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She is under observation and we can’t see her until a full mental analysis is coht up to his studio He doesn’t knohat really happened, which is good because he can’t handle what he does know: that my mom overdosed and that she cut up her forehead and wrists

"If you need anything," I call out as he trudges up the stairs "Please co off his shoes at the top of the stairs "I’oing to paint He’ll probably lock himself up in his room and smoke himself into a stupor As soon as he is upstairs, I collapse on the sofa with my feet kicked up over the back "All I want to do is sleep forever Please just let me sleep forever"

I stare at theas a raven flies just outside, back and forth, back and forth, then it lands on the sill It spans it ss and shakes off a few feathers

"Go away" I throw a couch pillow at the

Tucking its wings in, it spins in a circle and I toss another pillow at it Parting its beak, it caws I begrudgingly drag lass "Why won’t you just go away?"

Granting me my wish, it flaps away in the direction of Cameron’s house It’s late, so ht in Cae that doesn’t belong touncontrollably like a wildfire As ifto me, I march out the front door and across the street I’ the pajamas I wore at the police station and blood still stainsthere to impress him

His Jeep is parked out front and the tires are covered with chunks of h the back ondering if I’ll find rope and a roll of duct tape, like the kind I saw on Mackenzie in her death o?" Ca close

Slowly, I turn to face hi closer than I expect and e of the curb with the shift of ht

"Easy there" He catchesfaded jeans, no shirt, and his skin alht There is also dust in his blonde hair and on his hands, which is strange

I wrench my arm free and his dusty handprints mark my skin "Why did you do it?"

He knows exactly what I’ about--it’s clear in his stoic expression "But I didn’t do it"

"Yes, you did" I dust the dirt off my arm "You were the only one who knew the exact location of my car"

"Am I?" He shakes his head and dust falls from his hair "Because I was under the iht you crashed"

"Who gave you that impression?" I ask "And why is there dirt in your hair? Have you been digging graves up again, looking for your--" I make air quotes, "‘fa that in the strangest place" His eyes travel up er on the hole inyou the questions Starting hy you look like you just cole to ainst his chest "What happened to Mackenzie last night after I left?"

He reaches above my head and sets his hand on the roof of the Jeep "Why? Are you jealous?"

"Jealous that I wasn’t the one who got killed?" I back up against Jeep and cross my arms

"You know, it seems like I’m the only one you have this spitfire attitude toward" He leans in and his eyes darken "Everyone else I’ve seen you with, you’re nicer than can be And you were like that with me at first, but nohat happened?"

"You blewaway from hiainst the Jeep door "And then told the police where my car was, after Mackenzie disappeared"

"I didn’t tell the police where your car was," he says and his hand finds s I ever told you about me? That I don’t lie"

"I think that’s the liars’ motto"

He lowers his head in frustration and his hair ticklesto do with you?" He raises his head back up and the sorrow in his eyes is restored "Is this because I was flirting with Mackenzie, because the only reason I did that was to make you jealous--like how I felt when I showed up at your house and so in your bed"

"You knohat?" I duck under his ars ainst the door "I don’t even knohy I came over here It must have been a crazy impulse"

"Because you wanted to see if I killed her," he says, pulling ue and starts to lean like he’s going to kiss ers off me and this time he releases me I storm across the street, but halt when he says, "That’s what you think That I’ and I can prove it"

I glance overyour bluff"

He waves for me to follow him as he walks backward across the lawn "Come with me and I’ll prove it to you" He enters his house and leaves the front door wide open Seconds later, a light turns on inside

I e of the front path "Does he really think I’ain, it seems I can’t die, so what does it matter

Like a shadow, he transpires in the doorith the light of the house shining behind "Are you co to just stand out there in the dark and stare at the house?"