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“Don’t leave me,” I sobbed. “Wake up. Please, wake up. I can’t live withou
t you.”
The pain in my chest was so immense that I could barely breathe through it.
“You won’t have to.”
I looked up, through my tears, the rain falling on my face and fizzing on my skin. My mother stood over me with a gun in her hand.
“You killed my boyfriend!” I screamed. “You killed my dad!”
“And since you refuse to join me, you can join them.” She smiled.
Reaching down, I pulled the knife from its sheath and lunged forwards, slipping on the wet ground. Zayde’s words echoed in my head—stick and twist—and I channelled every single piece of my rage and heartbreak into my strike. I stabbed it through her leg, and twisted it.
She toppled backwards, her shrill scream of pain echoing around us, and the momentum tipped me over the edge. I was falling with her, still holding on to the knife, landing on top of her with a thud.
There was blood coming from her forehead. Why was there blood coming from her head?
I shook my own head, blinking, then rolled off her body.
“Winter.” I was being scooped up, someone carrying me.
“Caiden!” I cried his name over and over, desperately struggling against the person carrying me.
“Shhh. We need to get you out of here.” The sound of sirens drew closer, and then I was being bundled into a car, and we were moving.
Without Caiden.
I left my heart behind, shattered into a million pieces.
“Even the darkest night will end
and the sun will rise.”
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
AFTERMATH
I slowly blinked my eyes open, screwing them up against the light. The sun was streaming in the window, the rays falling across my arm. Where was I?
“I wondered when you were going to wake.” I turned my head to see the speaker. Arlo’s face creased into a smile when he saw me.
“Where am I? Wh—” I stopped dead as everything came rushing back to me. A cry tore from my throat. Utter devastation tore through me, leaving me gasping for breath.
Caiden.
I curled into a ball, the pain too much to bear. I sobbed into the pillow, my heart breaking all over again.
A warm hand touched my head, brushing my hair back gently. “Shhh. It’s okay,” Arlo soothed, the mattress dipping as he settled on to the side of my bed.
“How can it be okay when he’s gone?” My words came out as an incoherent sob.
“What?” His voice was suddenly alarmed.
“How can you be so calm after everything that’s happened?” I choked out, turning my head to meet his eyes.
“Take a deep breath. Maybe I’d better fill in the blanks.”
