Forsaken Read Online Free Page A

you being in this part of the school again. Do I make myself clear?”
    Brady kept nodding, over and over. Are those tears running down his face? Nora wondered. Hunter was hurting him. Really hurting him.
    She had to end it.
    “Stop it!” She tried to get up, to pull Hunter off, but her knees were weak and didn’t want to support her.
    As soon as the words left her mouth, Hunter looked to her, sat back, and removed his other hand from Brady’s shoulder. Brady exhaled in relief, and weakly rolled to one side to cradle himself with his hands.
    Hunter rose and stepped quickly over the bodies to approach Nora. Before she knew it, he had his hands gently under her arms, helping her up.
    “Are you okay?” he asked, frowning with worry.
    “Yes,” Nora answered. She looked at Brady lying on the floor. “Is he hurt?”
    Hunter glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “Not badly.”
    “‘Not badly?’” Nora exclaimed. “He can barely move!”
    Brady gave a weak cough.
    “He had no right to treat you that way,” Hunter frowned. “You’re not worried about him, are you?”
    “Of course I’m worried!” Nora cried out. “All of them are going to blame me for what you did, Hunter! They’re going to make my life a living hell!” Anxiety and stress and worry surged through Nora like a tidal wave. “I’m not going to be able to show my face at school again!”
    “You can’t be complicit in things like this, Nora.”
    “And you won’t be around to save me all the time, either!” It felt wrong, exploding at her rescuer like this, but her billowing emotions demanded a release. “What happens next time I’m alone, Hunter? I didn’t ask you to help me. You just made it worse!”
    Hunter balked. “ I made it worse?”
    “Yes, you made it worse! You think they’ll go after you? They saw you fight. No way in hell. They’re going to wait until I’m alone and do the same thing, but even worse! You had no right to interfere. You had no right to do what you did!”
    “And without me, Nora,” Hunter said quietly, “what would you have done?”
    “I don’t know.” The tears she was struggling to control threatened to choke her, and she had to bite off the end of every word. “But I know I wouldn’t be terrified of being alone!” Her eyes began to water. She didn’t want Hunter to look at her with so much scrutiny. She felt like he was judging her.
    She couldn’t take it.
    So, she did the only thing she could think of. She balled her hand into a fist and swung it at Hunter’s stomach.
    He made no move to get out of the way.
    Her blow connected. It felt like she’d hit a concrete wall. The reverberation ran all the way up her arm, hurting her elbow, her shoulder, and her knuckles.
    Hunter grunted. Without a word, he turned and walked away.
    Nora slumped against her locker. Tear began to flow freely down her face.

Chapter Five
    ~Shock and Murder~
     
    Nora ran home as soon as her legs were strong enough to carry her. She ran from the memory of Brady’s betrayal. She ran from the shame of exploding at Hunter.
    Most of all, she tried to run from herself.
    She slammed the door to her bedroom and turned the lock, then flung herself face down on the bed. She had to get away: away from her parents, away from her sister, away from her dog, away from everybody.
    Her friends called after school, wondering why she missed their last class. They’d made plans to go to the lake afterschool. Nora bailed. They were worried.
    She didn’t care. She ignored everything. She did not want to talk to anybody. She was strung too tight.
    She dreaded what tomorrow would bring. An encounter with Hunter, in first period math, for starters. She pressed her head deeper into the pillow.
    Her world was collapsing around her. Hunter was at the center of it all. But Brady was, too. Nora never imagined that Brady would be capable of what…of what he tried to do. If Hunter hadn’t been there… Nora shuddered to think what might have