“I’m working on it. I promise you, the world will be safe for you and our family in the future. No fucker will mess with them”
“Oh, I’m sure of that. Do you ever think of it?” I ask Dominik unsure if he even wants kids. They seem to annoy him on the streets all the time.
“It? Family? Children? With you? All the time,” Dominik says and I bring my hands to his face.
“I know you’re a family person but you don’t even seem to like kids”
“I’ll love ours. They’re a piece of you,” Dominik says and I seal our lips.
“And you,” I whisper against his minty-tasting lips.
“I hope they take after you, they’ll suffer less,” I laugh, hard.
“Not sure. They’ll be emotionally unstable,” I say and pinch my nose, Dominik bites me.
“They’ll be human and not me. That’s something I’m excited about. Making the world perfect for them so they can have a life different from what mine was if they choose to. And you’re perfect the way you are, stop focusing on the one thing you think is a flaw. It’s your greatest advantage-”
“I don’t see it that way,” I interrupt.
“Do you want to know how I see it?” Dominik asks and I nod. “I see it as every person or animal connecting to you, not because you’re nice or tiny, but because you have this loving energy that flows from you and is contagious to everyone and everything around you. That’s also part of the reason sometimes I’d rather keep you in this room-”
“You want to lock me here?-”
“Not the point. Your emotions are contagious, you’re all light. And all I’ve ever seen is darkness. It’s like I’ve been blind all this time, and now I can finally see something other than pain and death,” I healed him?
“Dominik, are you confirming I healed you?” I question and Dominik nods.
“I am,” Dominik says and it’s definite, more than a marriage proposal or holy binding.
“We’ve healed each other!” I sooth, and there’s a knock on the door.
“Are you decent?” Josh asks from behind the closed door.
“What do you want?” Dominik asks moving from beneath me, kissing my cheek and putting his boxers back on.
“I need to talk to Love,” me?
I put on my night robe, slippers, and move towards the door, Dominik stays seated on the bed, giving me space. “What’s up- Josh?”
“Dad’s gone,” no. “The hit in the head caused internal bleeding, he’s alive but he’s brain dead. I won’t extend his suffering,” I killed my father.
“I killed dad?” I exclaim in question form. Josh hugs me immediately and I thank him. My legs give in. “I thought I was protecting him-”
“I know Love. He knows it too,” Josh says and I look behind him and see everyone gathered. “Dominik can you help-”
“Yes, I got her. We’ll be in the infirmary in ten,” Dominik says and I let go of Josh, my hands freeze in the air midway to Dominik.
“I killed him. I killed my-my- m- fa-ther,” I say and the sobbing is too much to talk or control, or breathe. Dominik just holds me for five minutes, on his lap, seated on the bed. On the sheets I lied while my father was fighting for his life.
I get up and dress myself. Dominik tries to help but I can’t touch him, or anyone. I break people. I kill everyone I love the most.
Chapter 25
Dominik
Saying Love’s absent is not nearly enough to describe her state as she walks by my side to the infirmary. She doesn’t allow me to touch her, but I stay close enough so that she can reach out if she wants.
“Can I have one second?” Love requests when we reach the infirmary and I open the door. “One second alone with him?”
