Choosing The Imposter Over His Dying Wife

cka

dusty attic, surrounded

y sixteenth birthday. The day Caleb becam

g. Back then, I was the glue

solvent they were des

uck a

o life, orange and bl

f Caleb and me. The fire curled the

elt

," a voic

oked

he was wearing a white cashmere coat-pri

oughed, the acrid smoke alread

heels clicking on the wood, and looked at the burning pil

ing lies,

a shark's smile-all

tes fire. Reminds him of the warehou

ifted her booted foot

er with a me

dry, dusty floorboards. An old rug

," sh

ungry and fast, lick

o stomp out the fire with my bare feet, ign

e just pulled out h

transforming into a performance of terrified panic. "Help!

oked at me. Her ey

Prin

y dragged us out just as the smoke tur

ved ten mi

d to a halt on t

face perfectly smudged with a li

he rug! She said if she couldn'

e billowing from the att

looked

phlegm spotting the white grav

wheezed, desperate for a

up to me. He

have been

eat?" he as

r, he grabbed me by

main house to the detac

d, my fingers clawing at

ved me

he ordered

d the gl

heat

ees. 200

breathable soup that scorch

ed on t

His face was stone. He was the

my lungs reacted to the extreme heat, constrictin

ss, gasping for air

dying.

I saw Hailie wal

ce water intended for

ocked t

dar deck, my body convulsing

she was

f," she

the ice wat

ed. The temperature differential sent my nerve

for breath, while the man who promised to protect me