What if the person you loved was only a delusion?
Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Bennett had an attractive boyfriend, school infamy, and a supportive family until she was ostracized for claiming to see a boy she described as being called "The Wasp Ki...
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How far had I gone? I couldn't tell anymore.
I knew where Wyatt was going: the lake. If he could reach it and just go beyond it, he'd be gone, for good this time.
The further I drifted from my own body, the more strangely I felt. The world around me started to feel darker and grayer. Shadows grew and my long-distance vision became blurrier. I just had to catch up to him, then I could convince him to go back to the hospital with me.
The road ahead stretched on longer and longer, the trees all looked the same. I was going somewhere, but the scenery made it feel like I was running in place.
Eventually, I could see the back of someone walking along the side of the road. He kept his head low and his hands in his pockets. I knew it was Wyatt, even from behind, the back of him gave me butterflies.
His steps looked labored, he was struggling to move. I could see the moonlight glimmering against the lake ahead of us.
"Wyatt!" I called out to him.
His head lifted slowly and he turned to look at me with surprise . . . and then horror.
"Charlotte? Why didn't you stay at the hospital? You shouldn't be here!"
I floated closer to him until I could grab hold of his arm and use it to ground myself to the physical world again. "You shouldn't be here either."
He held onto my arms weakly. "Listen to me, I don't know what could happen to you here. I don't know if it will kill you or if you will stay in a coma, you have to go back now before it's too late."
I wrapped myself against him to keep him from escaping again. "Not without you. If you want to save me, come back with me and find another way."
"There isn't another way." Wyatt smoothed his hand over my hair and kissed my temple. "And you were right, there's no way for us to be together, ever. I can't go back home and live my life knowing I hurt you."
I buried my face into his shoulder and tried to make his arms hold me tighter. "And you think I can go on knowing you died for me?"
He had no strength. Being so far from my physical body was harming him and there was nothing I could do. We were both weakened by being there.
"Yes, you can, because you are human. Humans are adaptable, they move on. I'm not human like you, Charlotte. I'm not even real." Wyatt's dark eyes looked serious.
He'd always firmly insisted that he was real before, I couldn't believe it.
"What? Don't say that . . . you are real!"
He used what strength he had to pry my fingers from off him. I couldn't stop him. Once he was free he stumbled back from me. "No, I'm not. I'm imaginary based on your ideal guy. I was your ideal friend as a child, and now I'm your ideal boyfriend."
