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It’ll all end soon.
The freezing air filters through my flimsy hospital gown as I stare down at the moving cars. They look like ants from this height. At least ten stories up.
It’d be easy enough to finish everything, for me not to feel numb and desensitized.
One step.
One breath.
And it’ll be all over.
I’ll be free.
“Lia.”
The sound of my name with that voice scatters my thoughts for a fraction of a second. I stare over my shoulder to find Adrian standing a short distance away from me.
At first, I think he’s an illusion. That all of this is my brain’s way of seeing him one final time before everything ends.
But the pain in my cast proves this is real. The fact that he’s here, looking larger than life, as usual, with his calm expression and his black clothes and brown coat.
“Come down, Lia.” His voice is tender, gentle, in complete contradiction with the shadow casting over his face.
I shake my head once. “For nearly twenty years, I’ve only lived for ballet. Now that it’s gone, I have nothing to live for. You said it yourself, I’m lonely and have no friends or family. I only had ballet.”
“You can find other things to live for.”
I scoff. “No, I can’t.”
“You can. Circumstances shape you, but they don’t dictate your fate.” His voice lowers with a soothing undertone. “You do.”
I shake my head again as a single hot tear slides down my cheek. “It’s over.”
“Not if you have a say in it. Whether it’s ballet or anything else, you can always rewrite your own story.” He reaches a hand out, the corners of his eyes softening for the first time since I’ve met him. “I’ll help you.”
“Why would you?” I’m crying now, and even the freezing air is unable to make the tears less hot and stinging.
“Because I want to.”
“I will not be your mistress, Adrian. Never.”
“You won’t be.”
“But you have a fiancée.”
“Not anymore.”
My lips part. “W-what?”
“I got rid of her.” He takes a step forward. “Now, come down.”
I stare at his hand, at the promise he’s offering and what he did. I said I didn’t want to be his mistress and he listened.
He got rid of her.
Adrian, of all people, has managed to pull me out of my numb state and provoke my tears.
My full-blown grief.
