Over the Hills and Far Away (NOLA's Own #1) by Kelli Jean

could get hard, get off. Picking up random blondes and redheads—even though none of them could actually match that fuckin’ amazing copper color—I could almost pretend it was Kenna I was slipping into.
    But they weren’t Kenna. And every time I shoved my dick into something other than her, my heart knew itand hated it. I was starting to really hate myself. Kenna was clean and untainted, but I…I was turning into something far removed from all that.
    “Oh god…save me, Baby Girl.”
    At that moment though, I knew, by some sort of instinct or extra sense, that I wasn’t the one who needed saving. It was her . She was in a world of pain, and for a moment, I fuckin’ panicked.
    What if she’s in some serious trouble? Like, she got kidnapped or—
    No. It didn’t feel like that.
    Okay, this is fuckin’ weird. What the fuck is wrong with me?
    “What’s goin’ on with you? Are you all right?” I spoke to the empty room, feeling like a whack job but also feeling a bit better for it. “I miss you. I haven’t forgotten you. I could never forget you.”
    My heart warmed up a bit, making me feel less gross and twisted up inside.
    “I’m gonna find you again, Kenna,” I whispered. “I ain’t ever gonna give up. You…you’re my other half. I knew it the moment I saw you. Don’t give up either, okay? I promise, once I find you again, I ain’t ever gonna let you go.”
    Thinking of her, talking to her like this, lulled my ass to sleep where I dreamed of her.
     
    She’s so beautiful, lying on her side in the sweet grass and running her hand over the tips.
    Joy explodes within me, and I hurry to her side. I just want to lift her up, hold her in my arms, and never, ever let go.
    “Baby Girl—”
    “Shh…” she says softly.
    She’s crying, each tear dripping onto blades the same color as her eyes.
    “You told me not to go anywhere,” she tells me. “Now…there’s nowhere I can escape.”
    The grass starts weaving, shooting up, tangling in the sunset colors of her hair, rooting her to the ground.
    “No!” I cry out, desperately trying to reach her, to rip the thick blades off her, to free her from this, whatever it is that I did.
    “I’ll never be whole again without you, Philip. I’ll never be free of you now, and neither will you. I suppose it’s only fair.”
    “Kenna-Baby, I’ll get you out, I swear!”
    “I’ll be here, waiting.” Her voice is muffled, captured by the grass weaving a cocoon around her.
    I keep trying, tugging and yanking at the fuckin’ grass, but it does no good. She’s trapped beneath it, looking like a tiny hill.
    Where the fuck am I?
    Looking around, it seems far too familiar. It takes a few moments before I realize I’ve been here before.
    It’s that old woman’s backyard, the one who lived next door to us when we were kids, except there are no houses. It’s just the yard that stretches out to the horizon in all directions.
    “Philip?”
    The sky has turned the color of my Baby Girl’s hair.
    I turn around to see a woman standing behind me, and the old woman’s house magically appears behind her. For a split second, I’m thinking it’s my mom, but the woman comes closer, and I see that it’s not.
    She’s beautiful though in a lot of the same ways my mom was. She has long dark brown hair, dark-chocolate eyes, high cheekbones…but this woman is part white, like me. Her nose, cheeks, and chin look an awful lot like my Baby Girl’s.
    “She’s not going anywhere, Philip. I made sure of that.”
    “Did you do this to her?” I demand, pointing at the human-sized grassy knoll.
    “She’s yours now. My greatest achievement is for you to cherish.”

Kenna
    Perhaps against better judgment, I decided not to take a leave of absence from school. I jumped straight back in, catching up fairly quickly and staying at the top of the class. I found that in doing so, I was able to distract myself from my depression—or ignore it completely.
    Life really did go