Six

She was crying. Not just tears streaming down her cheeks—gut-wrenching sobs that caused her lithe frame to shake violently.

The worst thing was she wasn’t letting me hold her and comfort her. So I stayed put, watching her lips tremble as she stared at me like I was a stranger, like she didn’t know what I’d become.

I wanted to move closer. I didn’t care that she flinched, that she didn’t want to be touched. I needed her to see me—not the monster she thought I was.

But she was afraid.

Her eyes said everything.

And for a second, I wanted to lie. To tell her I had nothing...