I PUBLISHED TWO CHAPTERS TODAY! MAKE SURE YOU READ BOTH (Chapter 15 and 16). I just wrote this now. It's my nephew's bday party today and I got dressed early and now I have to wait so why not write? It's short but juicy. Hope you like it!

I was halfway home when I stopped in my tracks.

How dare he!

He was wrong. I knew people could be cruel, uncaring and selfish. They take pleasure in causing suffering to others because it made them feel superior and powerful. They delight in making others feel so low until the oppressed loses their self-respect and confidence and the ability to trust.

I understood him. I was bullied in third grade. I knew how it was like to let anger consume me until all I wanted to do was lash out. I was angry that no one tried to help me, angry with myself that I was weak and vulnerable, and that it was my fault that I let it happen to me. But I was blessed with amazing people who never gave up on me, and somehow, someway I had let them in and I started to heal.

But Noah... who did he have?

Did he even have friends? Did someone know that his dad was abusing him?

So I went back to the clearing to give him a piece of my mind. And maybe, just maybe... if I showed him that I didn't give up on him, he would let me in. But when I got there he was already gone.

I wished I was someone who never cried easily. I wished I didn't run away when he had lashed out. But I knew that wishing for something I wasn't was useless and only invited self-doubt. I knew all these, but sometimes I did it anyway.

When I reached our front porch, I spotted a piece of paper on the floor. A small smooth rock held it down. I bent down and reached for it.

My breath hitched.

It was a portrait of me.

The one that Noah had drawn of me in the clearing.

I looked... beautiful, ethereal. A forest fairy beckoning warmth with her eyes.  

Did he see me this way? In this light?

I was sitting on the ground, with my knees close to my body and my arms wrapped around my legs. I was wearing my maxi dress that day, and he had drawn it like a gown that spilled behind me like a white cloud. My dark brown hair flowed like black silk over my back and legs.

On the right bottom of the page were his initials.

NH

I didn't know why, but I looked behind the paper. And felt a squeeze in my heart as I read his note.

 Forgive me. There's darkness inside of me. And I won't let it consume your light. –NH

***

Hi, loves! I'm so sorry I haven't updated this book in a while. I find that I can concentrate better when I stick to writing one story at a time—right now it's my other book Chasing Red. Then I switch it up and continue writing my other books if I get writer's block.

I don't know when I can update this again :(

Life hasn't been easy for me this year, but you guys cheered me up with your funny and sweet and kind words. Thank you so much for that!

I'm really sorry to cut off your reading. I'm such an αsshole. But I love you guys and I promise I will continue this story.

Love,

Isabelle the αsshole

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