Page 125 of Redeeming the Villain
It’s beautiful out tonight, just warm enough, but not too hot. It’s just perfect.
Skipping, hopping, and racing, we finally reach the ice cream parlor, and Micah orders his usual.
“And for you?” the guy asks.
“Just his. Thanks.” I slide the dollar bills across the counter.
Sometimes, I wish Micah weren’t as perceptive as he is. His gaze whips up to me, and he frowns.
“We can share mine!” he offers, and my chest warms.
Shaking my head and smiling, I assure him that it’s quite all right. “I don’t want any right now. Thanks though.”
“Okaaay.” He drags the word out.
The worker walks back with my change and his ice cream cone.
Micah takes it happily, and I leave the few pennies I have left in the tip jar.
“It’s so good. Here, take a bite.” He thrusts it up at me as we head back outside.
I laugh. “You eat it yourself, chocolate monster.”
“If you insist.” He grins evilly. “Mmm, it’s soooo good,” he mockingly groans.
I shove his shoulder lightly, and he takes the opportunity to stroll along the edge of the sidewalk, walking on his tiptoes like he’s on a tightrope.
“You little shit.”
“Do we have to go back home tonight?” His voice is soft as he looks up at me with a sorrowful gaze.
My heart constricts as pain slices into me. “I’m sorry, buddy. Soon enough, I’ll have my own place, and you can come live with me, okay? We’ll leave that house for good.”
“Promise?” he asks, lifting his pinkie in the air.
I hook it with mine. “I promise.”
Staring into his purple eyes, I believe my words. I owe it to him. I have to get us out of this shithole our mom dropped us into before walking away.
I was six years old, and Micah was one year old when our mom said we were going to visit our uncle. But then she never came back, and we never heard from her again. She was found in a hotel days later. She had overdosed on heroin.
I don’t remember much of her at all, the memories fuzzy more and more each day.
My uncle always says that Micah and I were her curse, that we were demons and that’s why our eyes are purple. But I know he’s wrong.
“I love you, buddy.” I smile down at him, and his eyes light up.
“I love you too—” His finger slips from mine.
And time slows to a halt as I fall to my knees.
My ears ring from metal scraping, and his scream echoes in the air. The wind picks up around me as if the earth were yelling with us.
For a brief second, I’m stuck in time, frozen as I teeter on the edge of reality.
If I can stay here—right here—then I don’t have to face what’s really happening.
But my heart starts to race, thumping so loudly in my chest and ears that it sounds like gunshots. My adrenaline spikes, and my eyes burn with agony.
