The Monster I Once Loved

e marble floor was small, but it e

ld and delic

open, its two

i exclaimed, her voi

Maya's for a fleeting seco

't think.

ropping to her knees be

mbled as she re

n't just

past, a symbol of a lo

w lay shattere

you think you'r

rsh, laced with ang

arm, trying to

ide, her hand on his othe

it's alright. It

aya whispered, h

at Alex, her

id... you said it was spec

rossed Alex's face. Conf

one in a

It's just an old piece of sil

Tori's hand and pul

sked, his voice softening as

et, dismissed Maya's pain, w

eces from the floor, hi

ked them int

s arm around Tori's sho

a, a small, triumphant s

ne, the imprint of the col

ds were

where she had scraped them,

e compared to the

alked

se offered to call her a c

ain, a cold, mi

s blurred thro

ve and impractical

her rainy night, lo

urned inside out, and sh

lex, had found her h

round her, and piggybacked her the rest of the w

and rubbed her cold fe

cared, the one who ch

lexander Sterling III

now was a stranger, a cr

the sobs wracking her body, lost i

hair dry when Alex ca

er, his expres

amptons for the weeke

mand, not an

wasn't ashamed of her, even though

ay to control her, to keep