Kill Switch by Penelope Douglas

“Tall, dark, young,” I commented on what I knew about so
far. “GGood personal hygiene, likes to fight, long eyelashes,
kind of a pretty boy, I’m thinking…”
He snorted, and I smiled, too, but then my fingers grazed
something on his scalp but before I could figure out what it
was, I felt another one. My face fell, contemplating the raised
pieces of skin. As I examined the rest of his scalp, I found
several others. All about a quarter inch long.
Scars.
“I fell,” he said again, not waiting for me to ask the
question.
I clenched my teeth for a moment. “That’s a lot of falls,” I
said. “Do you have those anywhere else?”
“You wanna check the rest of my body?” he asked,
sounding cocky.
I dropped my hand, trying not to roll my eyes. Thanks for
the offer.
“How old are you?” I asked.
But his guard stayed up when he replied, “Older than you.”
What was he doing here? Really? Was he just a prankster,
pulling another joke for Devil’s Night, or did he actually have
more sinister intentions when he broke in a week ago, before
he saw me dance and got suddenly smitten? What would
happen if I refused to dance again? What did he really want?
“What’s one thing you’ll never be able to do but really
want to?” he asked.
I nearly laughed. One thing?
“Are you kidding?” I shot back. “I have a whole list.”
“Just tell me one.”
I pondered it for a moment, thinking about how I missed
all the things I would never see again. Films, plays, mountains,
trees, waterfalls, dresses, shoes, the faces of my family and
friends… I didn’t know what it was like to leave the house
alone or do simple things like go hiking or for a stroll in the