Page 112 of Irreversible

I’m carried out next, a hollow lump in my throat.

Regret and horror turn everything around me black. The gravity of what comes next tears holes through my chest.

“Isaac!” I shout, my voice shaking with grief. “Please, please, forgive me.” I claw and scratch at the arms squeezing mymidsection as they lift me off the ground like I weigh nothing. “Keep fighting. You can do this. Don’t give up.” Hot tears burn my eyes, streaming down my face and neck. I feel sick. Gutted. “I’m sorry…I’msosorry. Please, don’t give up. It’s not over yet.” I wail his name one last time as I’m dragged out of the room by the guard, arms outstretched, begging for forgiveness. “Isaac!”

But he remains silent.

Gravely still.

The image of his sagged shoulders and bowed head, his body a picture of defeat, is the last thing I see as I’m pulled through the doorway, a thrashing mess of limbs and screams.

He’s given up.

And it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.

Metal bars slam shut after I’m shoved inside a cage. My ass hits the dirty cement floor, the heels of my palms nicking on rocks and debris as I catch myself. It’s a cage designed for animals, too small for me to even stand in. Scooting backward, I curl my knees to my chest and watch as the gray-haired guard inserts a key into the padlock.

He locks me in.

Jasper is tossed into his own enclosure at the same time, residing two cages to my left. I can see him through the slats of the one between us.

He’s on his knees, both hands wrapped around the bars. Shaking them. Shouting obscenities. He looks over at me, then at the other guard as the man steps away. Both guards retreat, whistling as they go, and then the main door closes with abang, echoing through the industrial room.

I’m in a daze.

Part of me is numb. Part of me feelseverything.

I hear my heartbeat in my ears. My throat. My stomach. It’s pounding like a sledgehammer against a steel door.

Hysteria bubbles to the surface. I try to choke it down, but it’s a relentless beast.

“Everly…my God, are you all right?” Jasper twists toward me, gripping the bars that face my cage. “Jesus Christ. Where are we? What is this?”

My eyes are wide and glazed. I’m in shock; I know that. Whimpers crawl up my windpipe like tiny razor blades.

“Everly!” He shakes his cage so hard it crashes against the one between us, ramming into mine. “Goddammit. Tell me you’re okay. I thought…”

I blink, my lips parting on a silent scream.

“I thought you weredead.”

Heaving in a breath, I slowly turn my head to look at him. I swallow. “I wasn’t.”

We stare at each other for a heavy beat.

Jasper.

My husband.

The man I chose.

Conflicting emotions are tearing me apart like a riptide. A seesaw of guilt and sweet relief.

Jasper is here.

Alive. Breathing. Flesh and blood.

Isaac is gone.

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