"Then they're mine to make."
The silence on the other end of the line stretches long enough that I wonder if the call has dropped.
"Sarah?"
"I'm here." Her voice is small, defeated. "I'm just... I'm scared for you, Maddie. This isn't the life you wanted."
"Maybe it's the life I needed."
"And if you change your mind?"
I look at Enzo, remembering his words about there being no going back once I chose his world.
"Then I'll figure that out too."
After I hang up, Enzo and I sit in silence for a long time.
"She's going to keep worrying," I say finally.
"Yes."
"She might try to come back here."
"That would be... inadvisable."
"For her or for you?"
"For everyone involved."
I absorb this, another piece of my old life that's now complicated by my new choices.
"I really am different now," I say. "Aren't I?"
"You're still you. You're just choosing to be yourself in a different world."
"A more dangerous world."
"A more honest world."
I consider this. "Is that what it is? Honesty?"
"You've seen who I really am now. All of it. There are no more secrets between us about what this life entails."
"And that's better?"
"It's real."
Real. Not safe, not easy, not anything my friends or family would understand. But real.
I curl up against his uninjured side, careful not to jostle his shoulder, and let myself absorb the weight of what I've chosen.
"Enzo?"
"Yes?"
"I'm still scared."
"That’s not a bad thing. Fear will keep you alive in this world."
