Things We Tou

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came witho

like a thousand desperate hands trying to break in. Lightning cracked the sky open, t

world down to these walls, to the echoes of footsteps, to the unspoken

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barely

it pulled me under, how Christopher's face blurred with th

se that something terribl

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't fill the rooms. His hands didn't brush my skin. Instead,

ark house like a ghos

library, I found th

here he was-Christopher, sitting in his chair, his e

be resting,"

't look

sleep,"

her c

ing on the edge of t

roared, making t

u let go of h

. "Because she ne

ked with the w

think I'm

es-dark, raw

something in you, the same fierce sadness. The

ath hi

want from me,

I don't know yet. But

-

e library, the rest of the

three long strides. His hand found min

n in his eyes, turning them f

said, voice barely

kno

around my wrist,

. Not just with my h

ammed again

stoph

r," he whispered. "Just th

s apart, the air thick

ts flickered

s swall

-

every touch

, down to my collarbone, lingering li

rowning again, but

gainst my skin, his v

urt you,"

knew b

't inn

To break the cold shell I

-

dawn seeped through the windo

in the sheets of the old couch, t

s brushed my cheek,

ns," he said. "But I know I

s, all the fear and l

to

-

t wasn't do

a box hidden beneath the f

time, photographs of Aureli

a di

betrayal, and a darkness that

ne between Aureli

a shadow

ething

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