Neither does Finnic, from the sound of it.
At this point, I believe he’s now caught between obligation and whatever she’d just split open in him.
“I’m not here to be your friend,” he says finally, but the lie is obvious.
I remove my phone from my pocket, pulling up the camera feed from inside the room.
He stands just across from her.
She is leaning back against the wall, watching his every movement.
She shrugs, “You can stand there in silence. I don’t mind.”
Finnic releases a grim laugh. “Let’s just say her kindness destroyed her.”
She brings her hands up to her face, tucking a small piece of hair behind her ear. “That’s vague.”
“The rest doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.”
He’s trying to shut her out completely. I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about what had happened to his ex.
Leigh speaks gently now, like she is approaching a skittish animal. “If it’s in the past, why do you hesitate in speaking about her? I’d think you’d be able to talk freely if you were as over it as you say.”
He doesn’t respond and continues to stand there. I don’t think he wants to analyze the question because if he does, he’ll despise the answer.
“Maybe I’m not over it, but I know I did right by her. That’s all that matters.” He states truthfully.
“Are you saying that out loud to convince yourself of something?” Leigh asks.
He glances over at the door, “I don’t need to convince myself of shit. I killed the bastard that-”
She tilts her head as he halts mid-sentence.
“That what?”
I can feel the change in the atmosphere through the door. There is a sudden drop in the air, like something dangerous has almost been admitted aloud.
My thumb hovers over the phone screen, the camera feed frozen on Finnic’s rigid frame. His shoulders are locked and his jaw is clenched. The conversation seems to be getting to him.
Finnic drags a hand down his face. When he speaks again, his voice is rough and stripped of that practiced detachment he tries to wear like armor.
“The bastard who hurt her,” he finishes. “The man who thought he could take something and walk away like she didn’t leave someone behind.”
My grip finally tightens enough on the cigarette, crushing it in the middle, snapping it like a twig.
What he says is pretty close to the truth.
Leigh nods once, as if she’s fully understanding why he’d do something like that. “You killed him.”
He shakes his head.
“I stopped him.” Finnic corrects.
It was a lie he told himself. Finnic didn’t stop him. He hadn’t saved her like he wanted to. He was trying to rewirehimself into thinking that killing the guy had saved her, but it didn’t.
Sure, he helped others in the future. But he doesn’t care about that.
Only her.
