Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 12
When we reached the intersection, I spotted a man crouching on the sidewalk.
He wore a ragged coat. His shoulders were bony and hunched. He was fiercely shielding a cheap strawberry cake against his chest.
It was Drew.
He didn’t recognize me.
Or rather, his eyes were completely glued to his phone screen.
The screen displayed the profile picture of my long-deleted social media account.
He muttered under his breath, like he was terrified of waking someone up.
“Avery, it’s your birthday today. I bought the right one. You’re not allergic to strawberries.”
He paused. Then he carefully added another sentence.
“I stopped making bets. Will you open the door now, please?”
A few yards away, Piper walked over in her ugly supermarket uniform. She was carrying a plastic bag full of discounted vegetables.
Her hands were cracked and red from the freezing cold. There was zero makeup on her face. And zero joy.
She saw Drew squatting in the snow. She stopped for a couple of seconds, looking like she was thoroughly used to this sight.
“Get up.” Her voice was dead inside. “If you freeze out here, I’m going to have to drag you to the hospital again.”
Drew ignored her entirely.
Piper reached out to grab his arm.
He violently wrenched himself away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Piper stumbled backward from the force. Her eyes went red, but she didn’t let out a single sob.
“Drew, hating me won’t fix anything. Avery is never coming back.”
Drew finally looked up at her.
His eyes were totally hollow.
“If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have left.”
Piper let out a laugh. It looked uglier than her tears ever did.
“If you hadn’t locked the door, she wouldn’t have almost died.”
They stood there in the snow. Two trapped beasts, gnawing at each other until there was nothing left but bone.
Elias lightly brushed his knuckles against the back of my hand.
“Do you want to cross?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Drew seemed to catch the sound. He suddenly whipped his head in our direction.
I was wearing sunglasses and a heavy scarf. He couldn’t recognize me right away.
But his gaze locked on me.
In that split second, it was like he finally poked his head out of a decade-long nightmare. He hesitantly took a single step forward.
“Avery?”Â