Savior Part 2: Son of Eden (The Savior Series) by A. King Bradley

vain to hide the pain caused by her remark.
    “Monica, it’s been two years and you haven’t heard from him at all,” she replied as her expression softened, no doubt due to the obvious pain that her previous statement had caused.
    A part of me wanted to listen to her and simply get up and move on with my life, but another part of me couldn’t help but lie there and hope that he was still out there somewhere—thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him. Nina was the only person that I had told about Reaper after he revealed his secret the night he saved me. To everyone else in our tiny hometown of Lexington, Florida, Adam Reaper was just a ghost—one of the many ill-fated students that died the night The Suspect and The Strangers attacked our high school on prom night. A part of me felt guilty for telling Nina about Reaper’s secret, but another part of me felt relieved to finally have someone to share it with.
    “What am I supposed to do?” I asked softly as Nina continued to stare at me with her expression soaked with pity.
    “I know it hurts to think about it but you have to forget about him. Look at everything you’ve given up for him—everything you’ve let him get away with.”
    “But I love him, Nina ! I can’t just forget that!”
    “Well, you’re gonna have to try. Otherwise you’ll end up killing yourself. Just look at you, Monica! You lost nearly thirty pounds! How am I supposed to explain to Dr. Kate that I let her only child kill herself because of a boy?” Nina exclaimed.
    “I’m not going to kill myself, Nina,” I said solemnly while diverting my eyes away from her gaze. I sighed and sat up and glanced at a mirror to the right of my bed and shuttered at the sight of my face. On my “good days” I was still somehow able to garner quite a bit of attention from guys whether I wanted it or not, but I certainly couldn’t understand why. The girl staring back at me in the mirror in that moment looked absolutely sick. I couldn’t see why anyone would want to spend time around someone who looked as hopelessly depressed as I did.
    “Yeah, my mom would probably lose her mind if she saw me like this,” I admitted as I studied my sunken cheeks. “Did I ever tell you that for most of her life she was told that she couldn’t have kids?”
    “No, I didn’t know that,” Nina answered.
    “Dad always called me his little miracle,” I said as my eyes became heavy with tears. “For years they were told that they couldn’t conceive and then out of nowhere my mom, against all odds, became pregnant with me. Dad always said that finding out he was having a daughter was the happiest moment of his life. I can’t just throw that away. I owe it to him to live. I owe it to him to find a way to move forward,” I continued as I wiped the tears from my reddened eyes and looked to Nina who was still silently gazing at me from a few feet away.
    “Maybe you’re right,” I finally said causing Nina to smile and breathe a sigh of relief.
    “Maybe it has been too long,” I continued. “And that’s exactly why I was thinking about going after him.” I braced myself for the backlash as Nina’s smile instantly turned into a scowl.
    “Oh my god,” Nina sighed as she smacked herself in the forehead and flopped back onto my bed. “My best friend has officially lost her mind.”
    “I’m not crazy, Nina. I’m just worried,” I said. “With everything that’s happening I just can’t help but wonder if he’s okay. The Strangers have taken over entire cities! If they have that type of power how can I be certain that they don’t have enough power to kill him?”
    “Monica, I’m not sure if you remember but—your long lost boyfriend is kind of a superhero. What kind of trouble could he possibly be in that you could save him from?” Nina asked sarcastically as she continued to lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling.
    “I know what he’s capable of but I just have a bad feeling, you