“I am not a rat.”

My friend, Aster rolled her eyes at me. “Of course you’re not, Gracie. Cash was just playing when he called you that. Quit pacing.”

Cash was never “just playing.” I should know that. He’s always trying to provoke me. To make me mad. I know he likes to see my reaction.

He knew I would snap.

Someday, he knew I would snap.

He knew I was, in his words, “crazy” from the very beginning.

From the very first day my dad introduced me to him and my new stepmom.

Well today’s the day.

“I’m gonna kill him.”

Aster looked at me like I was crazy.

Maybe I was. I don’t care. I mean it. Cash is going to be gone by tomorrow.

And so will I.

“You can help me or not, I won’t blame you. But if not, you should leave.”

Coward. She was gone within a minute.

Luckily for me, me and Cash were the only ones home.

I grab a kitchen knife.

The next few minutes go by in a blur, but I can still remember his screams.

“It was just a misunderstanding!” he said, “All of it!”

I don’t care. Good. If it really was, then that was his life’s lesson.

Misunderstandings come with dire consequences.

And I was his.