Break Me (Brayshaw High #5)(108)

I start to cry, glance around, and spot Maddoc now standing near the entrance, his eyes on Royce. A hint of unease is written along his brow, but he quickly erases it when he realizes I’ve caught it.

He shakes his head no and I growl, twisting and turning my hands, but get nowhere.

This is bad.

This is only going to get worse.

Tension lines my forehead, a heavy throbbing taking over not only my head, but my entire body. I try to take a deep breath, but it does nothing. I blink and blink again, but with each one, my vision only fogs more.

The fiercely pumping blood and high heart rate, this is what I’m supposed to avoid. Stress and anxiety, the very things this world is made of.

Royce screams something at Coach Von. I can’t hear it, but I see Coach Von’s decision before it’s made, he’s ready for his last-ditch effort, the one that will get him killed, right here in this very classroom. The man lifts a piece of glass into his palm. He’s yet to fight back, but he knows now it’s his life or Royce’s.

Everyone else sees it too. Captain’s hold twitches, his body growing rigid behind me, and Maddoc’s shadow has slipped farther into the room.

Royce must too, because his entire body eases, ready. Excited almost.

We know he deserves a fate much worse, but this isn’t the place to put the final nail into the coffin, the lead up to it, sure, but the end can’t be here where students could very well be watching from outside the busted window.

Captain quickly spins me around, rushing me toward the door, and shoves me to Micah who suddenly appears there and whips back around. I pretend to go easily, but slip away, sliding on my feet and darting around the far side of Captain.

Maddoc’s eyes shoot wide, and he lunges for me, but I’m already too far past him too.

Mac flies for me, eyes wide in panic, but we’re on the same timing and I’m two steps ahead.

I intend to approach them from the side, get Royce’s eyes to fall on me to bring him back to life, but two steps away, my condition takes control of me. My vision clouds, darkens, and then it’s gone.

Not a second later, my foot slides the wrong way, and I fall into something hard, whipping backward and slamming onto my back a second later, my skull bouncing hard against the floor.

It hurts, stings, but only for a second and then... nothing.





I choke on water as it’s poured over my mouth and chest, coughing and spitting it out as I turn my body, but a low cry slips past my lips and forces me back down.

My palms flatten out, finding something hard and cold.

Am I on the floor?

I need to open my eyes.

I take a deep breath, and a heavy throbbing whirls through my head, making me dizzy.

I open my eyes, but nothing is there.

I try again.

And again.

No. No, no no.

My hands fly up, moving over my eyelids and I blink, feeling my eyelashes flick across my skin swiftly. They’re open.

A sharp cry slips out. “No.”

Hands grab mine, moving them from my face, but I smack the person’s touch away and squeeze my eyes shut. My palms plant beside me and I scurry backward until I hit something warm and solid.

“Brielle, stop.”

Captain.

“Just breathe,” he continues. “Tell us you’re okay.”

“I can’t... I ...” I swallow. Hanging my head and covering my eyes. A hiss follows as I touch my face, and wetness coats my fingers. It’s warm.

Blood?

“Oh my god!” I try to stand, but I’m held down.

“Get the car, now!” This comes from Maddoc, but whoever he’s speaking to must not move fast enough, because it shouted again and three times as loud. “I said now!”

The floor vibrates beneath my body and moisture fills my eyes, finds my cheeks, and soaks my palms completely.

“Brielle, look at me. Let me see.”

I blink wildly in my palms, take a long and full breath, and lift my head.

My eyes are open, but I can’t see.

Blackness is all there is.

My cries are silent and have nothing to do with the ache on the back of my head or the burn along my temple, the sting in my chest, but everything to do with my stolen sight.

This is the longest it’s stayed black.

It’s normally only short periods of time, fifteen or forty-five seconds, enough time for me to panic even more, make it worse and then force myself into a calmer state.

It always works.

Why isn’t it working?!

“Why isn’t what working?”

I freeze.

“My... I...” I close my lids one last, long minute, leaving them that way for five full breaths, and when I reopen them, the room comes back into view. It’s nothing but a shadowed silhouette, but I can see.

I see Royce helplessly slumped against the wall, Maddoc holding him up as his body hangs limp in his arms. His head is dropped back against the wall, lips parted, and brows drawn in.

With a black cloud surrounding him, he forces his gaze to mine and holds.

A shuddered breath pushes past his lips, his eyes squeezing tight.

And then he walks away.

Somehow, with nothing but a world of gloom and gray in front of me, his departure colors it spades darker.

My limbs grow too heavy to hold, a sudden wave of exhaustion overcoming me.