My chest rose and fell rapidly as I pointed at her.
“You already had your turn to be her! You got to wake up every day with a brain that behaved! You got regular conversations, freedom, privacy, and people looked at you and saw a person! When they looked at me, they saw a problem, a file, a dosage, andsomethingto watch!”
My voice cracked, but the rage kept pouring out.
“They whispered around me like I couldn’t hear them, drugged me until I couldn’t feel my own thoughts, and watched every expression on my face like madness might crawl out through my eyes!”
A laugh slipped from me, thin and broken.
“But look at me now… I fixed it.”
Talia shook her head slowly.
“No! Don’t do that! Don’t look at me like I’m crazy! You left your life unattended, and I picked it up! That’s not stealing; that’s destiny. You don’t get to suddenly reclaim a life that already fits me better! And I’ll be damned if I let you ruin this for me!”
I nodded rapidly, convincing myself more with every word.
“You were Talia before…fine! But get over it! You weren’t doing anything special with her anyway. No worries… I fully intend to keep her happy! I’ve already given her a baby, a future, and a purpose! That name lives in me now! Me and Jace are going to get married, this baby is going to be mine, and I’m going to have the life you were supposed to have!”
Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to lower the gun.
“Haelyn...” Talia sobbed, then quickly shook her head. “I mean,Talia.I don’t wanna take anything from you. I just… I just wannalive.”
“There,” I chuckled darkly. “You said it. You called me Talia. You finally understand you’re not her anymore… you’re just the woman standing in the way. And I wanna live too. But that’s the problem.Youcan’t keep living without taking everything from me. The second you walk out of here my life ends and yours starts again. And I already told you… you had your turn.”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Suddenly, the anger drained out of me so quickly it left me feeling hollow.
“Look,” I whispered, my voice collapsing into something dangerously close to tears. “I really did like you. You were kind to me when nobody else was, and thatalmostmade this harder.”
A broken smile pulled at my lips.
“Then don’t do it!” she urged. “You can still stop!”
The gun lowered slightly before I hastily forced it back up, shaking my head repeatedly.
“No, I can’t! Because if I let you leave, you’ll tell themeverything! And then I’ll go back to being Haelyn! I can’t beheragain!”
Talia’s cries grew louder.
“I’m sorry… but I can’t let you walk away from this.”
My finger tightened against the trigger.
“Goodbye. I’d say I’ll see you in Heaven, but after the life I’ve lived and the choices I’ve made, I’m pretty sure my reservation is somewhere much hotter.”
Talia squeezed her eyes shut and slowly lowered her head, as if she’d finally accepted that no amount of begging was going to change what came next.
For one horrible second everything went still then… I pulled the trigger.
The sound was deafening in the room. One second Talia was breathing and the next… nothing.
For a long moment, I just stood there, the gun hanging loosely at my side. The basement felt too quiet now.
My tears came slowly at first, then heavily.
I dropped to my knees beside Talia and brushed the hair away from her face with trembling fingers.
