Chapter 34
Dona's POV
"Holy shit!"
I turned around so fast I nearly toppled over. a tiny gasp ripping out of my mouth. But it was only Piper’s mum.
She stood right behind me, her hand still halfway in the air like she hadn’t expected me to jump that hard. Her blue eyes widened as she took me in.
“Dona, love… what is wrong? You look pale. Are you okay?”
My tongue tripped over itself instantly. “Y... yeah. Yes. I’m fine. Totally fine. Just…” My fingers wouldn’t stay still, twisting around each other like they were glitching. “I just... uh, I need to… leave now. I just remembered something. Super important. Like… crazy important.”
Her brows pulled together. “Leave? But Piper—”
“Tell her bye for me!" I blurted, already taking a step back, almost tripping on my own heel. “Please. Just tell her. I... I’ll text her.”
“Dona, wait!”
But I was already speed-walking down the hallway. My heart was racing so fast that it felt like it was skipping over beats instead of making them.
The front doors whooshed open, and the second I stepped outside, everything in me cracked open and poured out. Air jammed in my throat, and I couldn’t drag in a full breath. My hands shook like I’d touched a live wire.
My breaths came in these weird, shallow bursts, and everything was too fast and too loud. My vision started tunneling at the edges, and suddenly all I could hear was that voice from the phone, replaying itself inside my skull like a broken audio file. My heart hammered up into my mouth. I bent forward, palms on my thighs, trying to breathe, trying to stop shaking, but my body was not listening to me at all.
Then my phone started ringing again.
I snapped my head up at the the noise, and anger exploded through my fear. I pulled the phone from my pocket and hurled it across the asphalt. It skidded violently, bounced once, then landed on its back.
But it was still ringing.
“God, shut up!” I screamed, stumbling toward it. My legs felt like wet noodles, but I forced myself forward until I reached the stupid thing.
AUGUST flashed across the cracked screen.
"Oh, shit!" I swiped to answer, holding the phone with shaking fingers. “H—hello?”
“Where the hell have you been?” August launched straight into it. “I’ve been calling since forever! And I didn’t even get to see your mum this morning, because by the time I got up, she’d already left for work, and you... God, Dona, you... you weren’t picking up. You know what the situation is right now, with my dad and his weird friend. Why would you do this? Where are you?”
His worry for my wellbeing warmed my heart a little. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out except a tiny sound that didn’t even qualify as a word.
“Dona?” His tone changed from agitation to comcern immediately. “Hey. What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, tears spilling before I could stop them. “I… I…” I gasped. My voice was thin and useless, shaking so badly.
“Dona, tell me what the fuck is going on!”
“I…” My throat was burning up with tears. “I’m… I’m at the hospital. The one you took me to… the other day. August, Russell called again."
There was a pause, a very long one. He was breathing hard through the line. Then, finally, he muttered:
“I’m on my way.”