Page 130 of Stone Seduction
How dare I cry my dirty eyes out? How dare I play the victim?
Fury burst to life like a ball of fire inside me, expanding like a dying star.
“Finn…”
I sat up, a supernova of sorrow dragging me to my feet. The threads of my sanity frayed, reason an alien concept. I couldn’t hold on any longer, I couldn’t be this version of myself.
I couldn’t face the truth.
My heartbeat crashed like a gong. Erratic, underserving of existence. Coal. A heart of coal. Dead. Cruel. Making a mockery of life when inside the chest of a monster.
Finn.
Finn.
Finn.
An explosion of light, of sorrow. The supernova tore through me, going beyond the cavern, shoving me back into the lighthouse.
“Luke!”
Tom’s and Maren’s voices sounded. I saw them, felt their terror. It threw fuel on my inferno, consuming me.
I threw my head back, releasing a grief-wrapped wail to wake the dead. My body thrummed with power. The emerald bracelet snapped, my pain dragging me into a frenzied pit of hell where only sorrow and rage existed.
The pleading of my friends must stop.
The pain must stop.
Everything must stop.
“Make it stop.” Ember’s voice echoed.
“Fuck you!”
I tore out of the lighthouse, taking to the sky, my mind breaking. The threads unwound, everything gone now apart from my wrath.
Yes. Wrath. My wrath. My wrath will cleanse. My wrath will set me free and wash everything.
I flew out to sea, hovering above the waves, calling them to me, pouring my cocktail of suffering into the salty churn.
Cocktail. Cocktails. A dream of a shared business dead. Our dream. A brotherly dream. The lighthouse right there was an empty shell without his laughter, his warmth, his love.
Stole his love.
Stole his destiny.
The sea receded from the beach, gathering into a wall of destruction by my command. Energized by grief, glowing with my rage, it grew, it waited, it would cleanse everything.
Tears streamed down my face as gargoyle knights approached, as alarms screamed. But it was too late. Everything was lost. Everything was broken.
Wash away the disease. Make the pain stop.
Wait!An inner voice broke through.Don’t do this. Don’t be this.
I wavered, confused.
“Give in to your power,”Ember’s voice roiled in my mind.“You can make everything better.”
