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𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤,
𝑌𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘. 𝑌𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑌𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒’𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦.
𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒, 𝐼 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔—𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝑇𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑤𝑒’𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠.
𝐼 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔. 𝑌𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑧𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟.
𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠,
𝐻𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑒
𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑥, 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎, 𝑃𝑇𝑆𝐷, 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦, 𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ.
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The next morning, I find a note on the floor.
Please let me know you’re doing better. I
stayed awake for the rest of night, keeping an ear out for any screaming, but
you seemed to sleep through the night.
He stayed awake all night? Stayed awake for me?
I read his words over and over, committing them to memory before writing on the
other side and returning the note beneath the door.
I’m okay. Thank you. You didn’t need to remain
awake all night though. I’d be fine.
Within minutes, his feet come to the door, like
he was listening and waiting for me to wake up. I drift toward the door,
expecting a repeat of yesterday. But instead of paper coming back to me, he
speaks.
“I wanted to, Willow. Sometimes the most
difficult part is managing to sleep through the night, and after the months
you’ve had, you deserve all the sleep you can get.”
My head is in the middle of sorting through the
wave of emotions his words drown me in when he continues.
“I’ve brought food up. It’s out here. I also
wanted to let you know I must go to my office, so I’ll have to head out. I’ve
been trying not to, but there’s stuff I need there.”
Leaving? As in, leaving me alone? When
he goes, I’ll be easily accessible to Alex or whoever he sends for me. Sweat
beads on the back of my neck and blood rushes to my ears, blocking anything
good out. There’s only room for fear, for panic, for—I grasp the door, readying
to open it, if only to demand he remain here.
“I didn’t want to leave you alone and feeling
unprotected, so I’ve asked my friends, Ryker and Elena, to come over. Elena was
the one who got you the clothing the other day, and Ryker was with me when we
found you. They know you, but I’ve instructed them to not bother you. I’ll only
go when they arrive. Okay?”
He thought of me.
He remembered me.
He cares about me enough to convince his
friends to come over and babysit me.
My hand rests on the wooden door, lightly
touching it, aware he’s on the other side. How easy it’d be to open the door
and tell him thank you, without a barrier of my self-hate between us. How much
he’d likely appreciate my effort too.
Instead, I whisper, “Thank you, Hawke.”
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Read The First Chapter HERE!
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M.L. Philpitt is Canadian-born and raised, and enjoys representing Canada within her novels. As a Ravenclaw, she loves education, having undergraduate degrees in English Literature and Sociology, a certificate in Autism and Behavioural Sciences, and a MA in Counseling Psychology.
She writes in various romance new adult genres including paranormal, fantasy, and dark romance. She has lots of crazy trapped in her head for readers to enjoy. M.L. Philpitt writes contemporary romance through her alter ego, Cala Griffin.
When M.L. Philpitt isn’t making up stories, she’s devouring those imagined by other authors. Her love of reading began when she was a young child and only grew with age. She enjoys many genres, as reflected in her writing preferences.
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