Page 113 of Priest and his Anarchist

I turn as the sharp edge of his knife rests against my neck, batting my lashes up at him, unfazed. “And still such a shame that you can’t kill little old me.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

luna

Love is just a feeling, and like hunger, it’ll disappear once it’s fed.

In the room, there was a couch.

On that couch there was a man.

On that man was a—was a?—

Heat flushes through my body as sweat trickles down the side of my temple.

There was a man and a girl. The girl was so familiar to the touch, she looked like me.

He touched her in places, fed her himself and slid between her legs until blood trickled from between her thighs. She cried. Cried, cried, cried, but the tunnels knew of nothing but pain, so they watched and laughed.

My throat burns as if I’ve swallowed a million razor blades. Someone’s screaming. God, someone help her…

My eyes pop open and the scream makes my ears bleed, and it’s then that I realize the person who is screaming is me. The dreams roll like a reel of nightmares, and each time I wake, I fall into another.

Make it stop.

“Tsk, Tsk…”

I fall backward, stones biting into the palm of my hand. I’m here. In Del Morts. Safe.

“You’ve failed.”

What? How! “I’m the best this place has ever seen and you damn well know it!” The words from Nate are crushing.

—wait. Dreams. This isn’t real.

He steps closer. “I thought you were ready, but it appears you’re not.” He doesn’t bother looking up at me when he places the final throwing star into its pocket. The smell of leather and sweat fills me with warmth as I remember the time I spent here.

“I am! I was wrong. I didn’t—” My screams are piercing, but the room is silent.

“You’re still not in control of the one thing that controls you. I can’t help you. You were a mistake. A simple mistake. You mean nothing.” the room around me dissolves to ash at my feet. I squeeze my eyes closed, counting to ten.

“He—he is in love with her! He loved her first. He saw her first!”

“Terminated.” His mother’s monotone voice echoes through the room.

Where did Nate go? Please don’t leave me with your mother…

I swipe the fallen tears off my cheeks, but they’re dry. No tears.

In the room, there was a couch.

And on that couch, there was a boy.

And on that boy—my fingernails sink into the palms of my hands as I try to suck in more air. The room closes around me. In that room, there was a boy. And a man.

And a girl.

She wasn’t like other girls. He loved her. He loved her before he even knew me.

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