Page 38 of Bound By Thorns
I had ended my family line.
They were gone, and the only legacy left was my hollow existence.
I stared into my own eyes again. My chest felt tight, but no tears came. Nothing came.
I gripped the edge of the sink, my knuckles turning white. My mind screamed for release, for something to break through this debilitating numbness.
Snap out of it. Snap out of it. Snap out of it.
My nails dug into the porcelain, the cold hardness grounding me.
Yes here. Yes now. Now, Kaylan.
I forced myself to look into the mirror again. To meet those accusing eyes. To acknowledge the pain, to let it consume me. My breath steadied, barely, and the world began to shift back into focus.
Now, Kaylan!
The first tear slipped free, carving a cold, lonely path down my cheek. I reached for it in the mirror, tracing its path like I was watching someone else cry, someone more human, someone desperate enough to break.
Then came the second tear.
I held my breath, waiting for more, willing more. I wished for tears, for sobs, for something—anything—that would shake me free of this suffocating numbness. Hell, I would’ve begged for a panic attack.
But the tears stopped.
My reflection mocked me, hollow and incomplete.
Bring them back!
My nails scraped against the counter as if I could claw the grief out of myself.
Stumbling back into my room, I collapsed onto the floor near the bed, my legs folding beneath me like they no longer hadthe strength to hold me up. My gaze wandered aimlessly until it landed on an old shoebox shoved against the base of the wall.
The box from the lounge party.
I scrambled toward it, my hands trembling as I pulled it open. The crimson stilettos stared back at me, vivid and sharp against the dull haze of the room. For a moment, I felt nothing. A quiet void, a terrifying emptiness that whispered nothing would ever break through.
But then it happened.
The dam shattered, and everything I had been holding back came flooding out, all at once.
Squad Two.
Florida.
Ravenrock Hall.
Garret.
Noel.
Logan.
My parents.
The tears came first, hot and relentless, then the sobs, raw and violent, leaving my chest aching and my throat burning.
I curled into myself on the cold floor until darkness consumed me.
