A Monster's Final Goodbye

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hing, ragged and uneven. Then, the phone rang again, vibrating violently in my hand. Carter. I star

t. I let it all go to voicemail, my finger hovering over the block button. Not yet. I n

you dare do this, Elinore. Don't you dare!

less smile. Crawling back?

swered. "What do you want, Carter?" My voice was

ell do you think you're doing, Elinore? Ending things? Just like that? After everything we've

about disposable? Who was disposable when I was lying in a hospital b

was quickly replaced by anger. "That's not fair, Elinore! Brittney needed me! Her grandmother

attack. He said it with such dismissiveness, as if my body seizing and my lungs r

h breath was a struggle, a desperate gasp for life. My inhaler was useless, my vision blurring at the ed

be there, would save me. Then his phone rang. Brittney's panicked voice, frantic and exaggerated, sliced throug

, but then his voice softened. "Brittne

ars streaming down my face. "Please, Carter! I'm dying

ly thought was reason. "Elinore, Brittney is alone. Her grandmother has dementia, that's serious. You just need to try

begged, even threatened to never speak to him again if he left me. He had simply said, "Don't be drama

to the emergency room, pumping me with oxygen and medications. Alone when I finally stabilized, weak and terrified, the ghost of his betrayal a cold w

venom, "I don't need to try and make you look like you d

e throwing away everything we built! You'll regret this! You'll come back begging, I swear to God you will, and whe

eyes blazing. This was his usual tactic. Yell, blame, threaten, then

d cold. "And you know what the funny thing is? I feel ab

d a fight, tears, a desperate plea for him

om his end of the call. "Carter, baby, don't let her upset you. She's just lashing

rformance is getting old. And Carter? Before you start another one of your pathetic rants, just know t

ght. This was an execution. And I was the one pulling the trigger. The surge of anger, the bitterness, the pain – it was all being transmuted in