Stolen Time A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Twenty-three

Tom stared at the closed door before him, his mind blank.

She hadn't actually said this, had she? He couldn't believe it. After all, there was no way of just breaking up with him. This wasn't some kind of relationship that could simply go wrong. This was different and had always been. She had always been with him, she had always stayed, no matter what he had done. There was nothing that drove her away. There was nothing that could deter this. She was his. That wasn't something she could just end.

Yet, no matter how hard he tried to drown the thought out, he knew he was lying to himself. Of course there had been something between them that could break, something that could be destroyed, something that could end.

'You don't have to return.'

Her words kept echoing in his ears, and he tried to grasp why they were hurting. He shook his head. He wasn't supposed to feel anything like that. Her words weren't supposed to have any impact on him. They weren't supposed to hurt. She had been the one to let him down, she had defied him, she had wilfully disobeyed him. He had had every right to be furious. He had had every right to pay her back with his curses. She should have known what was going to happen once he found out about this little secret of hers. She had been the one doing him wrong. He should have been the one telling her to leave if she couldn't accept his orders.

Yet, unfortunately, there was no denying that he didn't want her to leave. He didn't want this to be the end.

'I'm done with your obsessive need for control. If you can't accept that you don't have to return.'

He clenched his jaw. He had always been that way. She should definitely have gotten used to it by now. That was who he was. That was how he was. He wasn't going to change. He wasn't going to be someone else, not even for her.

But her words kept repeating themselves in his mind over and over again, and they stung worse every damn time.

Suddenly he felt dauntingly empty. He clenched his jaw even harder. It was just like that moment when she had confronted him with the thought that she might be Muggle-born. He had certainly wanted to never feel that way again. He had sworn himself to never let this happen again.
And yet, here he was.

He balled his hands into fists. If it hadn't been for this inexplicable force that was constantly pulsing through his veins, this would have been the perfect proof that he had been right from the very beginning. Emotions were weakness. How could he ever have given her the chance to gain so much control over him? How could he ever have allowed to let her have the power to make him hurt?

Because that was what she had done...make him hurt. The thought of not returning hurt. The thought of never holding her in his arms again hurt. Strangely enough, even the thought that it was him who was responsible for this mess hurt.

He knew he had tried to deny it but being with her had always made him feel unbelievably alive. It had always made him feel warm and content. When he had been with her he had been able to feel that she really cared for him. He had been able to feel...at all.

Those had been the times when this hatred that was reigning inside of him had been buried somewhere deep down, when it had not been able to dominate his thoughts and had not been able to possess him. Those had been the times when he had sensed the power of his magic the most, when it had felt the strongest, when he had known it was indestructable and invincible.

This feeling had been unparalleled, it had been so addictive and, time after time, it had kept him coming back for more.

He turned away. He knew she wasn't going to open the door again if he stayed. He had seen it in her eyes, they had told him more than he had wanted to know.