\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 5\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 5\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2026?!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ashton covered his face and stared at me in disbelief.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes. The tears I\u2019d been holding back finally fell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Mrs. Reed told the story, that nightmare from over a decade ago came flooding back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That summer, ten-year-old Ashton made a new friend at tutoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t popular as a kid, didn\u2019t have many friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So when someone wanted to hang out with him he was thrilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He begged me to come meet his new friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two boys wanted to go play basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other boy glanced at me, clearly annoyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t bring her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister comes along sometimes, gets bored in half an hour, then wants to go home. Total buzzkill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe can watch TV at my place. We\u2019ll be back before dinner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I grabbed Ashton\u2019s sleeve, begging him not to leave me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one was home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was scared to stay alone in a stranger\u2019s house.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Ashton didn\u2019t want to disappoint his new friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the end, he promised he\u2019d be back in an hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kids that age forget everything when they\u2019re having fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So the boy forgot too. His mom had told him a repairman was coming that day-and to stay home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That middle-aged deadbeat repairman saw me alone and got ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:09\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surprise Visit Gone WRONG-Not Him Crying About Loneliness After Calling Me Dirty Sir???\u00a0<\/p>\n
44.4%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 5\u00a0<\/p>\n
After that it was too late.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nobody came back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tearing pain. The man\u2019s stench. My worst day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ashton listened to his mother finish. His eyes went wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He remembered it now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019d stayed out an extra hour, pressured by his friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he finally returned, I was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He thought I just got bored and went home early.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ashton staggered backward, clutching his head, screaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. No. Why didn\u2019t anyone tell me!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crowd at the door had gone silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mrs. Reed sighed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStella made us promise not to tell you. You were so sensitive back then. She was afraid you\u2019d blame yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After they put the guy in prison, our families agreed on a story-\u00a0<\/p>\n
To the outside world, I\u2019d just been in a car accident, recovering at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I covered my ears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t hear anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart died completely in that moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ashton suddenly snapped back and rushed toward me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStella I\u2019m so sorry I-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He reached out to hug me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A strong arm appeared from behind me and shoved him to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I fell into a warm embrace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
10.09\u00a0<\/p>\n
CurnPico Visit Cone WRONG\u00a0<\/p>\n
t Loveliness After Calling Mo Dirty Sir222\u00a0<\/p>\n
48.1%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 5\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom and Dad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019d heard what happened and came immediately to get me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just like that day years ago. Less than ten minutes after I called they were at the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom held me close.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My dad stepped forward, eyes cold as he looked at the Reeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everything now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSince your son looks down on my daughter, we won\u2019t be chasing after him either.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wedding\u2019s off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWait-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mrs. Reed tried to say something.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But my parents were already leading me through the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2661 (0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:09\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surprise Visit Gone WRONG-Not Him Crying About Loneliness After Calling Me Dirty Sir???\u00a0<\/p>\n
51.99\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Princess Without Pack by Mark Twain 5 \u00a0 Chapter 5\u00a0 Chapter 5\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2026?!\u201d\u00a0 Ashton covered his face and stared at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-year-celebration-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}