Page 30 of Stalker's Toy

The unsettling force that matches my own.

She should never have brought this here, but I'm glad she did.

“Something tells me this isn’t a school assignment,” I say, holding her in place with a look.

Mia bites her lip, hesitating.

I want her honesty and I want her to lie.

I want the damage it will do when one slips and breaks apart the other.

I see her own curiosity brewing as she takes in my expression.

Returning my gaze to the drawing, I continue to study it.

The fire isn’t contained in the strokes of charcoal– it’s spread to my mind, my entire body consumed by the heat of it.

I wonder how much this drawing costs her to make.

How much she’s given up just to put it down on paper.

I know that this isn’t a one-time thing, not some fluke of inspiration that’s passed through her.

This is in her blood, in her bones.

The same way it’s in mine.

I let the seconds drag by, watching her reaction from the corner of my eye.

Watching and savoring.

How does this resonate with you?

How deep do the scars run?

The air crackles as she draws another breath.

I want to tell her that there’s no point holding back now.

The seed is already planted.

The damage is already done.

I know… everything.

But I want her to say it.

I want her ripped open and bleeding for me.

I watch, mesmerized, as she gives herself over to it.

“The flames. The screaming. That night. They haunt me.”

She looks at me, and I see something else there too.

The dark seed of need.

We aren’t so different, she and I.

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