It All Started With a Diary

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So, I messed up lmao. In total, there will be one epilogue, and there will be two more Kade POV's (including this one!) Enjoy🤍!

"There are times in life when people must know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this." ― Terry Pratchett
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Chapter 82
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|Kade|

I was hypocritical.

I always had been. Ever since I met her again, I continued to go against my own promise. My plan. All of it went out the window the moment I fell in love with Kimberly. I had accepted the hypocrisy of it, and left it at that, but this...this was different.

Three days had passed since I found out that I was tied to the cages for another year. Exactly seventy-eight hours, and fifteen minutes. Every single passing second continued to taunt me with the inevitable.

I knew it was coming. The words I would never be able to take back, got strung back in my throat every time I looked at her. My beautiful, beautiful girl.

I was being selfish, I knew that. I wanted to keep her for as long as I could. That was what I planned to do beforehand, before I realized that I couldn't keep her from herself or her endless possibilities, not for me and not for anyone else in this world.

Even when she's gone, I'll still love her. I'll still love every single thing there is about the girl, without question. Tomorrow and the days after that, I will still be in love with her. Without a doubt. Every single thing that consisted of Kimberly's very-being retained my heart.

Yet, I had to break hers.

I knew she wouldn't take no for an answer. Her stubbornness was one of my favorite qualities, even though I never admitted it out loud. But, not this time. This time, I needed that same stubbornness to cease for her sake.

She had no idea what those people in the cages were capable of. I couldn't let her find out, either.

The only way to rid her of myself was to hurt her, to make her want to let me go. To make her see exactly why she should. To lie. To go back on everything, and twist it until she hated me.

As bad as it would fucking kill me, I loved her more than she would hate me. I wanted more for her. She deserved more, and even more of that.

Kimberly had gotten the wrong side of the stick for as long as she could remember, something that I vowed would never happen, again. My sweet girl deserved the world, and more. I wouldn't stop her from having it, even if it meant not being at her side to watch her experience it.

I could never give a straight answer if someone asked why she was in love with me, despite being prepared to give a million if they asked it about her. Even if I didn't fully understand why, I wanted to be worthy of it, and more.

I knew, without question, that we would both be shattered from the inside out. Defaced. Ruined. Hurt. As damaging as it would be for me, I dreaded it for her. I fucking dreaded that I had to do it. That I would have to make her second guess every ounce of love I ever carried for her. That she would believe, even for a moment, that it was fake.