“Reese,” I have nothing to follow her name up with.
“It was my fault she died. Something you and I created died because of the decision I made. Because of that, I couldn’t come back to face you. I have tried to get over it. I have, but I couldn’t. I can’t.”
I don’t know how to swallow this. Bringing a child into this sick world was never my intention; though, I didn’t consider the possibility the last two times Reese and I were together, so this is just as much my fault as it is hers. “Reese, you should have come back for me.”
“I know, but I’ve already hurt you so much.” Her voice sounds as if she swallowed her tongue; she can hardly get the words out between her sobs.
With nothing left to do, I pull her in to me, inhaling a beautiful scent of flowers—a scent I would have never assumed to find outside of these walls. “I want you. I want to be with you. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the day you left.”
“I have spent the last five years debating the decision I made, but people are happy because of me, and I feel like I’ve done something good. I knew coming back here, my chances of you waiting for me were slim since I figured you would be halfway across the country by now, killing anything in your way,” she says through soft laughter. I did consider the thought of doing that, but I stayed here with hopes of this moment. “Everyone out there may be happy or, at least, content with the new life they are trying to build, but I’m not happy. And sometimes it’s okay to be a little selfish, right? I want to be happy, Sin. I want it so badly it hurts.”
“You told me you would come back, and I wasn’t going to miss that. That is why I’m here. You are why I’m still here. Just tell me you came back here to be with me, not because you made a promise. Tell me that.”
“I came back for you, Sin. You are my happiness.” She is mine, has been from the day I met her. She took that part of me with her when she left, but if she’s going to offer it back now, I will take it and I will never let go of it again.
“I don’t care where we go or if we stay. I don’t even care if there is no way out of wherever that may be, but wherever I am, I want to be stuck with you, my savior,” she says, her eyes wide, her gaze locked on mine as she sweeps her soft hand over my cheek. The smile I once fell in love with is glowing under the light of the sun, and the second my hands tighten around her back and her head falls into my chest, I know everything has unfolded the way it should have.
War is never won without a battle. Respect is never earned without proof of deserving it. The scars covering her body prove both, but she survived. We survived. I may have set her free one day, years ago, but at that moment, I never thought she would be the one to eventually set me free.
