Page 133 of Molt

“Yes, you do.”

She touches my face. “What did she say when she died?”

I close my eyes. “I love you.”

“What else?”

“Stay.”

“What else?”

The memory. Her final breath. Her fingers loosening. The word I refused to hear. Goodbye.

My throat closes.

Sarah knows. “Say it.”

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“No.”

“August.”

“I spent all these years trying not to.”

“Then stop trying.”

I look at her.

Her face flickers.

Sarah.

Lenora.

Sarah.

Lenora.

The original pushes forward.

Tears stream down her cheeks.

“Don’t.”

Her voice. Lenora’s. “August, please.”

My heart shatters.

She’s scared.

Of ending. Of finally being allowed to die.

For the first time, I understand her.

I created a ghost and forced it to keep waking. Again and again inside women who never asked to carry her. Maybe Lenora isn’t the monster either. Maybe she’s been trapped too.