Tessa collapsed onto the bed, sobbing. Her heart screamed out, ached for love, but no one heard. No one at all.
She hated Patrick and she loved him at the same time. Both! She wanted to hug him and she wanted to slap him. It didn’t make any sense, but it was true. It didn’t matter though. Nothing mattered.
She pulled out the razor blade.
She couldn’t stand this anymore. Nothing had changed. She flew all the way out here, and nothing was any different. Patrick wasn’t her dad. Of course he wasn’t. No one was. What was she really hoping for, anyway?
She heard a car engine outside her window and looked up from the bed just in time to see Patrick backing down the driveway.
Going off to work again. Running away. Leaving her alone.
There’d always be another killer out there somewhere. That’s what really mattered to him, anyway. That’s what he loved. Not her.
If only she wasn’t in his life, they could both be happy.
In that instant she knew what she had to do: go back to New York. Hitchhike to the City. Maybe she could move in with Cherise or one of her other friends. She was old enough to get a job, to live on her own. All she had to do was slip out and get away before he came back. It’s what he really wanted, anyway. It’s what they both really wanted.
After all, it wasn’t his fault he’d fallen in love with a woman who had a stupid teenage daughter. What was he supposed to do? Suddenly know how to take care of a teenager? Suddenly care about the daughter too, just ’cause he loved her mom?
Tessa wiped at her tears and looked around the room.
She could solve everything by leaving. That’s what she needed to do.
She slid the blade into the back pocket of her jeans and flopped her suitcase open. She couldn’t bring the whole thing, way too obvious. Just the knapsack. That’s all she would need. She yanked it out of the closet and began to stuff her clothes inside it.