Page 84 of One Impossible Moment
He couldn't go through.
Copper's words echoed in his skull like a death sentence.If he had even the smallest desire to join her, he'd die.
The rift would tear him apart.
Finn swallowed hard, tasting fear and resignation.Everstill had its hooks in him.They were deep, permanent, and unbreakable.
But it didn't matter anymore.Without Kallie, he had no life in Everstill.
No future.
No reason.
He stood in the middle of the road, the storm whipping around him, and stared at the veil as it flickered like a living wound in the world.
He was going to have to break her heart to save her.
He closed his eyes, the wind tearing at his clothes, the storm roaring like a beast awakened.He pictured her smile, her laugh, the way she looked at him like he was worth something.Like he was a man, not a fucking empty soul trapped inside Everstill.
He pictured her packing her bag with excitement, believing they were about to start a new life together.
He pictured her reaching for him each night in bed, trusting him.
And his heart cracked clean down the middle.
He stared at the veil with a hollow ache in his chest.Soon, she would walk through it with no hesitation because she believed he was coming with her.
And she would live.
And he...wouldn't.
The storm howled, the veil pulsed brighter, and Finn braced himself for the moment he would have to destroy the one thing that had ever made him feel alive.
Kallie.
The storm swirled around them, tugging at their clothes and hair with frantic, desperate fingers.He urged Kallie forward, and they walked hand in hand down the road.
The sky above Everstill churned in violent spirals, black clouds folding over one another as if the world itself were being pulled inside out.Lightning cracked across the sky in jagged white veins, casting harsh, flickering light across the empty street.
"It's never this stormy when I walk through the rift," yelled Kallie.
He held on to her tighter."It is on this side."
The wind howled through the trees, bending branches until they creaked under the strain.But Kallie walked beside him, her chin held high, her steps steady, her fingers tightly intertwined with his.She remained confident in her choices and had no hesitation about crossing over.She looked ahead to her future.
She was brave in a way he hadn't been in Everstill.Brave in a way that made his chest ache with both pride and dread.
She squeezed his hand, smiling brightly even in the storm's chaos."We're really doing this," she said, her voice breathless with excitement.
She leaned into him, trusting him completely, believing with her whole heart that they were about to step into a new life together.A life she thought he would share.A life she thought he could have.She had no idea that every step they took toward the veil was another step toward the moment he would have to break her heart.She had no idea that he wasn't walking toward a future.
He was walking toward an ending.
The veil pulsed at the far end of the road, a shimmering tear in reality that widened with every gust of wind.Its edges rippling like torn fabric caught in a current.The air around it crackled with energy, the ground vibrating beneath their feet.Finn felt the pull of it deep in his bones.For him, it was more a threat of destruction than a pathway to another dimension.
He glanced at Kallie.She was at peace.
She had no idea he couldn't go with her.If she did, she would stay.
