Showing results by author "Whitney Barbetti" in All Categories

When I was 17, I disappeared. I walked out the door of my apartment with a backpack and never looked back. I left the life of Cora Mitchell behind, seeking freedom from my real-life nightmare. But my freedom came with a cost. I lived a fictitious life for the next six years, never letting anyone close enough to see underneath the façade that was Andra Walker. I was content with my simple little life. Until I met Julian.

I was born in sadness, which was just the beginning of a solemn and desolate life. I'm no stranger to pain - none of us are. The night I held my best friend's hand as she died, I understood true agony. And I never thought I'd feel happiness again. But that was so long ago.... Moving to Colorado to be with Colin, my high school sweetheart, was the perfect way to start over and rekindle what had begun to fizzle. I wanted that spark to ignite, to burn in passion and desire. Instead, I found myself falling for Jude, my boyfriend's roommate.

"In here," he said, pushing on the skin above my heart, "you're 10 below zero. And you're closer to death than I am." My name is Parker. My body is marked with scars from an attack I don't remember. I don't want to remember. I choose to live my life by observation, not through experience. While people are laughing and kissing and connecting, I'm in the corner. Watching them live. I'm indifferent to everything, everyone. The only emotion I feel with any kind of depth is annoyance, and I feel it often.

I've come to understand that I'll always find her. She's my North Star, my sense of direction. In her I've found my home. She tells me I saved her. But the truth is she saved me. But nothing good can ever last. Andra's keeping secrets. She's holding something back. I'm trying desperately to anchor her. To let me in, to let me help.