These venomous words burn me as much as him, but I can’t stop.
“I’m a waste of time. I’m a lost cause. I’m—”
“Enough.”
“For fuck’s sake Remy, I know you’re thinking it!” I shout. He winces. It's a gut punch. “All I ever do is hurt you, over and over and over. Just admit that I’m a fucking burden!”
His head is shaking back and forth. “Love—”
“Say it! Say—”
“I know!” he yells, tears glistening on his lower lashes.
Time stops.
There’s nuclear waste contaminating the air, stinging my eyes and scorching my lungs.
“Know… what?”
Swallowing hard, his voice barely breaks the sound barrier. “What they did to you.”
I’m trapped. Suspended in a time-space-continuum. It’s a vacuum: no gravity, no atmosphere.
He looks away.
Squeezes his eyes shut.
Struggles to breathe.
I’m losing him again to this never-ending nightmare, only this time, I’m forced to look at his beautiful face as he deals a gentle death blow. Potent fear injects into my veins. Ice. Fucking. Cold. But the cold doesn’t numb the agony peeling the last sliver of hope from my bones.
“Can't even look at me, huh?” I choke. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m too pitiful. Too broken. Too dirty. Just a whore who wanted it—”
Suddenly, we’re nose to nose, bright, vibrant anger radiating from him into me. I clamp my jaw to hide the trembling. His nostrils flare, chest bumping mine with each furious breath.
“I know what I saw and that was thefurthestthing from wanted,” he growls.
Saw…
We should show him what he’s been missing.
Saw…
Wait, let’s film it so he can learn!
Saw…
He’s not going to tell anyone. He wants it.
“You… saw it?”
His face blurs. A knife drives through my heart. The phantom scent of damp earth fills my nose. The ants have returned and they're covering me head to toe—
Fingertips brush my bicep.
I stumble back.
“Love, please, come here—”
