Excerpt: Blurred Lines

I’m having a nightmare. I’ll wake up soon, Julia desperately told herself. She backed up more, and then tripped over something unknown – perhaps a crack in the floor. She continued to scramble back while on the ground. “Please, Autumn, you’re my friend!” she cried.
Autumn shook her head slowly, the smile still on her face. “I’m no friend of yours – I’m the perfect, doting mother-sister that you never had.” She violently kicked aside the books that Julia had dropped. “Julia, do you want pretty dresses more expensive than a nobleman’s mansion? Julia, do you want me to sit and talk with you about your stupid fairytales? Julia, do you want me to teach you how to be what I can never be?” Her expression grew almost feral with rage. “I am sick of you and your oblivious self-absorption! When was the last time you thought of anyone else?”
Tears were streaming down Julia’s face again. She stumbled back another few feet. “Autumn, please–” she begged.
“No!” Autumn interrupted. “I’m done fulfilling your requests.” She stopped walking – she had reached Julia. “And you are simply…done.”