Page 118 of Stitches

“Why do you think I know everything?”

“No riddles. Just the truth,” I said in a shaky voice.

“I know what is to be because true love conquers all.” He released my face and gave me that wicked smile of his.

“You love me?” I frowned at him.

“To be fair, you love me just a little bit too. We all love the demons that haunt us. That’s how true love works. We hold onto the past.”

“You tried to kill me.”

“Out of love,” he said easily. “Not out of hate. I expect I may have succeeded if I hated you as much as we loved you.”

I looked away from him, my eyes burning. He was quick to take my face in his hand and draw my attention back to him.

“You miss him,” he murmured.

“Don’t you?”

He let out a soft laugh and tapped his head with his free hand. “He’s always up here. Drives me nuts.” He stepped closer and let his hand trail to my chest where he held it over my heart. “He’s here too, Sirena. You just have to accept it. We’re a packaged deal.”

“OK,” I whispered, knowing well enough by now that you can’t escape your past. I could continue running, but to what end? It would always end in the boy with blue eyes.

He widened his eyes at me for a moment before blinking. “Truly?”

“I accept it. I know who you are. I know what you’ve done for me. To me. I understand it.”

“You can’t even comprehend how much we’re willing to do for you, firefly. It’s why we have to show you.”

“And you know everything will work out?”

“I know that we are strong, and we will fight until the bitter end. Our strength, our wicked, dirty love, is what will bring us to the other side. You simply can’t kill true love. Only piss it off so it grows.”

I bit my bottom lip, staring up at him.

“Your love is a tumor? I could hack it off and you’d still come back?”

He laughed again. “Bigger and angrier, firefly. That is how it will always be. You were meant for us. Someday you will truly see. There is no other way. Let the cards fall. Let us play. In this darkness we will rise. And in this darkness there is demise. At our hands and at our feet. The sinners will fall. Their end they shall meet.”

“Why do you rhyme?”

“I think the question really should be is why don’t you?” He cocked his head to the left again like he were listening to something. “Do you hear it?”

I listened as the wind blew around us, the cold chill biting into my skin despite my long, warm coat.

Asylum closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. “Something lurks in the forests with big white ears. He waits for you every night. He even watches when you are near. Soon, his mask will fall away. You should go to him before the watchers come to play. They will not be gentle, and he will remember their name. He will scream for a ghost. The pretty girl with colorful eyes is the one he loves most. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The hour is twelve. A river of red. And then…” He snapped his eyes open, starling me. “So many…dead.”

I swallowed hard.

“You needn’t be afraid, firefly. After all, you are the light in this darkness we monsters dwell in.” He gestured around us into the dark night. “You can save your small world. You simply need to be…there.”

I had no idea what he was saying, but his words chilled me to the bone better than any Michigan snowstorm could.

“Let’s get you home. It’s been a very informative night.” He held out his hand for me, and after a moment of hesitation, I slipped my hand against his.

He winked at me and didn’t say another word until we were standing on the front porch of the watchers’ house.

Slowly, he leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I don’t know everything in this world, firefly, but I do know that I fucking love you. So that’s the answer to your question.” He placed a sweet, gentle kiss on my cheek before turning and leaving me standing there, more confused than ever.

---