Page 114 of Shattered Obsession

I melt.

Because the moment his chest presses to my back, I realize something ugly and beautiful.

I am alive.

My body isn’t a tomb.

My skin isn’t a prison.

Xander holds me like I am something worth saving.

And for the first time, I believe it.

“It’s over,” he murmurs, his voice breaking, filled with emotion. “You did it, baby. It’s over.”

But as I clutch him, sobbing into his shirt, I know in the depths of my heart that it’s not truly over.

The scars Damian left behind will always be mine to carry. Still… for the first time since that night, I finally feel like I can breathe.

Breathing hurts.

Not physically, but emotionally.

Each inhale feels like a confession.

I lived.

Each exhale feels like a promise.

I won’t apologize for surviving.

I don’t know what tomorrow looks like.

Healing doesn’t happen because the monster is gone.

Healing happens because I finally stopped running from the version of me who screamed in the dark.

She gets to rest now.

-Xander-

I’ve never been afraid of blood.

But hers?

It destroys me.

I hold her tighter, wishing I could take every wound, every memory, every nightmare, and lodge them into my own skin instead.

The ride back to the apartment is silent. Thalia sits in the passenger seat, her face calm for the first time in a while, no longer having to look over her shoulder or think about him anymore.

I keep one hand on the wheel and the other locked around her thigh, thumb stroking in slow, grounding circles.

We don’t talk during the drive home; I wouldn’t even know what to say. She just sits there, not even moving to look out of the window. She doesn’t need to. The world outside feels irrelevant at this moment. All that matters is that she’s not in that basement anymore.

-Thalia-

When we arrive at the apartment, we both shower, washing the events of tonight off before lying beside each other in bed. The silence enveloping the apartment is profound, almost suffocating, each moment stretching like an unending echo. I lay here, ensconced in Xander’s strong embrace, my head nestled against the solid warmth of his chest. Beneath my ear, his heartbeat thrums with a reassuring steadiness, a rhythmic reminder of life amidst the turmoil swirling in my psyche.