Earth
Past Life
"Haddy, what did your mother do this ti."
Adam’s voice was calm, but it was the calm he used when he was already angry. He stood in front of her, hands in his pockets, watching her too closely.
"Nothing," Haddy said. "I just wanted quiet."
She tried to smile. It didn’t work. Tears slid down her face anyway.
Adam stepped closer. "That doesn’t look like nothing. Either your mother did sothing, your stepfather crossed a line, or that idiot boyfriend of yours opened his mouth again. Which one is it."
Haddy shook her head quickly. "Stop. Don’t start."
"Tell ," Adam said. His voice hardened. "I’m not letting this slide."
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. "And what are you going to do if I tell you. Beat soone up again. Get arrested again. Make your dad clean up another ss because of ."
Adam frowned. "That wasn’t because of you."
"Yes it was," she snapped. "You beat up the police chief’s son because he called trash. Your father paid the fine. He bailed you out. He threatened to disown you if you didn’t change."
She laughed weakly. "I still rember it. You standing there pretending you didn’t care."
Adam looked away for a second. "I didn’t pretend."
"I can’t have that," Haddy continued. "I won’t be the reason your family breaks apart."
Adam exhaled slowly. "You’re not breaking anything."
"You don’t get to decide that," she said quietly.
They stood there in silence.
Adam and Haddy had known each other almost their whole lives. He was older by a few years, but he never treated her like a kid. Never talked down to her. Never pushed her aside. To him, she was family.
Their families were close in a way that confused other people. Different religions. Different ways of life. But that never mattered. They ate together. Argued together. Celebrated together.
Haddy’s father and Adam’s father were inseparable. They joked that they were brothers who just prayed differently.
Adam, Alex, and Haddy grew up together. Three kids running around like the world was simple. Like it couldn’t hurt them.
Haddy used to laugh a lot.
Adam rembered that laugh more than anything.
She laughed with her whole body. Head thrown back. Eyes shut. No restraint. No fear.
That laugh disappeared the day her father died.
Adam rembered the call. The way her sister covered her mouth. The way his father went silent.
Haddy didn’t cry at first. She just sat there. Quiet. Staring at nothing.
Her mother changed after that.
At first, it was small things. Words that cut deeper than they should. Rules that didn’t make sense. Bla placed where it didn’t belong.
Then it got worse.
The woman who used to smile with them started seeing Haddy as a reminder of loss. Of failure. Of a life she didn’t want anymore.
Haddy beca the target.
Adam saw it before anyone else did.
Bruises hidden under sleeves. A forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Silence where there used to be jokes.
"You don’t have to protect from myself," Adam said quietly.
Haddy looked at him. "That’s exactly what I’m doing."
"You’re protecting everyone except you."
She looked down. "Soone has to pay."
"That’s not how it works."
"That’s how it always works," she replied. "Soone always pays."
Adam clenched his jaw. "You think I regret any of it."
"Yes," she said imdiately. "Because you always do."
He didn’t deny it.
"You think I don’t see it," she continued. "You act tough, you joke, you fight, but you always feel it later. Every ti."
Adam stepped closer. "If soone hurts you—"
"They already did," Haddy said softly. "A long ti ago."
He froze.
"You can’t fix this," she said. "Not with fists. Not with anger."
"I can get you out," Adam said. "Stay with us. My father won’t say no."
Her eyes widened. "No."
"Haddy—"
"No," she repeated. "That would break her. And I don’t care what she did to , I won’t be the reason she collapses."
Adam laughed bitterly. "So you’ll just let her crush you instead."
She shrugged. "I’m used to it."
That answer hurt more than any insult.
Adam rembered the first ti he realized sothing was truly wrong.
He found her sitting alone one evening. She was staring at nothing. Not crying. Not thinking. Just empty.
He asked her what she was thinking about.
She said, "Nothing."
That scared him.
"Haddy," he said now, "you don’t have to be strong all the ti."
She looked at him. "Soone has to be."
"You’re not alone," he said.
She smiled again. Smaller this ti. "You say that like it’s permanent."
He didn’t like that.
Alex appeared not long after, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable.
"She okay," Alex asked.
"She will be," Haddy said quickly. "Right."
Alex didn’t believe her. Neither did Adam.
"You still skipping als," Alex asked her.
She blinked. "What."
"Thought so," Alex muttered.
Adam shot him a look.
"What," Alex said. "You think I don’t notice."
Haddy tried to joke. "You guys are worse than parents."
Adam smiled faintly. "That’s because we care."
She looked at both of them for a long mont. "That’s what scares ."
"Why," Adam asked.
"Because caring has consequences."
Adam didn’t answer.
Days passed. Weeks.
Haddy got quieter.
Adam got angrier.
Alex watched both of them, saying less, thinking more.
The night everything broke was quiet.
Too quiet.
Adam rembered the way his phone buzzed. Over and over. Missed calls. A sinking feeling in his chest.
They found her too late.
The world didn’t end that day.
But sothing inside Adam did.
He never forgot the sound of Alex saying her na.
Never forgot the look on his father’s face.
Never forgot the way the sky looked exactly the sa.
People said things after.
"She was strong."
"She didn’t show signs."
"God works in mysterious ways."
Adam hated those words.
Haddy was cheerful. Kind. Gentle.
And broken by people who were supposed to protect her.
Years later, standing as sothing far beyond human, Adam still rembered her face.
Still rembered her laugh.
Still rembered the silence.
And when Kahdijah stood in front of him again, wearing that sa smile, that sa chaos, that sa light hiding sothing darker underneath—
It wasn’t just power he saw.
It was mory.
It was loss.
It was rage that never cooled.
That was why he walked away.
Not because he didn’t care.
But because he cared too much.
And so wounds, no matter how powerful you beco, never truly heal.
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