Stalker - Clarissa Wild Page 0,118

your hand.”

“Say hi to your brother in hell!” she screams.

Shots are fired, but I only catch half of the ruckus.

The bangs are loud, but the pain in my chest and back are overtaking my body. Blurring my vision, the sirens cloud my hearing.

All I see is Arthur sinking to his knees. His body flops to the floor like a bag of sand.

And then Vanessa slowly drops to her knees beside me.

First, she sighs.

And then her head slams to the ground.

Blood pools underneath her.

I turn around and try to reach for her. She feels so far away, and yet so close I can almost touch her. Her sparkling eyes look at mine as our heads turn toward each other, our faces and clothes covered in blood. My body is leaking blood like a faucet, but all I can think of his her beautiful face and her wretched soul. All mine. I won’t share her. Not even her death.

“I love you,” I whisper, but I don’t think she can hear me.

She mouths back the same words.

Her fingertips reach out toward me, and for a second they graze mine, setting a fire in my heart that can never be extinguished.

No matter if we die, our spark will always live on and on.

EPILOGUE

VANESSA

“She looks so peaceful,” my mother says. “Almost as if she’s happy.”

“I know. Despite what she’s been through, she’s still as tough as ever,” my father says.

“God, I’m so glad the police came quickly. My poor baby.” My mother sniffs.

“She needs her rest now, though.”

My mother caresses my cheek. “Sleep tight, honey.”

“You’ll need your rest for the coming days,” my father muses.

“The family is coming to see you when you’re all better,” my mother adds.

“Let’s just leave her to herself, shall we?” my father says. “Nothing we can do that the doctors can’t.”

“Right,” my mother says as they shuffle away. “She’ll be safe here.”

“Let’s get a cup of coffee and get back home.” They shuffle out of the room.

The moment the door closes, one of my eyes snaps open and I check my environment to make sure no one’s there before I sit up in the hospital bed. I pull all the electrodes from my body and slide out of bed. I check the door to see if someone’s coming, before reaching under my bed and pulling out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I tear off my gown and pull on the clothes that I stole from the nurse when she thought I was asleep. Then I silently make my way out of the room.

Every time someone enters or exits a door, I hide in a corner or hallway crevice until they’re gone, and then I make a run for it. I pass the room Paige is lying in, and for a second our eyes connect. Shit, I don’t want her to see me, let alone talk to me. Our interests no longer align because she was kept in my closet for days, so I keep running ahead. Once I get to the visitor’s section, I quickly spin on my ankles when I spot my parents sitting in a corner drinking some coffee. Instead, I open a safe-exit door and run down the stairs, all the way to the parking lot.

The car is already parked right in front of the road exit.

Just seeing the Jeep makes my heart beat faster.

Freedom.

I smile, knowing that the plan has succeeded.

My parents are oblivious. They think I’m still sick, tired, weak, and that’s exactly what I want them to think. They won’t find out that I’ve left until it’s too late, and they’ll never know where I’ve gone. I won’t ever tell them, either.

I walk toward the Jeep with pride and wanderlust coursing through my veins. I can already picture the trips I’m going to take, and the experiences I’ll have traveling the world. Everywhere a new name—incognito, just like in the movies.

My real life has become an acting job, and I refuse to look back. It’s way too sunny up ahead.

I feel like dancing, but instead, I run toward the Jeep as the door opens from the inside.

His lopsided smile, his chiseled, scruffy face, his tousled black hair and piercings make my heart flutter. And at the sound of his voice, I might have died and gone to heaven.

“Let’s go, Princess.”

“Phoenix, you came,” I say.

“Of course, I did.” He winks. “You didn’t think I’d leave you to rot in that hospital, did you? Besides, your parents would probably kill you if they found