Page 78 of Play Me

But it’s not.

Because I’ve been here before.

I know how bad it was.

I know how bad it’s going to get.

It’s not something I can ever get through again.

And then the dam breaks, and I feel my eyes fill with tears, tears that fall and never, ever stop.

I feel his arms around me, but they do nothing.

I hear his words calming me, but they do nothing.

I feel his promises that everything is going to be all right, but they do nothing.

Because nothing can turn back time.

SEBASTIAN

Her sobs are the most horrifying sounds I’ve ever heard.

Because they remind me of my helplessness and her hopelessness.

They tell me that I can do nothing.

They tell me that this pain that she’s feeling, is hers and hers alone, and I can want to carry it for her as much as I want, but not until she’s ready, is it going to go away.

It’s been three hours since the guys brought the newspaper in, and she’s barely stopped crying for a moment. Sometimes, her sobs will fade to a whimper, and I think she’s fallen asleep, but then the cycle starts again.

I haven’t even had a chance to think about how this has happened, and who’s responsible for it.

At this moment, I’m still just trying to figure out how to get Cadence through it minute by minute.

She hasn’t moved from this ball that she curled into when she finally let me lay her back down onto the bed.

And she hasn’t said another word since she first saw the pictures.

These pictures of a most private and intimate moment between a man and woman.

Between her and me. And between her and him.

The pain and humiliation of seven years ago is now dragged to the present. I can’t even imagine what is going through her head right now.

There’s a gentle knock on the door and I ignore it. She doesn’t want to see anyone right now, and I’m not so sure I want to see anyone either.

A minute passes and there’s another knock.

I sigh and get off the bed and open the door a small crack.

It’s Sarah.

“Let me see her.”

“I don’t think...”

“I’ve been here before with her, let me in.” Sarah says softly but firmly.