep eye contact before forfeiting. Who am I kidding? We can never go back to that stage after wha