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“Go inside. Find the original. Save her. Protect her. Love her.”
“I understand.” Pavel smiled. “You love Emily.”
“I do.”
“But, I think this is where your role ends.” Pavel’s eyes mirrored the turmoil within me. “Kazimir, this is her mind, her battle. Are we sure that you walking into that room is the right course?”
“But. . .”
“Healing. . .it is a personal journey.”
I lowered my hand and clenched it into a fist. “But I cannot just leave Emily to face this alone. If the original is in there, trapped in that memory, in that fear. . .how can I turn away?”
“It is not about turning away, Kazimir.” Sadness washed over his face. “It is about understanding boundaries. Healing. . .it is not something you can do for someone else, no matter how much you want to.”
Desperation crept into my voice. “But what if my presence could offer her strength? What if I could help the original confront her past?”
“And what if your presence, as a man, does more harm than good?”
I tensed.
“Remember, we are in Emily’s mind. For Amber and maybe the original, the presence of any man, even with the best intentions, could be traumatic.”
Those words stung me. “So, what? I just stand here? I leave the original to suffer?”
Pavel placed a hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is provide space for Emily to heal. You have the clue. Give it to her.”
“But, is it enough?”
“Support does not always mean diving into the fray. Maybe, just maybe, it is Emily’s battle to fight, her door to open.”
I looked back at the door. “My mouse must reclaim her power. Not me.”
“And she must do so in her own time, and in her own way.”
The realization settled heavy on my heart. Behind that door lay not just the horrors of the past, but the possibility of healing, of a future where Emily could possibly live free from the shadows that had haunted her mind for so long.
The original is there. What does she look like? What would she say? How would it help them all?
Pavel spoke, “Sometimes, the most profound act of love is. . .”
I put my view on him.
“Sometimes it is found not in the battles we fight for others, but in the quiet moments we stand by, ready to support them as they fight their own battles.”
Those damned words wormed their way into my soul, and I felt something shift within me. The familiar urgency to act, to swoop in and save the day—it was still there.
But now, there was also a newfound sense of patience—a quiet understanding that sometimes love meant stepping back rather than charging forward.
Pavel breathed a sigh of relief. “You finally understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Pavel nodded. “Now. . .close your eyes. It is time.”
Without any hesitation, I did as he said and shut away that horrid view of the original’s bloody door.
Now only darkness served as my view.
