11. Cherish

Genevieve’s reality terrified me to my very bones. So much so that I paced Ivan’s room restlessly once Martha escorted me back to the room. Eventually my own desperation to make things right got the better of me and I took a few steps outside the corridor.

The slightest noise had made me as skittish as a mouse but after ten minutes of aimless wandering I heard raised voices. When I realised one of them was Ivan my body set off running before my brain could even process it.

I cannot explain it, it was as though another force was in charge of propelling me forward. Though I didn’t disagree with the action, it was bolder and more confident than I would ever dare. When I rounded the corner and saw his face, that fire of russet red hair and blazing green eyes I only sped up.

I expected when I leapt at him to be overwhelmed with the same tingling sensation as before. A flash of disappointment hit me as there was only the boring, unexciting sensation of material. Had I imagined the sensa