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“No,” she wheezed. “No, Claire, we can make this—”
“Work? We can’t. I’ve gone over and over it. I want to keep
you. That’s the truth. I want to keep you here with me forever,
but that’s not the life you should have. You should be with
someone your own age. Someone who isn’t entirely fucked up.
Someone who isn’t…who doesn’t…who can feel and be
normal and want the things that everyone else wants, on your
timeline. If you stayed here, it would be us always fighting the
world. You’d be choosing me over your family, which you’d
come to regret. Maybe, after all of it, after you’ve given up
everything, it wouldn’t even work out. That’s usually how
things go. Very few people make it work out. It’s only been a
few weeks, Haley. If you go now…” Then I won’t have
damaged you permanently.
Haley trembled. Her hands fell away. The reality of the
situation started to finally sink in. Claire watched it all, the
fires dying away, the embers going out, the burning, twisting,
monstrous sadness, grief, and regret that took its place.
Reality. That was the real killer of dreams, and she’d just
crushed whatever hope Haley had because the facts were
brutal.
Something roiled under Claire’s skin and burrowed through
her brain. She wanted to change her mind, just to stop the pain
she never thought she’d be capable of feeling. Haley had
drawn it out. In only a few weeks, she’d upended and changed
everything. She’d wrought destruction, but she’d also wrought
creation. Claire wasn’t sure which was more painful. They
were both probably equally as bad. All her secrets had been
exposed, the horrible truths she’d kept hidden behind a veneer
of power and coldness, they were out there now.
