All the feigned longing was gone from her eyes. Everything about her was predatory. Her smirk was victorious. I looked into her feral eyes. She looked down at me, and I just knew. I knew she would kill me. I had dared to defy her, and now she’ll make sure I pay for it. She’ll make sure I pay…. A humorless laugh ripped out of my chest, fuelled by my own rage. I won’t die. I won’t let her kill me. I took the invisible thread that tied us together and let it run down my hand. I watched as the string slipped between my fingers. I watched as her attention snapped down to me as she felt my hand on her precious energy. I looked at her, looked into the dark chasm of her eyes. I stared her down and wrapped the string around my wrist. For a moment, we were held frozen, suspended in the knowledge that no matter what happens next, we will never be able to go back to what we were before. No more unyielding support, no more late night conversations about the secrets of the universe, no more imagining futures with fairy lights and cacti, no more random stories about sisters or dragons or saving the world, the world’s already ended. I looked at her. She looked at me. Every part of me wanted to stop and see if we could fix this somehow, but an older and wiser part, a part that’s lived far too long, knew it was impossible. I smiled up at her, a sad smile. It was the kind of smile you give someone before you sacrifice them for the greater good. And I snapped the thread. We both flinched away from the empty space between us where I had broken it. She was stunned, so was I, but this was my only chance. I ran. I got up and ran out of the door, down the steps, and back out into the world. My arms burned where she had slashed me and blood dripped down my skin, but I kept going. I ran out into the dark night and never looked back, but could never quite draw my attention away from the vast nothingness that was left in place of her energy. It wasn’t a void or a vacuum rapidly trying to be filled with new energy. It was just nothing. And so was she.
43
