But they weren’t lies, were they?
My door slams open, and I jump. He stands in my doorway, like a fallen angel. Once so perfect, so pure… Now he stands there as a man who broke me, left me…but did he? Or…did I leave him?
“I won’t let you run from me anymore, Leo. I would rather fucking die.”
His eyes fall to the letter in my hand.
“What is that?”
He kneels down and takes it from me.
Then his eyes shoot to mine, fury like I have never seen before. The devil was once an angel. Fallen. Wings clipped. What made this man fall? Me.
“Is this why you left me?”
I nod.
“You believed this?”
I nod.
“When have I ever signed my name Everett to you?”
I look into his eyes.
Betrayed. By who? Me.
“Never.”
“It wasn’t meant for you, pretty bird.” The devastation, the guilt, the horror that is written all over her face is like a knife to my fucking chest. She is realizing what I have known all along: she never needed to run.
There is a part of me that is furious that she could believe this letter was written for her. But then there is the part of me that is utterly fuming at the person who gave my innocent, fragile pretty bird this letter in the first place, knowing damn fucking well it was not meant for her. I feel my hatred building inside me, expanding and filling every cell in my body.
“I-I…”
I can see it in the shaking of her head, the rapid rise and fall of her chest, that look in her eyes… She is about to run. She thinks I’m upset with her? I am, in a way. I am screaming at her.How could you believe this lie? What did I ever do to make you think I could feel this way toward you?
But how I am feeling right now is insignificant, she is all that matters.
She scoots back, rapidly trying to find her safe space. But she doesn’t see it. She doesn’t feel it anymore.Iam her safe space. She needs to be running to me. She should have run to me all those years ago.
Backed into a corner, she buries her head in her hands and sobs uncontrollably.
“I got you.”
“No. No. No. No.” She is gripping her face, her nails making indents into her smooth golden skin. I won’t let my beautiful bird self-destruct.
“Leo. Look at me.”
The stern tone snaps her head up. Her eyes are wide, and she freezes. Every muscle in her body frozen solid. Even her diaphragm.
“Breathe.”
I take another step closer.
“Breathe.”
She is holding her breath.
