The three of us strode out but left the woodshed door open a crack. Eddie paced the yard in tight circles and raked his fingers through his hair as if to reconcile what I'd done. Sawyer gazed over the fence at the cemetery. The longer the silence stretched, the faster my knees threatened to buckle under the weight of what I'd become.

A monster. All because of Paul.

"Sawyer. Eddie," I whispered to their backs. "Please say something."

Sawyer stepped toward me just as I ...