"I love him."

The thought surfaced, unbidden and terrifying, and it hit her with the force of a physical blow if not worse. She recoiled, her back hitting the door with a dull thud as her heart hammered against her ribs like that of a trapped animal.

"No. I don't. I can't."

She tried to push the feeling back, to shove it into the dark corners of her mind where she kept the screams and the blood, but it was too late. The love was there, a living, breathing thing, entwined with the memory of his laughter, the way he looked at her as if she were the only light...