And Elira—
Elira, standing free.
Hair loose. Shadows calm. Her hand in Leo’s.
She turned to the others and smiled.
“We don’t need him anymore.”
Her voice calls them by name.
She doesn’t speak to me anymore.
But once—she did.
She said she’d come back.
But that was a lie, too.
I begged the mirror to stop.
I screamed until my voice gave out.
It didn’t stop.
Itneverstops.
I started scratching tally marks into the walls.
Then into my skin.
One for each day.
Then for each memory I lost.
I can’t remember Slade’s laugh anymore.
I think that’s good.
It means it’s working.
The mantra helps.
It fills the space they left behind.
Order before mercy. Truth before feeling. Duty before desire.
She is the key. She is the threat. She must be returned.
I say it when my hands shake.
I say it when her voice starts to sound like forgiveness.
I say it to drown the silence.
When the door opens now, I don’t flinch.
Not because I’m strong.
