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***River POV*** Eric is alive. So many mixed emotions surrounded this truth. While I was glad my lie hadn’t inadvertently gotten him killed, that didn’t mean that it left him unscathed. Eric was in a coma, and essentially had been since being discovered in the woods near the hospital. No one knew how he even got there but somehow he did. Aside from that building mystery, I was growing more and more anxious about what might happen once/if Eric were to wake. Eric could reveal my lie. Eric could reveal what I’d done to Kerry. Eric would think I left him there as we never had chance to help him. What would the consequence be for my actions? Every action resulted in some type of consequence eventually. Even Kerry was facing a version of consequences after all the terrible things she’s done. Outside of what she’d done to me and now Eric, Kerry had murdered numerous children. In the deepest pit of my stomach I somehow justified my brutal actions toward her by thinking of that fact. Ugh- I

Ivan POV I don’t know what I was thinking when I just grabbed her and shoved her into my hoodie pocket. After the initial panic, it occurred to me that I could have asked her to hide while I dealt with this. She was so small that literally any corner or nook would do. Instead, I cringed at my knee jerk reaction to keep her close. A protective instinct to have her in my grasp over the thought of her cowering somewhere discreet in my house. She, other than being terrified, was probably going to be so pissed at me. Still, the tickling sensation of her in my fist was fascinating. I had only handled her with my palm mostly flat, and I never had grabbed her. I probably seemed monstrous to her now, holding her against her will. I was disgusted with how casually I could do that to her. The idea of her being vulnerable in the house while someone else was here was a thought I couldn’t stand. I wasn’t quite sure if it was a sign of problematic feelings or my protective side over her being

Ivan POV Taking a deep breath, I unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open, juggling the groceries and other items I had bought in my other arm. I peered around the floor apprehensively, nervous to enter my own house. I had told Gen to stick to the walls if she still happened to be on the floor around this time, but what if that wasn’t the case? I had to be extra careful. She was so damn tiny. Just a little, breakable thing. I shooed the darker thoughts away and tried to muster up a friendlier voice than my usual gruff workday tone. I tended to be much more reserved and serious at work and in my pathetically small social circle. “Hey Gen? I’m back.” Genevieve POV It was pretty clear to me when he returned. Still on my lower shelf, I could hear the vehicle distantly in the driveway, its tires crunching over the gravel. I still didn’t know what he drove, but had come to identify the specific sounds it made. My heart began thumping with anticipation as the sounds

The dollhouse- ch 11 Genevieve pov “Gen…” I heard my name resounding around me. Loud, but somehow soft at the same time. Groggily I began to pull myself out of the fog of sleep. “Gen?” Again. What was that? Who was that? Blearily, I cracked my eye open only to see bright light highlighting a dark silhouette in the distance. My stomach growled in response to the aroma of savory food in the air. I pushed myself up, hands feeling fabric that was simultaneously rough and oddly smooth. Enlarged satin. The memory of earlier came flooding back. Shit. That wasn’t a nightmare. I was still here and this was real. Shielding my eyes against the bright light, I sat up the rest of the way and rubbed my face sleepily. Taking a deep breath, I looked up and up. Up to the Ivan shaped silhouette, which was now coming into focus. I met his eyes but didn’t say anything. He took me in worriedly. “Are you hungry?” His voice boomed around me, seeming too loud after just waking, even though he spoke in a

***RIVER POV*** I could hardly stop my hands from shaking long enough to take in the dried blood all over them. As if the realization of the blood wasn’t enough to send me spiraling once again, Mr. Mangello’s thunderous voice was terrifying. He’d pounded on Jacob’s door, clearly angry with Jacob. It turns out Jacob had been caught lying about where he was going. Had he told his parents he was going to get Parisa? Well, apparently Parisa wasn’t home. Now, I was stood on Jacob’s dresser, praying that I could evaporate right about now. “River?!” Jacob’s mom said, gasping when she noticed me. The two giants fell silent, turning their attention to me. “I’m sorry!” I immediately said, my voice cracking uncontrollably. Gods I was a mess. I looked over at the Mangellos and quickly saw that Mr. Mangello’s face had turned from angry to concerned. Even though I know he’s not Jacob’s biological father, the two looked so similar with their concerned expressions. They both crouched in unison

***JACOB POV*** As if this night couldn’t get any weirder, I was now once again “sneaking” out of my house to link up with River. To be honest, I’m pretty surprised River called me right now. I mean I guess it makes sense since Issac would have been her ride home tonight, and like me, he had to leave Fall Ball earlier than expected. I’m honestly so glad my mom had been there, or else I’m not sure Dad would have kept his cool. The entire way home he ranted about the parapro Billy Sharp and his dad, who like my bio dad, is apparently in jail. I guess it had something to do with Morgan or something? I’d have to remember to ask her about that. But yeah, when he wasn’t going off about the Sharp family, he was talking about all of the trouble he would bring to Issac for hitting me. “Please don’t press charges. I’m fine,” I’d urged Dad. “You don’t look fine! Plus, it will bruise over and you’ll be in even worse shape tomorrow. How dare that-that Issac kid!” Dad had ranted. Once I

***River POV*** This Fall Ball wasn’t at all going how I’d hoped it would. I haven’t seen Issac, Jacob, or even Parisa in about an hour. At this point the dance was almost over and I’m not entirely sure how I should be feeling right now. Issac was supposed to be my ride home, and he’d completely ditched me once he heard about Jacob staying the night. Ugh, it’s not how it sounds. Not really. I was just having a hard night, and I don’t think I would have gotten to sleep if I didn’t talk to someone. Of course, now it’s pretty clear I was foolish to think I had friends. People to talk with, and share my thoughts with. No, I grew up dealing with it all by myself. Issac wont respond to any of my texts or calls. Jacob won’t respond… Parisa won’t respond. “River, have you seen Parisa?” Parisa’s friend from the soccer team, Natalie asked. I blinked away the tears that had been pooling in my eyes, and focused on Natalie. She had a beautiful orange dress on, that faded into a dark red shade

***JACOB POV*** “Lighten up dude! I’m sure Parisa’s fine,” Trevor said as he nudged me with more force than I appreciated. I haven’t been able to get in touch with Parisa since she’d excused herself to go to the restroom earlier. She’d looked upset, so I wanted to give her a moment to compose herself, as I know how closed off Parisa can be when she gets like that. Also, selfishly I wanted the chance to steal a dance with River before Issac made it to the co-ed section. Of course my time dancing had been short, as Issac promptly arrived… River’s real date “Where’s your date anyway?” I asked. “Brenda’s taking pictures with the rest of the yearbook committee. Don’t worry, she’ll be back soon, and maybe some of her friends will be looking to dance,” Trevor replied with a suspiciously confident smirk. “You want to dance with her friends?” “No! I figured since some of Brenda’s friends didn’t have dates you might as well dance with one of them,” “I’m good,” “Gods you’ve got it bad

“Oh… uh, should I maybe learn from Jacob first?” I asked, making both giants expressions shift. Issac’s eyebrows furrowed as Jacob's jaw hung open. Issac did not look happy. It wasn’t my intention to upset him! We had talked about this at the restaurant. Issac had never danced with a human before, so Jacob would show him how to. But was that the reason I replied this way? Was that the reason why I wasn’t able to tell Jacob ‘no’ after he’d asked me to dance? “There are a few ways we could do this,” Jacob began explaining as I moved closer to the railing, ready to learn. Issac stood next to Jacob, watching intently as Jacob began to explain how to dance with his hands. Jacob’s huge pointer finger and thumb held one of my hands with a gentleness that surprised me. You’d think someone his size would press down hard, but his touch basically felt like a human holding my hand aside from the lack of intertwining fingers. Jacob’s other hand had snaked a finger around my waist, and the dancing

At the check-in for the dance Parisa and I had to go through the human entrance to get to the co-ed section. Something about the check-in process… so we had to separate from Issac and Jacob. Parisa seemed beyond happy as she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the long line of humans. I saw how many humans had intricate patterns, and sparkly designs on their outfits. None of the giants in Issac’s group had such lavish outfits on for tonight. Wow. I guess humans really really dressed up for this kind of stuff. “Alone at last!” Parisa said once we made it to the back of the line. “Thanks for coming with us. I’m glad you were in this group,” I replied. “I’m glad I’m here. If I was at home right now I would have been sulking about Eric, and throwing a pity party. This is much better,” “I’m really sorry about Eric,” I replied, honestly. I feel so bad. I mean even though I didn’t do anything to actually hurt him or something, I did lie about him, and then he disappeared. Ugh, this