by Trisha Wolfe
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Wasteland
Chapter 2: Pieces
Chapter 3: Back
Chapter 4: Tree
Chapter 5: Dark
Chapter 6: Reflection
Chapter 7: Fallout
Chapter 8: Redemption
Chapter 9: Spark
Chapter 10: Follow
Chapter 11: Away
Chapter 12: Stakes
Chapter 13: Revelation
Chapter 14: Torture
Chapter 15: Float
Chapter 16: Dare
Chapter 17: Crash
Chapter 18: Falling
Chapter 19: Heartwood
Chapter 20: Faceoff
Chapter 21: Forward
Chapter 22: Almost
Chapter 23: Impulse
Chapter 24: Bury
Chapter 25: Shadow
Chapter 26: Aftermath
Chapter 27: Found
Chapter 28: Hunt
Chapter 29: Lost
Chapter 30: Nearer
Chapter 31: Conquer
Chapter 32: All
Chapter 33: Clarity
Chapter 34: Possess
Chapter 35: Break
Chapter 36: Flames
Chapter 37: Ghost
Chapter 38: Light
Epilogue: Six Months Later
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Other Works by Trisha Wolfe
THE DARKEST PART
TRISHA WOLFE
In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
—Francis Bacon
SAM
There’s a universal truth. One that I never questioned. One that, when planning out the rest of my life, I felt confident was solid. This truth was my rock, my constant. And all the other bullshit didn’t matter.
Tyler Marks loved me.
He would always be there. By my side. The one beautiful certainty in my bleak existence.
My forever.
But then a cruel and bitter reality stole everything.
Only, I refused to accept it. When you’re so sure of something, when you trust in it, believe in it with your whole being, nothing can change it. Not even death.
And this alternate reality? The one where I sleep until three in the afternoon, don’t shower for days, forget to eat . . . garnering strange, pitying looks from my parents and friends when I’m caught talking to myself . . . . ? It’s just a temporary limbo I’ve stumbled into.
Everything is hazy and faded gray around the edges like a dream. Or a nightmare. One that I will wake up from and Tyler Marks will be there, his strong arms holding me. Comforting me. And the world will make sense again.
It has to.
With a half-hearted sigh, I sink farther into the too-soft chair, trying to become invisible—like the love of my life standing off to the right in my peripheral.
“Sam won’t begin to get better unless she starts taking her medication,” Dr. Hartman states seriously, her perfect manicured fingernails visible as she laces her fingers together on top of her lap. She tucks in her chin, her dark eyes looking up to pin my mother with a severe glare. “If you’re not helping her, you’re enabling her. Sam needs to be on her meds.”
My mother swats a stray hair from her vision and then crosses her arms over her chest defensively. “I’m not enabling her,” she says, and glances at me quickly. “She’s nineteen . . . almost twenty. I can’t force-feed her pills as if she’s a child. Don’t you think I want her to take them? But it’s her choice.”
Sure. My choice. As if I’d choose any of this. As if I’d choose to be sitting here right now, being talked about like I’m not even in the room. Technically, I am an adult and didn’t have to consent to “treatment.” And I really shouldn’t have allowed my mother to talk me into letting her come to this session. But no one really has control over any of their choices in life. They just find some measure of control in choosing from options after the fact.
Like the options I have now: take antipsychotic pills to treat a condition I don’t have, or continue to argue with my family and doctor, digging myself deeper into this limbo wasteland.
I couldn’t bear the worried looks anymore, though. The whispering when I walked into a room. My father nervous to even be around me, up and leaving for pretend business meetings because he can’t deal.
After my mother made the initial appointment to talk to a psychiatrist (behind my back), I was then strong-armed into “giving it a shot.” For them, I did, and was diagnosed with (let me make sure I get this right) major depression with psychotic features. That’s a mouthful.
I smooth my hair back toward the rubber band, feeling three-day old grease and tangles. I probably should’ve showered and actually dressed today—then maybe Dr. Hartman wouldn’t be as concerned.
Nope. That’s not true. I doubt my lack of hygiene fazes her. The fact that I’m seeing and talking to my dead boyfriend is why I’m here. I should’ve never let my parents know. I should have kept it to myself.
But when you’re fearful of even leaving the house, stuck inside watching reruns of Ghost Whisperer, it’s hard to keep something like that hidden. And, maybe I did think I was going a bit crazy. And maybe I wanted someone to tell me that I wasn’t. That’s not what happened, though. Now, I’m trapped in this situation with no way out.
I need an out.
“Dr. Hartman,” I say, and both my mother’s and my shrink’s gazes snap to me. “I’ll take my medication.”
My mother’s perfectly groomed eyebrows shoot up. “Really, Sam?”
I nod. “I don’t want to be sick anymore.” I don’t want to be here anymore. “I promise. I’ll really try this time.” I smile for good measure. It feels odd, foreign. Not sure when’s the last time I did so genuinely. I see Tyler flinch in the corner, and my stomach sinks. My fake smile falls.
Dr. Hartman watches me intently, her expression skeptical, but she decides to take my offer. “That’s wonderful, Sam. And you’ll see, in time, these visions will cease. You’ll be able to return to your life again.”
I didn’t take her for a liar. A wound-too-tight-control-freak-who-needs-to-get-laid maybe, but not a liar. Her words cause my fingers to curl into a tight ball, my unclipped nails digging into my palm.
Return to my life . . .
I glimpse Tyler out of the corner of my vision, his dirty blond hair beautifully disheveled, like always. His chocolate brown eyes brilliant despite his faded appearance. And his full, downturned lips, the knowing look on his face that screams there is no return.
This is my reality now.
He’s my only reality.
I died with him that day.
FIVE MONTHS EARLIER
“How about Wichita?” Tyler suggests as his index finger traces the map spread out on the bed before us.
I wrinkle my nose. “Wichita? What the hell’s in Wichita?” I study its location on the map. “Oh, no. Kansas? Wouldn’t they try to burn me at the stake or something?” My hand goes to my black hair and I scrunch my recently dyed pink bangs. Then I wink at him.
He chuckles. “It’s a city. A big one. I think your witchy ways are safe.” He kisses the star tattoo on my shoulder before marking Wichita with a highlighter. His lean, muscled forearms flex with the movement.
I smile. Tyler’s joked about my “Goth” look being “witchy” since I started dying my hair in high school. It’s neither Goth nor witchy, but he’s really cute when he says this, so he gets away with it.
And I’m relieved to hear him joking at all. After his mother died six months ago, I thought I’d never hear him laugh again. He’s taken it so hard. Has been in such a dark place, where I feared he’d never fi
nd his way out. Lately, I’ve seen glimpses of the old Tyler peeking through the pain. So I whip out my best witchy smile, hoping to bring him back to me, if only for this moment.
Since we haven’t been intimate for just as long, I’m hoping that changes tonight, too. Truth is, I haven’t wanted to pressure him. I almost roll my eyes. But yes, I haven’t wanted to pressure my nineteen-year-old boyfriend for sex. Because I know he’s struggling not only with his mom’s death, but the absurd amount of stress his father puts him under . . . but damn. We haven’t gone this long without sex since we were freshman in high school. I think I’m past blue balls.
I’ve been looking forward to this night for the past month, since his classes and interning at his father’s office have taken up most of his time. He works late hours on the island, and when we do have time to ourselves, he’s usually too tired to plan any part of the wedding. And with everything that’s happened, I haven’t pushed. Not even for a ring.
The honeymoon is a different story, though. Tyler’s been talking about traveling the country since before we were both walking. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But he’s been dying to do it for as long as I can remember.
I suggested we travel before we actually get married, but he doesn’t want that. He wants our trip to be special, to be the first time we see everything together, our start of forever. Only we have to set an actual date for the wedding first.
I was starting to feel like maybe he was second guessing it—us. Getting cold feet. We’re only nineteen, sophomores in college, but we’ve been together forever. In some form or another. Always together. Best friends since diapers. A couple since our freshman year in high school. Wrestling partners in elementary school when he wanted to run off and join the WWF.
I even turned down going to NYU so we could remain together in college. Tyler staying close to his father’s law firm guarantees a free ride through undergrad, with a stipulation that he joins Marks and Wilshire upon graduation.
Tyler’s going to make the best damn lawyer. No one can debate him, and he can argue circles around anyone. That’s why it really wasn’t a sacrifice on my part; I can get the same art degree at USC as in New York. Well, maybe not. Technically I’m majoring in Art Studio (not the same), but after graduation, I can do distance learning for fine arts classes not offered here.
Sometimes I question if it was really my choice to stay, wondering if he somehow talked me into it . . . He’s that good, to change someone’s mind without them even realizing it. But he loves me. He did leave it up to me, and would have supported my moving to New York. It’s only my nerves talking now.
We just need this night together so bad . . .
“It’s on our way,” Tyler says, bringing my attention back to the now. “And it’s just fun to say. Wich-i-ta. It reminds me of you, witchy and all. I officially declare it your stop.” He kisses my nose. “And besides, I don’t care where we go, long as we’re together. And as long as I get to do you in each place along the way.” He bites down on his lip and slaps my ass. My mouth falls open. “What? It’s going to be our honeymoon. You know we have to christen the hell out of every state.”
I can’t help it, I laugh. And hope that Tyler’s finally returning to me crests in my heart. “Why wait? I can think of a few things we haven’t tried right here in South Carolina.” Licking my lips, because I know that drives him crazy, I lower my gaze.
He groans and pushes the map off the bed. “You’re maddening, woman. Come here.” He flips me onto my back and moves above me, his knees parting my legs as he buries his face in my neck.
Wrapping my legs around his hips, I pull him closer and run my fingers through his already disheveled hair. “We’re really doing this.”
For the briefest moment, he stills. I feel him tense, and a nervous flutter seizes my stomach. But he quickly lifts up and smiles, the vise squeezing my insides releases me.
“We’re really doing this. Nothing can keep us from doing this.” His lips slowly find mine, and I open my mouth to his, tasting him. He breaths me in, deepening the kiss, as his hand caresses my bare thigh.
I didn’t bother changing out of my pajamas before he came to my residence hall apartment. My black booty shorts have little skulls with pink bows, and they make my ass look good. And my roommates are out for the night at some show that the whole campus has been raving about all week. It’s just us.
As his hand inches under my shirt, I suck in a breath. “I can’t wait to marry you, Tyler Marks.”
A groan rumbles in his chest, and his hand flattens against my stomach, stopping its progression. “Shit, Sam. I forgot.”
I lift up onto my elbows. “About what?”
He shakes his head and drives his hand through his hair as he sits back on his heels. “My brother’s in town, and I promised I’d hang with him tonight. I missed his birthday last week.” His brown eyes crease at the corners. “But I can cancel.” He bounds forward, capturing my arms and bringing them above my head.
My back hits the bed, and his weight presses me into the comforter. I revel in the feel of his strong body on top of mine for a minute before the guilt kicks in. I run my hands along his back. “You haven’t seen Holden in forever,” I say through my disappointment. “You should go.”
“Yeah, I should.” He exhales against my neck, a forced breath. Then he pushes up to look at me. “I can stop by later.” He dips his fingers beneath the elastic of my pajama shorts. “Pick up where we left off . . .”
I laugh. “No. I have an early class.” I sigh, hating that, again, I’ll go to bed without him. “I should probably pass out early anyway. Tomorrow?”
“You know it.” He leans in and kisses me long and soft.
After he slips on his shoes and jacket, I walk him to the outside corridor and lean against the doorway, hugging my arms around myself against the cold. “I love you,” I tell him.
With another groan, he pivots and races back toward me, scooping me into his arms, my toes grazing the floor. “Forever,” he whispers in my ear.
Those were his last words to me.
SAM
I stare down at the orange pill bottles on my bathroom counter. Run my fingers over the white prescription labels.
Celexa. Abilify.
Ignoring my reflection in the mirror, because I know he’s standing behind me, I press down on the childproof top and twist. The smell of plastic and new medication hits my nose, and I dump the pills into my hand. They’re white and small and oblong.
“You don’t need them,” Tyler says. “You’re not crazy, Sam. I’m really here. Those pills will just drug you into a comatose state where I can’t reach you . . . I need you, baby.”
Guilt pools in my stomach, twisting and churning. With a determined but shaky hand, I extend my arm over the toilet and slowly tilt my hand. The white pills trickle from my palm like a little waterfall, plopping into the water.
I reach over and flush.
Then I repeat the action with the antidepressant medication.
“What do you want, Tyler?” I’m a bit put out since my mom and Dr. Hartman have been extra tough on me this week. And Tyler popping up during my session today only makes it harder.
He doesn’t appear every day, and even on the days that he does, he doesn’t always speak. But his presence is constant. I can feel him everywhere. Even in my sleep. Unconscious.
Finally, I look up. He’s wearing the same clothes he had on the night of the accident. His white Polo shirt and dark denim jeans. His hair still mussed from my fingers when he kissed me for the last time.
I squeeze my eyes closed, then open them. He’s still there.
“Just you,” he says. “I always want just you.”
An ache builds in my chest and rises to my throat. “I’m here,” I whisper.
Then he’s gone.
Since he first appeared to me, three days after his funeral, I’ve researched every book in the college library, and Googled every phenomenon I could on life after death.
It became an obsession.
When he started coming to me, I was frightened. Freaked out. But overwhelmingly happy, as if somehow everything that happened prior was just a bad dream and he was back. I was scared to try and touch him. Scared of what it would mean if I could . . . Scared of the returning heartache and feelings of loss if I couldn’t.
Then one day I worked up the courage. My hand passed right through him, and it was like he died all over again.
The day I heard his voice, I nearly shattered. It was the most beautiful sound, and I discovered that if I talked back, he would respond. We could have conversations again. I locked myself in my old room of my parents’ house and didn’t sleep. Didn’t eat. Didn’t leave, afraid that he’d leave, or that he’d forget me.
Eventually, my parents sought help. They’d given me, what they felt, was sufficient time to grieve. They thought it was time for me to go back to classes, at least, if not back to living on campus. I had to go on living, they said. Tyler would want that.
Would he really?
According to Tyler, that’s not true. He missed me, and he needs my presence to anchor him to this . . . whatever new reality between life and death where he exists. I hadn’t been there that night. I hadn’t been there for him. Maybe if I had been, he would still be alive now.
He needs me.
It’s what he always says. And if being here for him helps, then it’s what I have to do.
After months of arguing with my parents about school and life, and all the other bullshit they felt I should be doing, I cracked. I told them the truth. I can still see my mother’s shocked expression, feel it like a mallet to my gut. I terrified her.
