Stranded For His Fake Sister

on's

. I drove back, my chest tight, a knot of dread growing with every mile. Kattie wasn't answering her

"so understanding," would eventually come around. But the frantic calls

t her. The gravel crunched under my tires. The

asn't

ed into my stomach. My eyes scanned the desolate landscap

rp, clawed at my th

calling her name. "Kattie

owed by the vast e

scarded water bottle. A footprint. Anything. But there was n

ye, pinned under a loose rock near where I'd

s sketchbooks. Her precise, elegant ha

choice, Colton

n my hand. This wasn't just Kattie b

t, every word. The guilt, thick and suffocating, pressed in on me. I' d dis

was unlocked. A chill ran down my spine. The si

d out, my voice h

s, usually scattered across her desk, were nowhere in sight. Her side of the close

le of shredded white fabric lay there, scattered w

dress. Slash

s style. Kattie was quiet. Kattie was u

ed by the open closet door, her eyes lingering on the dress. There was a strange, almos

highway flashed before my eyes. Her fake tears.

me. It wasn't Kattie. It wa

r. I had driven away, leaving Kattie to

n just a fight. T

ying tableau on the floor. My phone, which had been buzz

with the brutal reality. Kattie was go

back, a flood of repressed

Ten years old, a quiet, watchful girl with deep, sad eyes. She was a ghost in her own home,

uld lament to Kenneth, her father. "So... rough

fectly manipulative. She' d smile sweetly at Kattie, then, when

her voice like venom, when Kattie first ar

But it was never enough. Krystle would accidentally-on-purpose "break" Kattie's drawings, then burst into tears,

pointed voice. Kenneth's cold, judgmental stare. Kamren, Kattie

er of playing the victim. And I, Colton, had fallen

. Krystle, the delicate flower, constantly in need of protecti

hite dress, pristine and intentionally upstaging. Her tears. Lily's

serene. Her eyes, however, had held a flicker of something I h

even argued. She had just... acce

e had simpl

a declaration. Not just of an end to our engagemen

been so blind, so stupid. I had taken Kattie's kindness for weakness, her

Not just from the penthouse, but fr

physical blow. I had lost her.

e this right. But how? She had

tainty formed in my mind. Krystle had done this. And Krystle wa

pushing through my grief. I had to

to find Kattie. Be