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.She sways there,out of her mind with anger. And I m not an intruder! Tarinloves me and I love him! Get over it, freak! I yell at her.I ve officially lost mycool and I don t care about her delicate psyche anymore orthe fact that all of this will be on the operator s recording. You re just another bimbot deluded fan! He doesn t give ashit about you! She freezes in place, hunched over, her make-upstarting to smear a little and her hair a crazy mess. starting to smear a little and her hair a crazy mess.Backing up, she points a shaking finger at me. You don tknow anything about Tarin and me. Her voice isquavering.The operator speaks again and I can barely hear her.Ilook over and see my phone turned upside down, thespeakers facing the carpet.I pick it up in time to hear hersay, We re sending someone to the house now.My adviceis to not engage with this intruder and just leave thepremises until she can be apprehended. Yeah, sounds like a good idea, I say, attempting tostand.My ribs are aching, and as get more upright, I shiftto the side a little.A sharp, stabbing pain sears into myguts and makes my breath catch in my throat. Fuck, Igrunt out, bending towards the pain, trying to make it stop. You fucking broke my ribs, you freak. I look up in time tosee her nostrils flare. You broke your own ribs, coming after me like that. Coming after you? After you? Are you fuckingkidding me? How deluded can a person possibly be? Ms.Barnes, I suggest you leave the premises, saysthe voice over the phone. Yeah, well it s not that easy, actually. I m not deluded, says the freak, lifting her chin, I m inlove.Love can make you do crazy things, but that doesn tmean it s wrong. Yes, actually, it does.What you re doing is wrong.You need therapy and medication. I resort to begging.Thepain is bad.I can t move enough to escape. Please just get out of here. She starts crying. Tarin loves me. I shake my head, backing up until I m leaning againstthe wall. No, he doesn t.He doesn t love anyone buthimself. No! I nod. Yes. She moves around the side of his bed, never takingher eyes off me. You don t know about love.You re emptyinside.I can see it. Wrong. I slide down the wall a little, my legsapparently deciding that injured ribs are too heavy.She stops when she s in front of Tarin s nightstand. You want Tarin for yourself, don t you? I shake my head. God, somebody shoot me. Herwords combined with the pain make me nauseated.I mafraid I m going to barf right here on Tarin s silk carpeting.With my luck I ll probably fall in it too, making the thought ofit doubly awful.Her eyes flash anger, and her color goes up again. Oh my god! That s it! You want Tarin for yourself.That swhat this is all about! This isn t about him not loving me orme having problems & this is about you and your sick littleinfatuation with Tarin! My butt hits the ground, and I drop my face into myhand, using my other to prop myself up.I half whisper, halfmoan, Jesus Christ save me from delusional nutbags. Iswallow over and over to keep my stomach contents wherethey belong. I hear a drawer open and lift my eyes in time to see herpulling a handgun from the nightstand.My heart stops beating for what seems like forever.My salivary glands go into overdrive.The vomiting is near.The gun comes up and she stares at it, almostmystified.And then a big grin comes over her face as shelooks at me. Tarin keeps a gun in our bedroom to protectus from people like you. Jesus fucking Christ. I lift the phone to my ear withmonumental effort.It jitters against my head, I m shaking sobad.My heart starts beating again, only now it s going amile a minute. She s got a gun, I say to the operator.Myvoice is all over the place. I m pretty sure she s going toshoot me. Chapter Thirty-OneGOD, IF YOU RE OUT THERE listening, I seriously didnot mean it when I said I wanted someone to shoot me.Ifyou get me out of this, I swear I ll never be sarcastic again.I hate the Fates for allowing my sarcasm to raise its uglyhead at exactly the wrong moment, just when the universewas willing to grant me one wish.I hope God doesn t takemy request itself as sarcastic and allow a bullet to enter mybrain as a lesson in humility.Everything takes on a surreal quality.The details ofthe room fade except for two things: Posey and the gunshe s pointing at me.Their focus is so sharp for me, I cansee the nubbed texture on the grip of the weapon and theway her finger is hovering just in front of the trigger.It s likeI m in a movie, and I m so into my role, it feels real.But notreal.I m so confused.This can t be real.I m just here so I can call someoneon the phone.I can t remember who it is or why I wascalling him.I m wearing jogging clothes.Am I going jogging? There s a high-pitched ringing in my ears and it sgetting louder and louder.Beeeeeeeeeeeeee&The gun looks heavier than Posey expected it to be.She goes from one-handing the weapon to using bothhands.She walks around the bed and stops at the farcorner of it.There s still a lot of bedroom between us, butI m a big enough target that I don t think she ll miss.I hate the idea that I m going to be killed by someoneso stupid; it s like an insult to my own intelligence orsomething.Outrage over the unfairness of it clears mymind just a bit.Why can t it be a smart person about tomurder me right now, dammit!The ringing in my ears stops just in time for her wordsto come across loud and clear. I think I am going to shoot you, she says, smiling like Ijust gave her the best idea she s heard all year.Shereminds me of that guy in The Shining with her maniacalgrin. Tarin will thank me.He ll be glad I stopped you frommessing up his life.What are you doing in here anyway?Are you stalking him? He s not going to appreciate that.He ll totally thank me for shooting you and stopping you inyour tracks.This is totally self-defense. She points the gunhigher, aiming it at my face. Tarin will not thank you.Tarin will hate you until hisdying day if you kill me, since I m his & sister. I have noidea where that BS came from, but I feel inspired, likethere s a guardian angel watching over me and whisperingin my ear.And then I actually hear Austin s voice in my head.Easy, now, babe.You can do this.Tears leap to my eyes and my heart spasms painfully. Oh, God, Austin & are you here? Posey backs her head up, genuinely thrown off. Austin? His sister? What are you talking about? Tarindoesn t have a sister, he s an only child. I shake my head, my hair turning into knots against thewall as it rubs. No, he has a sister.Half-sister.It s me.He s my brother
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