Page 88 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
He pushed himself to his feet, rubbing his aching chest. And careful not to let her emotions consume him again, he focused on the balloon and let the walls loosen. Not all the way; just enough so he could get a better read on her.
That’s when it slammed into him. The darkness.
The same darkness he’d sometimes picked from Nori, under all her surface layers of emotions. The very darkness he’d despised and feared every time he’d sensed it lurking. Why was it so strong now? So dominant?
Its claws grew, sprouting branches in every direction, growing darker and denser as it engulfed her. The only other thing Vir could sense from her was a calm, cold determination. The rest of her was blank.
That’s how he knew.
That’s when he ran.
“Nori! Open the door!” He banged his fists against the solid oak panel. “OPEN THE DOOR! NORI!”
Nori
Nori stared at her reflection inthe mirror, unseeing, while Vir’s tortured expression from before swam in front of her eyes.
She sucked in a useless gulp of air, and the blank numbness welcomed her in its cold, familiar embrace. She didn’t want to die. But she was tired. So tired.
If only she could let go.
Snap.Like a rubber band she’d been stretching thin for far too long.
She wasn’t strong enough, after all. Or maybe she didn’t want to be.
Her knuckles whitened around the orange plastic container—her emergency stash of antidepressants. How long would it take for her lungs to stop demanding air? How long before her heart fully stopped? Was it going to hurt? Probably.Certainly.
She knew the sequence of events her body would go through, in theory. She’d looked it up enough times to have it all memorized by now, though not anytime in the recent past.
A loud bang snapped her out of her thoughts. Someone was yelling—Vir.
He banged at the door again like he was going to break it down if she didn’t open right away.
Right.She hadn’t considered that. He was likely feeling everything she was.
Would he also feel it when she—
She couldn’t finish the thought. She didn’t have to, because she knew the answer already. What kind of rotten monster would she be if she really put him through that?
The worst kind.
But she was so tired.
I’m sorry.
Vir slammed into the door again, and the hinges rattled.
Stop. Please.He was going to hurt himself if he kept going like that.
“Die,” Nori whispered, turning to the shell of a woman in the mirror as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. “He shouldn’t have left you alive.”
A violent sob racked through her chest. And another. They kept coming, each louder, and more hacking than the one before, till her expression crumpled like a useless wad of paper.
No. Her reflection mouthed back at her.Fuck you.She looked pissed.
Nori blinked.
She swore out loud before flinging the bottle at the opposite wall as hard as she could. It ricocheted off the tile with athunkbefore clattering to the floor.
