They Called My Death a Tantrum, So I Stayed Dead novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: Fear Is Not Love
Pierce came downstairs at eleven that night in his pajamas, barefoot, with his hair stuck to his forehead.
I was standing in the dark hall outside the kitchen, because it was the only place in the house nobody walked through.
My parents sat at the table.
Neither of them had touched the tea my mother had made an hour ago.
Between them lay the day's receipts, stacked in neat piles.
"Forty-one baskets," my father said. "Two thousand dollars of stock, and not one sale."
"Put it back on the shelves," my mother said.
"Nobody's coming in to buy it."
"Then give it away."
"To who? They left it here on purpose, Lorna. It was a message."
She pressed her fingers to her eyes.
"The woman who runs the church sale called," she said. "She said the committee didn't think we'd want to come this year."
"Come to what?"
"To anything."
My father picked up the pen, put it down, and picked it up again.
"Half the deliveries for the second store were cancelled by noon," he said.
They were both quiet.
I had spent two years of Saturdays at the second store, putting up shelves, and neither of them had ever said a word about that.
"Mom," Pierce said from the doorway.
Lorna looked up.
"I can't sleep," he said. "I keep looking at it."
He held up his left wrist.
The band was a dull red now, and the number glowed on it in small white digits.
Twelve.
My father didn't turn his head.
"It's been dropping all day," Pierce said. "Nobody in the whole town will talk to me. My friends took me off their lists. A man spat at the car." His chin shook. "I don't want to die, Mom."
Keep reading free with an account. Start They Called My Death a Tantrum, So I Stayed Dead from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend