“Seth?” She asked. I shivered, I hadn’t heard my name on her lips for so long. It was a sweet poison, warming me all over but leaving behind all the sharp edges of reasons I hadn’t heard her voice in so long. I pivoted slowly, staying in the shadows. I couldn’t bear to look at her so I focused on the ruff planks of wood in the floor. She gasped, and out of the corner on my eye I saw her reach up to touch her face. The blood from the gash above my brow kept dripping in my eyes, mingling with sweat. My breathing was ragged, like a wild animal’s. I swiped at my forehead, half wishing I could just leave. “Are you ok?” She asked, then scoffed at herself, “of course you’re not ok, I’m sorry-“ “It’s fine,” I said, I didnt want her to apologize, that was my job. At least, after I finished this. But even as my determination to see this through rose to the surface, it was overshadowed by the fear that this would be too much for her to forgive. And a quiet voice in the back of my mind still wonders if this was the right choice. But it was to late to back out now. She stepped closer, and my entire body shook with the combined notion to run as far away as possible and to wrap her up in my arms and never let go. She touched my arm gently, tracing her fingers down the scars I hadn’t had the last time I saw her. Scars that I used to be proud of, some sick right of passage. The feel of the knife cutting my skin still haunted me at night. A sense of urgency returned as I remembered the hands that held that knife was on his way. “Brieanna,” I whispered, feeling her name in my mouth. She pressed in closer to me, and any thought of time and what it would bring left my mind. Right then I knew, I never should have left. We would figure it out together, no matter what had or would happen. “I’m so sorry-“ I choked out, but she stopped me, kissing me slow and sweet. I cried softly as I held her in my long arms, burying my face in her long hair. “I’ll never leave again,” I promised, mumbling into the top of her head.