Lucy:
"Hey, I hope you’re not angry with anymore," Jenny said with a smile.
I gave her a weak smile and shook my head. "I heard things are going well between you and Lamar. I’m really happy for you," I replied in my usual tone.
It was hard to balance my body after losing control for so long. After I woke up, I learned that Za and Zu had finally died. They needed a body to survive, and since they were forced out of mine and nobody else let them stay, they t their fate. A little too long, but in the end, all went well. We also had a talk with Norman, a very important one.
To be honest, I was glad that I had played a part in the death of those two monsters, and also that during the year when the world had beco a scarier place, I wasn’t there. I did defeat the entities, but that didn’t change the fact that I was terrified of stepping outside and facing those hideous creatures, the Zharns.
When everybody gathered around to welco back, I felt overwheld. Arthendel was beautiful. The first thing I asked was for them to take to the sea. I wanted to breathe in fresh, open air. Helanie had passed out, so my wish to hug her had to wait. And even then, she wouldn’t have been the first, everyone else had already hugged . They treated differently now, not like soone unwanted.
"Everybody step aside, I brought food," Lamar said, motioning for the others to move.
It was strange to see Penn happy with Sage. I had watched him desire for Helanie for so long that even I pitied him. We sat on the beach, listening to the waves, and I watched the rmaids rise from the water just to wave at before disappearing again. I felt special. I had always appreciated little things, and I was still the sa in that way.
But soone had been stealing glances at more than once.
"Thank you," I told Lamar. "You’ve changed too. I rember when I was awake, you were such a douchebag." I laughed. "Well, not really. You were starting to get better," I murmured, rembering how he and Helanie had grown close.
"Yeah, I decided to be a better person. The bad boy image didn’t really suit ." Lamar pouted, then smiled at Jenny, giving her a wink. The two of them were adorable.
"What about you, Gavin? I heard you’re planning on going rogue," I asked, and he nodded.
We used to be so full of energy and love. I had been such a bubbly person. My pack mbers used to say, she’s always showing her dimples. But now, even here, I felt misplaced. I was left behind. And they seed forced to interact with , to celebrate my return out of guilt for not saving sooner. Of course, I never voiced these feelings. They had already been through enough, so I kept my grief to myself.
"What about you? What do you plan to do?" Gavin asked, offering a sandwich.
I took it. Just holding it felt good. I hadn’t held anything for more than a year. Instead of answering, the first thing I did was take a bite. The taste was heaven. I closed my eyes, moaning as I chewed, and when I opened them, everyone was laughing lovingly.
"You know what? Enjoy your food. We’ll take a little walk. I’ll also check if Helanie is awake, okay?" Lamar said as he ruffled his fingers through my hair. It was so sweet. So friendly.
"Yeah. Make sure you eat well. You’ve lost a lot of weight in the last few months. I guess you were unconsciously fighting the entity, so you weren’t eating much," Penn said. It was the first ti Alpha Penn had spoken to with such thoughtfulness.
"Yeah. We’ll co back to you again, okay?" Jenny added in her usual bubbly tone before leaning in to kiss on the cheek.
I wasn’t used to being treated like this. Suddenly, the pain in my heart began to fade. One by one, they left. When I noticed Gavin was still sitting there, I realized why.
"You don’t need to feel guilty about anything. I’ll return to my life. I want to continue at the academy and do the things I once wrote on my bucket list," I said with a weak smile. The truth was, I had chased him so hard, making him my life’s mission, that I felt sorrow for myself.
"May I say sothing? It’s just a request. You can either accept or deny," Gavin asked gently.
I could still hear the guilt in his voice, and honestly, I didn’t want him to feel that way. Whatever happened, happened. He had suffered too. Maybe it was just ant to be—that she was his second chance mate. It made sense. He ca to the academy, cheated on , and then found her. I didn’t want to hold grudges anymore. My life was too precious. I had already lost a year of it, and almost my body, because I was so broken by the rejection that I forgot my life ant sothing. I wasn’t going to do that again.
"Sure, what is it?" I asked, picking up a glass of juice. Holding anything felt strange. For a mont, it was hard to balance it, but I knew I’d get used to it soon.
"We can heal together."
The mont he said that, I almost choked on my drink.
"I don’t an it like that. I an, as friends. We used to be friends before," he added, his eyes shining.
Although I felt sorry for him and wanted to be there for him, part of knew I wasn’t ready to be his friend. Maybe in a group, sure, but not just him and .
"Gavin, I want to heal first. I hope you understand."
As soon as I said that, he nodded anxiously.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking." He tried to play it cool with a laugh, and I felt bad for him.
"But hey, we’re in a group, so we’ll always see each other," I added, trying to soften it. "Besides, I want to go ho first. I want to be with my family."
I rembered how much I had hurt them. When the entity was in my body, she did everything to make them hate . My mother suspected sothing was wrong. She even said I was possessed by a ghost. But there was nothing she could do, because the entity was convincing. She had all my mories, all the answers to the questions my mother used to test .
"I’m sorry, Gavin. I wish I could say sothing to comfort you, but right now, I just need ti to myself," I mumbled in a guilty tone.
He gave a small smile and nodded. "Serves right." That was all he said before Jenny returned to tell Helanie had woken up.
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