Page 34 of Unbalanced

Fuck.

Rob looks up at me, and I grab his hand.

“Who did this?”

“Al…den,” he slurs through the blood slipping from his mouth.

“Just hang on. I need to go get help.”

“D…ad,” he breaths out, and then goes completely still.

“Rob. Rob.”

I rub his chest, but he doesn’t respond.

Even though I know it’s futile, I sprint back the way I came, my bare feet slapping against the stone. Bursting through the back door, I’m thankful my mother never got rid of the phone on the wall. I dial 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“I need an ambulance at 3466 Burloak. It looks like my brother fell and isn’t breathing.”

Not waiting around to answer questions, I leave the phone off the hook. I race through the house and up the stairs. Uncle Kyle is a pediatric surgeon, but he’s still a doctor.

No knocking, I burst through the door with a bang.

“Let’s go. There’s been an accident.”

Uncle Kyle jerks up out of bed and grabs his pants from the bedside.

“Alden—”

There is no time for questions. I run out and down to Emily’s room. She screams when I pound on the door like a mad man.

“Emily, it’s me.”

She opens the door, still pulling on a robe.

“There’s been…an accident. It’s Rob.’

“What?” Her eyes go wide. “What kind of accident?”

“Come with me.”

Everything blurs when Emily takes my hand. Kyle follows behind as we run out of the house and down the path. The sun is rising and has burnt off the mist, leaving Rob’s lifeless body lying in the open.

When Emily sees him, she sucks in a gasp and races to his side, dropping to her knees in the blood.

“Rob,” she whispers like she can’t believe what she is seeing. Kyle arrives, and I step back. The knife I dropped earlier glints in the grass nearby.

It feels like I’m in a haze as I walk over to pick it up.

This isn’t just someone fucking with me. I’m the target. That is the only explanation for the body’s position. This is an attack. Someone knows what I did. Someone knows, and they are taunting me and going after my family.

Emily cries while Kyle consoles her and tells her what I already know…Rob is dead.

My brother is gone, and when I find out who’s done this…they will pay.

CHAPTER ELEVEN