His Antidote, Her Torment

ght I could feel even through the phone line. He arranged everyt

five years, I had accumulated almost nothing. Julian hated seeing any trace of me in his s

at my presence was a st

nd, reaching into the back, behind a false pane

g I truly owned in this

s eight. His arm was slung around my shoulder, and he was grinning at the camera, a gap

y. He had called me his "future

ey!" he had declared,

ruffling his hair. "Of

ing from a gumball machine. He'd also given me a little woven charm, a "good luck

s family's estate. He had jumped in without a second thought, pulling me out and

boy who had promised to protect me had b

tograph. I traced the outline of his smiling

stic ring, and the good luck charm to the fireplace. I watched as the fl

ds, a woman named Clara who had always

the garden replan

at. "I'm allergic to those spe

that Julian was well aware of. It was one of the

'll regret it," Clara sneered

so much, but this final, petty cruelty was too much. I turne

oed in the si

ned, before her face twi

a cold voice cut through the

end of the hall, his

Heath! She hit me! I just asked her to he

it. What was the point?

rted, but he

to that garden, and you will replant e

e truth. He only cared

the photograph might still exist somewher

, my voice dev

mission. A final goodbye to the man I once lo