" I'm sor-"
"DON'T, JUST DON'T SAY IT. YOU DO NOT EVEN DESERVE TO SAY IT AFTER WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME! I BEGGED YOU, SCREAMED AND PLEAD, BUT YOU DIDN'T HEED MY WORDS. THEN WHY SHOULD I!"
I yelled with tears streaming down my face when witnessing m...
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Amaira sat on the edge of the chair, the stack of letters trembling slightly in her hands. Her fingers shook as she opened the first one. The familiar curl of his handwriting made her chest tighten before she even read a word.
"Amaira, I used to think pain was a language I mastered. But when I saw your eyes, the same ones that should have held nothing but warmth, I felt the first crack in me. I told myself you were just another name, another body to break. But that was a lie. The truth is, I saw what I had become. And it disgusted me."
Her throat tightened. She did not respond. She could barely breathe as the weight of his words pressed down, reminding her of every cruel memory, every night of fear. She opened the next letter without saying anything.
"At night, I hear you choking on water, gasping for air. My body still remembers holding you under. And I wake up clawing at my own throat as if I deserve to drown instead. You did not leave me, Amaira. You live in my nightmares, my silence, my every breath."
She gasped, the memory of struggling for air flooding back, leaving her chest tight and heart racing. Her hands shook violently, a shiver running down her spine.
"I broke every mirror in my house because I could not stand the reflection staring back. But shards still remain, and each one whispers the same word: murderer. You were not a rival, you were not an enemy. You were a girl who deserved peace. And all I gave you was addition to the scars you were already carrying."
Tears slipped down her cheeks. Her fingers gripped the letters so tightly it hurt. She felt the vulnerability she had buried for so long rising like a tide, threatening to drown her.
"I do not sleep anymore. I carve my flesh when the memories will not stop. I burn myself to taste a fraction of what I made you feel. But no matter how deep the cut, how raw the wound, it never equals yours. My body heals. Yours never will."
Her chest heaved. She wanted to scream, to throw the letters across the room, but she could not. She was frozen, caught between anger, fear, and a strange, aching flicker of pity.
She opened the next letter.
"When I saw you tonight, I forgot how to breathe. That dress, the way it held your grace, the way it caught the light, it made every word in me vanish. For a moment, I thought time had cheated me, showing me an angel I did not deserve to look at. I wanted to rip out the eyes of every man who dared to linger on you, but with what right could I claim such a thing after all I have done to you? And then I saw you freeze. The way your body stiffened, your eyes darting, the panic you tried to bury, it was when they walked in. Amrit and Sheila. I caught the shadow of your past written across your face, and it burned through me worse than any fire. That fear you carried because of them, it screamed louder in my head than any cry I have ever drawn from a man. I did not wait. I dragged them out before the night ended. They begged like the vermin they are, but I showed them no mercy. Fire kissed their skin as it once kissed yours. I carved their cruelty back into their flesh so they would never forget the sins they branded on you. And still, even as their screams filled the air, it did not free me. The flames only showed me your face, the girl who never deserved any of this. I hate myself more than I hated them, Amaira. Always will."
