Fire Burning

Severed

The second the door clicked shut behind me, the air inside the house changed.

Heavy.
Suffocating.

I kicked off my shoes, heart hammering, but didn’t move from the doorway right away.

From deeper inside the house, I could hear them — muffled, furious voices cutting through the walls.

Ari’s voice was sharp, savage.

"I fucking saw them, Jer," he hissed. "I saw her."

Jeremy's voice, lower but no less angry:
"You sure?"

"I’m not blind," Ari snapped. "She was all over him. He had her pinned against the door like a fucking toy."

Jeremy cursed under his breath — a harsh, broken sound.

"She fucking chose him," Ari growled.

Their words sliced into me, sharper than any knife.

By the time I rounded the corner into the kitchen, both of them turned — jaws tight, shoulders tense, eyes dark with betrayal.

Jeremy stepped forward first.

"What the hell, Em?" he barked. "You leave with him?"

"You left us," Ari snarled, his voice rising. "You fucking walked away from us."

I stood there, stunned — heart pounding, throat closing — trying to make the words form.

"I—" I started, but it cracked halfway out.

"You didn’t even fucking hesitate, did you?" Jeremy shouted.

"You think we’re just some safety net you can crawl back to after he’s done with you?" Ari snapped.

I shook my head, trying to breathe.
Trying to speak.

"I just needed—"

"What you needed was an easy lay!" Ari shouted.

"You don’t fucking know what I needed!" I screamed back.

He stepped into my space — chest heaving, fists clenched — and I shoved him, hard.

He shoved me right back, rough enough to make me stumble.

Jeremy jumped between us, but not to stop Ari — to pin me with his own furious glare.

"You never fucking cared, did you?" Jeremy barked. "You just needed someone to fuck the pain away!"

I stared at them, trembling.

"You don’t get it," I said, voice shaking. "You don’t fucking get it."

Ari laughed — cruel and hollow.

"Enlighten us, Em," he sneered. "Tell us why kissing him in our driveway wasn’t the nail in the coffin."

"You want to know?" I said, my voice trembling with rage. "You want the fucking truth?"

They didn’t answer — but the silence dared me to say it.

"I waited," I said, low and deadly. "I fucking waited for one of you — for both of you — to just say it. To tell me you wanted me. To tell me I wasn’t just some stupid fuck to kill time with."

Jeremy flinched.

Ari's jaw tightened.

"But you never did," I kept going, my voice rising. "You played games. You fucked around. You touched me. You kissed me. You made me feel like I meant something — and then you pulled back like cowards."