Page 231 of Texting Dr. Stalker

Zander

Unravelling by Water

ICE, WET, COLD,FREEZING.

I shot to my feet, spluttering and coughing.

Water went everywhere, quickly switching from clear to black.

No.

Fuck.

It soaked into my mask, making it hard to breathe. It ran under the collar of my t-shirt and dripped off the ends of my hair. In the reflection of the windows, I watched in horror as the blue-black box dye quickly rinsed back to North-condemning red.

Spinning around, I faced Sailor as she placed the bowl back on the counter with a smirk.

Black droplets continued to drip off my eyelashes and down my face, but I couldn’t think, couldn’t focus. I fixated on a single letter. One tiny uncommonly used letter and my heart threatened to burst in all directions.

“What did you just call me?”

Her smirk dropped.

She stalked into me.

I backpedalled until I crashed against the table. Without a word, she reached up and ran her fingers through my dripping hair.

Her hand came away black.

“Why?” I breathed. “Why are you doing this?”

Biting her bottom lip, she reached up with her black-streaked hand and gathered the material by my chin.

Her eyebrows rose.

I almost passed out.

She tugged gently.

And…I nodded.

I gave in.

I gave up.

How could I not?

She’d spilled her secrets.

She’d told me so many things that set my soul on fire and hope ablaze like stardust.

Ever so slowly,agonisinglyslowly, she pulled my mask down. It slithered along my nose, clung to my cheekbones, then cascaded over my lips in a rush.

She let go the moment it gathered into a soggy mess around my neck.

I couldn’t catch a proper breath as I stood before her, all my lies exposed.

My knees threatened to buckle…the despair that’d haunted me for weeks at the thought of losing her slowly morphed into something else. Something sharp and stinging and so full of yearning I could barely talk. “Why?” I asked again.

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