Free A Whisper To A Scream by S.B. Addison Books Page B

chance to apologize to him face to face. My apology
earlier was insincere. Well, not completely insincere. I am sorry I
hit him, but I’m madder at myself for losing my cool, and severely
misjudging him.
    When I walk into my house, Mom is still at
the kitchen table reading her paper. She folds it up as I sit down
next to her. She checks the time. “That was quick.”
    “Yeah. He said he was in a hurry,” I lie.
    “Oh, okay.” She pats my hand. “Wren
called.”
    “I’ll call her back in a little bit.”
    Mom cocks her head to the side, giving me a
concerned look. “Is something wrong, sweetheart?”
    I know it’s wrong, but I begin to fabricate
my lie even further. “Adam asked me if I was going to Fall Fest.
But I told him I couldn’t go because I was grounded.”
    She narrows her eyes, trying to read me. “Oh
he did? Did he?” I nod, excitedly hoping that she doesn’t catch on.
“Do you like this boy?”
    I’m not sure. “No.” Maybe. Honestly, I’m not
even sure how to classify our relationship to myself. We’re not
friends. We’re definitely not dating. So then what are we?
    Mom steadies her gaze, keeping her hazel eyes
level with mine. “Is he picking you up?”
    “No. I told him you wouldn’t let me go.” I
think it bothers Mom that I’m not fighting her on this.
    “How are you going to get there?”
    I hesitate for a second. “Wait. Are you
saying I can go?”
    Mom smiles. “Maybe I am.”
    If she knew what I did last night, I’m
certain she’d take back this act of leniency. “Wren can take
me.”
    Mom peeks at the phone. “Give her a call.” I
shock Mom when I jump up and hug her. It actually feels good. I
haven’t done it in years.
    After I release Mom, I scurry to the phone
and punch in Wren’s number. She picks up on the first ring.
“Hello.”
    “Hey.”
    “What’s up?”
    “You up for Fall Fest?”
    “You know it.”

Chapter 8: Ellory

    The urges didn’t emerge when Adam was around
guys, only girls. He remembered a time during football practice
when the wide receiver caught him staring at his neck.
    “Dude.” He waved his hand in front of Adam’s
face. “Are you okay?”
    Adam gasped. “There’s nothing there. No
blood.”
    The wide receiver backed away slowly. Adam’s
tendencies had come alive. “What’s with you? Man, are you
tripping?”
    Adam snapped out of his trance. He played it
off coyly. “No, dude. I just have a doctor’s appointment today. I
was hoping they don’t have to draw any blood.” Inside, butterflies
bounced off the walls of Adam’s stomach when he mentioned the word
blood.
    The wide receiver chuckled. “Ah, man, I feel
you. I hate needles.”
    For Adam, when he noticed girls, it was like
every one of them had a permanent marker scrawled across their
necks with a message to him. It would say, ‘insert knife here’ or
‘slash at your own risk.’ From then on, he’d imagine doing exactly
what those messages were telling him to do.
    Ellory Graham was different. Adam had figured
that out the moment he laid eyes on her in first period English
Lit. Normally, he liked his women weak. The weak ones were a lot
easier to manipulate. But Ellory, she was mouthy, strong, and
self-assured.
    Those characteristics left him absolutely
fascinated.
    Every time he tried to fraternize with the
opposite sex, his urges came out to play. Typically, he either
ended the relationship early, fearing that the monster inside him
would come out of hiding, or he decided that the female in the
relationship had to meet her demise to quench his thirst for
blood.
    But that wasn’t the case with Ellory Graham.
It stunned him that when he was around her, there were no urges.
When she was in his car and at his house, he caught himself staring
at her neck several times. He was waiting to see if his morbid
fantasy would play out. He wanted to see the blood pour of out of
the gash on her neck that he envisioned in his mind. But, there was
nothing—just another