“You think that’ll help?” He dodges them all and snorts. “We’re just as violent as you, remember?”
“You say one fucking word, and I’ll kill you!” I roar, refusing to give up.
“What? Afraid I’ll reveal your dirty little secret?” He grabs my fist. “Too late. She played you.”
“Aspen,” the other one says. “You have to listen to me.”
He’s too close. Too close for comfort, and I won’t let anyone pretend to be me.
Not today. Not ever.
I am the one and only one for her.
I am the original.
I am her ghost, and she was my everything.
Until they stole her away from me, right underneath my nose.
Aspen
He calledme by my name.
I know that voice.
One of the two guys who are fighting pulls a new knife from his pocket and aims it right at his face.
The mask is knocked off, a trickle of blood running down his cheek.
I gasp, planting my hands in front of my face. “Grey?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I did, but I need you to listen to me,” he says, wiping away the droplets of blood from his face. “I came here because you messaged me, but I need you to know I’m not evil. I care more about you than anything else, so much that it hurt you. I wanted you to be safe.”
When he reaches for my hand, I lean away. “Was it you?”
The two other stalkers still fight on the pebbled path, throwing fists left and right. One of them pulls out another knife and tries to jab the other, but he rolls out from underneath him and gets off the ground away from him.
“Please, listen to me,” Grey says.
Wait, why won’t he answer me?
The one with the knife points it at both of them. “Shut up. Shut up!”
My ghost has never yelled. He’s only ever whispered to me. I can’t tell who’s who anymore, who’s the real one and who the fakers are.
THWACK!
Grey catches the knife thrown at him midair. “I’ve fucking had it with you,” he growls.
The shift in his eyes has me flinching. He’s never looked this unhinged. This terrifying.
How the fuck did he do that?
I take a few steps away from him.
“Don’t be scared of me. Please,” Grey begs. “Not you.”
“I don’t know who you are,” I murmur. “I don’t know any of you.”
