TERESAI could barely stand.My legs were shaking, my shoulder burned, and blood was pouring down my side. My hands were slippery with it. I didn’t know if it was mine or his. Maybe both.The room was spinning.I stumbled forward, bumping into the wall. I needed to get out. Now. I didn’t know how long he’d stay down. I didn’t trust him to stay unconscious.I turned around, just for a second.Richard was lying on the ground, motionless. His face was bruised. Blood was dripping from his mouth. My knife was still on the floor beside him.I should’ve finished it.I should’ve ended him.But I couldn’t.Not because I wasn’t strong enough, physically, I was trained for this. I knew all the ways to kill a man quickly. I’d done it before.But something stopped me.His face.Not the monster I’d come to know, but the man who once read me bedtime stories. The man who handed me my first knife and said, “Use this to protect yourself.”I hated him.But part of me… remembered loving him.That part ma
RICHARDShe came in like I always knew she would.I was sitting in that dusty old chair near the window, the one with the broken leg I never bothered to fix. I didn’t flinch when I heard the door creak open. Didn’t even bother to look up right away. I knew it was her. I could feel it in my bones, that familiar storm walking through the room."Teresa."Her footsteps echoed faintly through the broken silence. Careful. Measured. Hesitant. But I could hear the tremble beneath each step. She was scared, and trying hard to mask it with anger. I didn’t move. I stayed seated, elbows resting on my knees, staring at the scuffed floor of the abandoned room I’d chosen to hide in. When I finally lifted my gaze, our eyes met.She was holding a gun.I nodded slowly, not shocked. “I figured it’d come to this.”Her grip on the gun tightened. Both hands were wrapped around it, but they were trembling, just enough to notice. “Don’t talk. Just sit there.”I leaned back in the chair, calm, like we were ol
PHOEBEThe night air was cool, brushing gently across my arms as I sat beside Ramon in the car. The engine was off. Everything was still except the occasional chirp of crickets and the distant sound of water rushing beneath the old bridge. It was quiet here. It always had been. But this time, the silence felt heavier, filled with things unsaid.Ramon had come to me not long after Winnie left. He didn’t say much at first. Just took the keys, told me to come with him, and I did. I didn’t even ask where we were going. I just followed. Slid into the passenger seat beside him like it was the only place in the world that made sense, even when everything else didn’t.The ride was quiet. The kind of quiet that isn’t heavy or awkward, just… thoughtful. I kept my eyes on the window, watching headlights stretch across the road and blur into the darkness. My mind was loud though. Every thought I’d tried to shove down all week came back up like floodwater, rising, fast, and impossible to control.
WINNIEI walked down the hallway and paused at Phoebe's door. My knuckles hovered for a second before I knocked."Come in," she called.I pushed the door open gently. She was sitting on her bed, a blanket over her legs, flipping through a magazine. She looked up with a soft smile."Hey.""Hey," I said, stepping inside. "Can I talk to you?"She nodded and patted the bed beside her. "Of course. Ramon just stepped out. Said he needed air."I sat down, tucking my legs under me. "How is he?"She sighed. "Worried. Teresa disappearing really got to him. I mean, I’m scared too. But with him, it’s like... he’s carrying everything."I nodded slowly. "You’re doing amazing though. You’re here for him. And he’s here for you. That’s... really beautiful."She smiled a little, then tilted her head. "You okay?"I swallowed, feeling that familiar knot in my chest. It sat there, heavy and uncomfortable, like something I couldn’t name but knew too well. "I don’t know. I think... I think I’m scared."Phoe
RAMONI had just come back from the bathroom, drying my hands on a towel, when my phone buzzed. The screen flashed with a hospital number. My stomach dropped.I answered immediately. “Hello?”There was a slight pause before a woman’s voice came through. Nervous. “Mr. Ramon?”“Yes, this is he.”“We… we’re really sorry to inform you that Miss Teresa is no longer in her room.”I blinked. “What?”“She’s gone. We believe she left within the last hour. A nurse went in to check her vitals and she was just gone. There’s a note. She left it for you.”My throat went dry. “What do you mean gone? She can barely walk. How did no one stop her?”“We’re investigating how she slipped past security,” the nurse said quickly. “But she was alert and calm at her last check-in. She must have planned it. I… I’m really sorry.”I didn’t answer. I just hung up.The phone slipped from my hand to the couch.Phoebe sat across from me, legs curled up under a blanket, her face lit by the soft blue glow of the movie
PHOEBEI was propped up in bed, a pillow behind me and another one tucked under my arm. My body still ached in places I didn’t want to name, and the scars were tender, healing slowly. But Ramon was there. Always. Like a full-time shadow.“You didn’t have to do all this,” I mumbled as he dipped his fingers into a jar of lotion and started rubbing it gently onto my arms.He didn’t say anything at first. Just kept his eyes focused on what he was doing, careful and soft. His touch was light but purposeful, as if he thought I might break all over again if he wasn’t gentle enough.“I want to,” he finally said.I looked at him. His face was tired, but there was something fierce in his eyes. Something stubborn.“You’re either the best boyfriend ever or trying to make me gain ten pounds with all this pampering,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.He smiled a little. “I want you healthy and bossy again. I miss the way you yell at me.”That made me laugh, but my laugh got caught in my throat.