Page 128 of Misery
It's something in between. Like the two of us.
"Tell me about Eleyna," I say. "Thiago's girlfriend."
He tells me. About her finding the room. Her fury. Her help. Her revenge.
"She shot him? I thought you said she loved him?"
"Yeah, I think it was poetic in a way."
"Maybe. I feel bad for her. Love isn't supposed to hurt that much."
"No. But it does anyway."
More silence. "Did you really fall in love with me while watching? Or was it after?"
"Started during. The watching. But real love, the kind that changes you? That was after. When I got to know you more, when we were spending time together."
I force out a laugh. "So, you love me for my trauma response?"
"I love you for your strength. Your refusal to break. Your artistic spirit. The way you hum when you're concentrating. How you always put exactly two sugars in your coffee. How you look when you sleep without nightmares." He pauses. "I know things about you I shouldn't. Can't unknow them. But everything I know makes me love you more."
"That's fucked up."
"I know."
"But also maybe romantic? In a really twisted way?"
"I'll take twisted romantic over just twisted."
I almost smile. "I haven't decided about us. If there is an us."
"I know."
"But I haven't decided against it either."
"I'll take that too."
My phone buzzes. Unknown number.
My blood freezes until I read it:
This is Eleyna. Using a burner phone. Just wanted you to know you're free now. We both are. Destroy this number after reading.
I delete it, but I save the message in my memory.
Two women, connected by a monster, both free.
"I'm tired," I tell Oskar. "But I don't want to go home. Not yet."
"There's a room upstairs. Clean. Safe. Yours if you want it."
"Will you stay?"
"Always."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Oskar
