atrical, overwrought sound that made my skin crawl. H

sobbed. "The doctors... they did everyt

rned my face to the side and let out a choked, broken sound. I

oice thick with fake guilt. "I shou

lies. Even without my sight, I could sense his performance. The slight shift in his wei

He was wrong. It was making my other sen

f deceit around me. My silence unnerved him. He needed me to res

ease, say

all, weak gesture. "T

oking my hair and murmuring more empty promise

to visit. The nurse announced her, and I heard Et

uch," he told Sarah. "Sh

call to Isabella. The moment the do

oe." Her voice was t

ed her hand once. I'm okay. Then

h and I had been friends since c

voice trembling. But as she spoke, her fing

again, a long, despe

friends, anything to seem normal if someone was listening. While she talked, she slipped something cool and th

se to my ear. "It looks like a pen. Click it once to

sharp, shot thr

perfectly in place. Sarah played her part, too

t snores filling the room, I waited. I heard his phone buzz on the ni

ed for his phone, my heart pounding. I didn't know his password. It didn't matter. I just needed the phone to b

ain. A text message. Then another.

otification chi

didn't

ain, my fingers shaking. I clicked the pen off. I

, a puppet master pulling my strings. He had no idea that I was listening, waitin