Reilan was in there.
My big brother, who brought me clothes in the hospital. Who stood beside me through the worst moments of my life. Who told me he'd burn the world down for me.
He burned instead.
And I ran.
The sobs come again. Quieter this time. Broken. I curl tighter into myself, make myself as small as possible on the floor of this SUV.
My brother was in there.
The thought circles over and over, relentless.
Reilan was in there. Aidan was in there. All those people. All those families. Everyone.
And William got me out.
Just me.
"Why?" The word comes out broken.
William doesn't answer. The SUV keeps moving through the darkness.
"Why just me?" I ask again.
"Because you're mine."
"I'm not yours," I whisper. "I'm no one's. Not anymore."
Because everyone who claimed me is dead.
Father, dying in a hospital bed.
Mother, dead for eleven years.
Reilan, burned alive in the Murphy house.
I have no one.
I am no one.
The realization settles over me like a weight. I'm untethered. Floating. Nothing anchoring me to this world except the man who saved me when he should have let me die with the rest of them.
The SUV turns onto a smaller road. Then another. The city lights fade behind us until there's nothing but darkness and the occasional distant light from a farmhouse.
We're heading into the countryside. Into nothing.
Into whatever exists after your entire world burns down.
I close my eyes. But that's worse. Because when I close my eyes, I see it.
The explosion.
The fire.
"Did you know?" I ask again, even though I already know the answer. "Did you know they were going to blow up the house?"
His silence is confirmation enough.
