“You never needed me. This chant you keep hearing—a luz sabe, duas almas incompletas, uma guia a outra. My dad would tell me about the pendant and the stories that went along with it. I hate how I couldn’t understand what it meant until recently.”
A small tear slips down her cheek as she points to the pendant wrapped around my neck.
“It translates to ‘the light knows two incomplete souls. One guides the other.’ If you really want to understand how this translates to you, just think about who you were before the fire.
“Did you ever notice everyone else was allowed to have problems… except you? You never acknowledged your own. Never allowed yourself to speak any louder than a whisper. Turns out, you are kind of an angry person, Charlotte.”
“I’m an angry person?” I repeat, stunned.
“You kinda are. You never told anyone how you felt. You kept it all inside like you were burning alive.” Skye lets out a soft, hollow laugh. “Take it from me, it’s an awful experience.”
Even though she is laughing, all I see is her body devoured whole by the flames. Fire curling around her like it’s claiming what already belongs to it.
“I didn’t know I was doing that…” My sight’s only on the grains of sand.
I’m really glad this beach is basically empty, because I’m wiping my snot-filled tears from my face and shaking uncontrollably. I’m not even cold.
“I guess I thought at first the pendant chose you because you watched a girl die in front of you, and most people would be traumatized. Except you just went back to managing people.”
My chest tightens.
“But then I remembered something my dad told me that my great-grandmother would tell him about the pendant… Those who run in fear of what they want need a little more of a push to see it.”
“Because the light knows…” I fill in.
She smiles faintly. “You are catching on.”
“It’s not that I didn’t care about you dy—dying,” I stammer, barely getting the last word out.
“I know, Charlotte.”
Skye bites her lip and crouches down to my level.
“Just promise me when you leave this life that you leave a version of yourself that people actually knew.” She pauses, watching the curved wall of water grow suddenly taller. “Nobody deserves to get to know a half-baked version of you because you are too afraid to show the real thing…
“And Holden?” she adds.
“What about him?”
“Don’t forget to tell him.”
“About the visions you showed me?”
“Yeah, and your feelings…”
“Right, my favorite topic. Feelings.” I stifle a laugh, turning my head to the couple that I am able to see again, a few yards in front of me.
“Speaking of feelings, those dreams you showed me… the one with your dad yelling at you and you on stage… Why did you show me?”
Skye flops her head back and returns to standing over me.
“Oh, that. I guess the pendant wanted you to see what was haunting me.”
“I guess I couldn’t imagine someone like you having anything bother you,” I say.
“Everyone has their demons. Up until recently, I kept repeating the conversation my dad and I had before I left for college. He wanted me to stop dating a boy I liked at the time and be morepractical with my career choices. I’m stubborn and wanted a BFA, and didn’t care for anyone who got in my way.”
“And now, how do you feel?”
