Breaking Eden - (rough draft)

9 - The Bet (Unedited)

I hope to have another chapter up tomorrow at some point. This chapter gets really gross so beware. Please note that this hasn't been edited yet. It's a raw draft. Feel free to rip it apart. Tell me what you like or hate. I want to make BE the best book it can possibly be so honest feedback is always welcome. Thanks for reading! :0)

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9 – The Bet – Flash Back

The night of all nights had arrived far too quickly. Her parent's execution went as planned at first.

Keelan drove Eden and her friends, Lana, Marcy, and Kayla, to the movie theater as promised. They crammed themselves like sardines into his shit hole of a car and rolled down the windows for fresh air. Without it the car stunk of weed and stale beer, which were two of Keelan's favorite pastimes. That and making Eden's life as miserable as possible.

Keelan pulled to a stop and left the girls at the curb. When Eden moved for the door, he held her back, his hand gripping her forearm.

His voice was low, so only Eden could hear him. "If I could get away with it, I'd kiss you right now for luck." His lips tilted up in a genuine smile. He was infatuated by the image he created of Eden.

"I gotta go, Keelan. They're waiting for me." What Eden wanted to say was that she needed to hurry to the ticket booth to buy her ticket, so the timestamp was fresh.

"I'm doing this for you, for us, and our baby." His eyes dropped to her lap, at the non-excitant pregnancy within her womb. "When you get home tonight, we leave this town for good. It's only you and me forever."

"Forever." She repeated that word, but it felt foreign on her tongue.

"Yo, what's the hold up?" Kayla asked.

"Keelan, you need to let me go now." Eden glanced back over her shoulder towards the three girls that stood watching them. She pried her arm free, got out, and shut the door.

The other girls headed toward the ticket booth with wallets in hand.

"Be home by ten. I should be done by then." Keelan's grip tighten on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white with rage.

"I gotta go." Those were the last Eden spoke to her brother then she ran after her friends to catch up.

Behind her came the squeal of tires as Keelan sped off to carry out the rest of her plan. All Eden needed to do now to hang out with her friends like it was any other Friday night and forget about what was about to happen.

The girls bought their ticket and carelessly tossed the stubs into their purses upon entering. But Eden tucked hers into the front pocket of her jeans for safe keeping. That little square of ripped paper was only one part of her two-part alibi. She needed to keep it safe.

Playing the part of a young American teenager was easy.

Eden laughed with the other moviegoers even though the movie was terribly boring. She shared popcorn that was too buttery for her liking and drank soda that was overpriced and flat. She sat in a seat that was too hard and lumpy, in a theater that was too cold, which gave her goosebumps. She typically never noticed such things, but now it was all she could focus on. The negative within everything she touched burned bright like a neon sign of penance.

She shivered, thinking of her parent's final night. Did Keelan kill them yet? Was he now packing up their lives in a couple of black trash bags and loading up car, waiting for Eden to return?

She was physically stoic, a creature of profound skills. Mentally though, she was a wreck. A quivering mess of nerves and anxiety.

Her mind filled with everything that could go wrong. What if Keelan couldn't go through with it? Instead, what if he told their parents what they've done, told them about the baby that wasn't real?