Shadows Drift Beyond Memory by Xarin Vale novel Chapter 41

Anna thought I couldn’t hear her and went on ranting beside me.

“It’s all YOUR fault for hogging Quentin, you fucking useless cripple.”

“You should’ve died in that explosion ten years ago!”

The explosion from ten years ago–no one knew about it.

But now Quentin had told Anna.

Tears filled my eyes, burning and tearing at me from the inside.

A stick slammed into my back. I heard the crack of my ribs breaking.

Bucket after bucket of cold, foul–smelling water was dumped over me.

Anna dragged me by the hair, shoving my head into the toilet’s sewage tank.

The stench made my head spin. I struggled, screamed, but my arms and legs were pinned down hard.

“Quentin…”

My voice came out garbled, but instinctively, I called his name.

Footsteps echoed outside the door.

Then Quentin’s voice came through

“Tonight. I’ll be with you.”

“I’m warning you–Rachel’s been off lately. Stop messing with her.”

His voice was cold, detached.

But Anna? She wasn’t scared at all.

A crisp laugh rang out. “Quentin, you enjoy it just as much, don’t you?”

Quentin glanced coldly at the struggling figure behind Anna, “Stop bullying people. If this blows up, no one’s gonna cover for you.”

“But I’ve got you, don’t I?”

His Girl Bro Lied Not His Baby–DNA Played Along, Bat Baby 15 Hist

Chapter 3

Anna giggled and threw herself into Quentin’s arms, tilted his head to kiss him.

Quentin left.

The jeers continued behind him. He cast one last glance at my legs dangling over the edge of the filthy tank.

“Let’s go.”

He pushed Anna off and walked out without looking back.

Anna poked her head back in, telling her friends to clean up.

“It’s all Quentin’s fault–such a hypocritical guy. If he’d told me earlier he’d stay with me tonight, I wouldn’t have bothered beating her up.”

“Dirtied my hands for nothing!”

“I’m leaving. You guys handle the rest.”

The others laughed and told her to go ahead.

“Compared to a mute who can’t even talk, any guy would pick you.”

The group drifted away, leaving only the sound of dripping water–like it was drilling through my heart.

I slumped to the floor, my whole body aching like it had been crushed.

I turned to my phone, each message stabbed at me like a blade.

[Rachel, go home first tonight.]

My eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until everything went black.

In that moment, I felt like I was back in the explosion ten years ago.

Ten years flashed through my mind. Quentin’s promises echoed in my ears.

“Rachel, I’ll be your eyes, your ears, your voice. I’ll show you the world.”

“Rachel, I’ll be your translator.”

“I’ll protect you forever.”

But now he’d broken his word.

As consciousness returned, through the noise, I heard Quentin’s voice.

Das Rahy IS His!

30.4%

Chapter 3

“Repay the debt, repay the debt–Ten years, I gave everything to her! Ion’t that excur

“Do I have to spend my whole life babysitting a deaf–mute? ‘ti deserve my com liter

“If this is how it’s gonna be, I might as well have DIED in that explosion!

I heard my own heartbeat stop. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms–painful, but real

“How can you say that? What about Rachel’s dead parents?

“If Rachel heard you, how heartbroken would she be?

Willow stared at her son in despair, her heart breaking

“There’s no ‘if.‘ She can’t hear. She’ll be deaf for the rest of her life.”

Slap.

A sharp, crisp sound.

“Quentin, is that girl’s name Anna Bennett? I’m warning you stay away from girls like that!”

“Or I’ll send you abroad tomorrow!”

Matthew had hit Quentin.

But threats, warnings, even violence–none of it could make Quentin let go.

He let out a cold, mocking laugh, his eyes icy.

“So what if I’m with her? For ten years, she’s the one who showed me that life is a verb–that it’s full of color.”

“With you people, my world is nothing but gray!”

This was the first time I’d ever heard Quentin fight with his parents.

And the first time I’d heard him speak his truth.

Turns out, these ten years–because of me–he’d been miserable.

Tears slid down my face. In that moment, my heart died completely.

The hospital room fell silent

I woke up the next day and checked myself out. Matthew and Willow didn’t bring up Quentin.

And I didn’t either.

3i་་ཧ་་

Chapter 3

They insisted on going to the school to demand justice for the bullying, but I stopped them.

Some things–you can only handle yourself.

Anna Bennett. I won’t let you get away with this.

Quentin didn’t come home for a whole week. Willow stood in front of me, hesitant.

[Rachel, can you go find Quentin?]

That name felt foreign now.

I looked up and nodded obediently.

That Friday after school, I found Quentin in an alley near a bar.

He wore a white shirt, out of place among a cluster of thugs.

Through the haze of cigarette smoke, I stood at the alley entrance and met his eyes.

The cigarette in his hand burned out, ashes falling. He dropped it immediately and walked toward me.

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