Beautiful

A few months later

Adea

Shane comes into my room almost every night. He usually climbs into my window after sunset. The nights that he doesn’t come are colder and darker than the nights that he does. He stayed true to his word and he hasn’t done anything. We hold hands, or when he comes in late, he crawls into bed with me and cradles me as if I were the most important person in the world. I feel the crazed flutter of butterflies whenever he’s near. My mind races when he touches me, hugs me, holds me. I feel valued, I feel precious.

I do my best not to rouse suspicion. Even though I want to skip dinner, if I do it too much I know Ava would make it her life’s mission to find out why. It was hard not to bounce my leg anxiously underneath the table. I couldn’t even taste the roasted chicken and potatoes. When my father finally got up and walked out I excused myself and slowly exited the Dining Hall.

It wasn’t until I passed a window in the hallway that I started to quicken my steps. Th