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I have to break him. End this, I told myself, fighting through the fear that was clawing at my insides.

“You want to know what's going on, Ethan? The night I met you, all I saw was a lonely and pathetic boy, and I felt sorry for you.” I stepped towards him, my gaze glaring. “Okay? Are you happy now? That’s all this was. Forget about me, okay!”

Ethan stumbled backward as I advanced on him.

“You’re just a pathetic loser who writes poetry nobody will ever read, and you’re so fucking desperate for attention that you actually thought I cared about you!” I put as much venom into my voice as I could, but all I wanted to do was throw myself onto the jagged rocks below.

“Stop it.” His voice came out barely a whisper.

Ethan continued to stumble backward as I pressed forward. “This isn't you…”

The encroaching tide lapped at the bone-white driftwood as they clacked together in the swirling current below.

“This is me, the real me.” Another step closer. “I’m not some character from one of your stories, Ethan, and I’m sure as hell not some damaged girl who needs saving.”

He went to speak, but was cut short.

“Underneath all of that nervous stammering, there’s nothing there. You’re useless. Pathetic.”

Ethan took another step back and fell, slamming into the damp stone as he stared up at me. Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes, and I thought I was going to lose it.

I can't… I can't do this…

But I had to. Otherwise, Ethan Ward would die.

The beam swept across his face, turning his tears to streaks of crimson blood.

Water thrashed everywhere, waves crashing against the rocks in violent surges.

“Evie—”

“I don't want you, Ethan!” The words ripped from my throat. “I don’t want to see you ever again. I don’t want you anywhere near me!” I stood over him as he slowly pushed himself to his feet.

His whole body shook. Tears slowly streamed down his face, falling to the sand below.

“Go!” I screamed, throwing my arms toward the exit.

Ethan stared unblinking as he slowly backed away.

Everything inside him broke.

“I thought we were the same,” he whispered. “Both of us…I thought you…understood.”

He was right. We were the same—once. But that was before I became a monster wearing a dead girl’s face. That girl would have understood you.

That girl would have loved you.

But now? She was gone.

My jaw clenched, and the dam behind my eyes was bursting for release.

“Well, you thought wrong,” I said, turning away before the tears could come.

Ethan nodded slowly, pulling back into himself as he rebuilt the walls we’d torn down together, brick by brick. Protecting what little was left.

Dying once hadn't been enough for me, because here I was doing it all over again as the spark went out in his eyes, killing whatever feelings we might have had.

“I can’t believe you, Evie…You’re not who I thought you were.” His voice was broken and hollow.