I run harder and faster than I ever have before. I consider yelling and screaming Phantom’s name, but that would only slow me down, and I don’t want to spook them, causing them to act even faster. What I need right now is speed.
Tripping over a thick tree branch, I cry out, barely catching myself before I slam into the ground. My wrist throbs and for a moment I wonder if I’ve sprained it, but then I’m on my feet again, running. No injury will stop me from my goal.
Save them.
Save them.
Save them.
I swallow against a gag as I come upon the river. My eyes search frantically in the receding dark––the cliff, the banks, the rapid current. The water’s so high. There’s been too much rain.
I see nothing. No one.
In measured breaths, I force air into my lungs. Is this even the right stretch of river? I could be too far up or too far down. I have to make a choice. Right now. Up or down. If I make the wrong decision, the person I love dies.
Just as the weight of the choice threatens to overcome me, the sun rises to peak over the horizon. Instinctively, I turn to it, on my left, and then I know.I’m too far up.
I turn on my heels and run downriver. When we came to this forest the first time, we’d painted during the sunset, which had fallen below a dense tree line on our right. But there aren’t enough trees on my right for this to be the right place. I’m too close to the city here. I need to follow the river further down and I should run straight into Phantom.
I’m sprinting again, careful to avoid the cliff edge. The farther down river I get, the higher the cliff side climbs. I shove my fear of heights somewhere deep down. I don’t have the capacity for any more fear. I’m already crippled by it.
In the dim morning light, I see the shadow of a body up ahead. They’re standing near the cliff edge. From their hand gestures, they appear to be arguing with someone, but I can’t see anyone else in the small clearing.
“Phantom?” I call loudly, my voice breathless on the wind. “Phantom, is that you?”
The figure turns to me and as I get closer, the balloon of tension in my chest pops.
It’s them. I made it in time.
But as I rush for them, Phantom holds up a hand to stop me, keeping me an arm’s length away. Their squinted eyes aren’t smiling. They’re pained, apologetic.
“Fuck you,” I yell, reaching to yank the mask from their face. “You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing out here? I thought you were going to go with the police.”
They steer my hand away from their face before I can reach it. “I can’t be stuck in a cell with Echo for the rest of my life.”
“You won’t have to,” I say between panting breaths. “They have doctors in prison, Phantom.” They shake their head as I continue, “If they take you, I’ll still be able to visit you, and I’ll be here waiting when you get out.”
Phantom’s gaze turns weary—no,exhausted. “My life’s beenhell, Maeve. Every single day has been a struggle, feeling like an outcast—unloved and unwanted. Until I met you. Your paintings saved me.Yousaved me.”
A stifled sob bursts from my lungs, but I manage to shake my head in spite of the full-body tremors racking my limbs, denying their words.
“Even though you couldn’t banish the demons like you wanted, you did something better. You saved the innocent soul buried deep inside. You coaxed it out of the darkness with soft words and bright memories, and gave it a home. I can never repay you for that.”
“Phantom, don’t,” I choke out over the fire in my throat. “I know you feel it too. We’re meant to be together.”
Phantom finally closes the distance between us, and like a reflex, I breathe in the sweet familiar scent of them.
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“I know. But maybe we aren’t meant to last.” Through the mask, they kiss my forehead. “You have your whole life ahead of you, Maeve. Live it fully and unapologetically. Make art. Make friends, find lovers, and then pick a person worthy of being your partner.”
“Butyou’reworthy.”
Dogs bark and people yell in the forest behind us. Phantom flinches as I glance toward the ruckus.
I’ve never hurt like this before, and I doubt I ever will again. Wiping at my nose with the sleeve of my sweater, I ask, “There’s nothing I can do to change your mind?”
