Chapter 4

The blood spreading across the yellow fabric of her dress wasn’t supposed to be there.

We hadn’t gone up the observation tower. I’d dragged her three blocks away, past the park gates, through an alley, shouting at the sky that we were safe. But the universe didn’t care about the tower. It just wanted her. The sudden screech of blown truck brakes, the heavy delivery van mounting the curb, the sickening crunch of metal against concrete and then, Helena.

I was on my knees in the dirt, clutching her against my chest. Her dark hair was matted red, her eyes…