He was pushed into the dark, just like many other people she loved back then. But others found their way back in, he never really did. His hate for me was born during that time, especially when he saw how close it had brought her to me. She never remembered our session, but she felt comfortable with me, safe and happy.
There was a palpable connection ever since that day we sat in a close embrace, her tears drenching my shirt as she allowed me to help her.
I stayed in contact with her as much as I could, but Christopher soon found help in her father when it came to pushing me aside. Both of them shared a deep running distrust and fear of the things I was capable of.
Others admired me for it.
Once word got out that I had saved ‘the girl who killed her mother’ from a lifelong trauma, more and more people showed up at my door, asking for me to do the same to them or a loved one.
That’s how it started. All thanks to her.
And I couldn’t even thank her for it, nor be the friend and guardian that I wanted to be for her.
I had to watch my Petal from afar.
Until the day she would finally become mine.
***
No memory is lost forever. I know how to revive them just as much as I know how to delete them. And I have given her back everything she asked me for.
But this memory is one I will take to the grave.
Petal was smart enough to never probe for it, but even if she did, I wouldn’t let her go through that anguish of her mother’s tragic death again. I saw the abyss once, and I helped her to climb out of it. I didn’t do that to throw her back in just because honesty demands it.
Does that mean our marriage will be based on a secret? A dark lie that could change everything if it ever came to light?
Maybe.
But I think it can be justified.
As long as it remains to be the only one.