Page 258 of Claim Me
"My doctors will contact the head of the hospital. Let’s go, Gabriel, our business here is done."
Wow, that was fast. Straight to the point. But I’m not done, far from it.
"Give me a second, Blue. Could you wait outside for a moment? I want to say something to the bastard."
"Sure," Blue says and just walks out.
Silence creeps over the room.
Marcel looks at me, and I get the sense he’s a little lost, unsure, afraid, like he expects that even if Blue treated him with that kind of grace, I won’t extend the same courtesy. And he’s right.
I give him a dark smile.
"Relax, Marcel. Unlike you, I don’t want to hurt people physically. But that doesn’t mean I won’t say exactly what I think."
Marcel lets out a bitter, subdued laugh. "I deserve every word you’re about to say."
"Don’t. Don’t play that game. Oh, how you repent for your sins, asshole… Don’t pretend you feel guilty in front of me. I know you all too well. I doubt you believe any of this. You’d grab onto any opportunity and fake gratitude if it suits you. Let’s be clear about that. But it doesn’t matter. What I want to tell you is why…" I clench my jaw tighter, "…why I once fell in love with you."
A strange silence stretches between us.
Marcel looks away, fixing his eyes on the empty wall like he doesn’t want to hear it, but I don’t stop.
"One day I was walking along a campus path. It was early fall. The air was hot and heavy, nobody felt like being out there, and then I saw this beautiful, tiny, young omega with long dark hair and blue eyes full of light, handing out flyers despite the heat. The flyer told the story of a man…" my voice falters slightly, "who suffered severe side effects from one of Malden’s drugs, and their lawyers brushed him off like he was nothing. And even with the sky pressing down with heat, you kept going, raising awareness, telling people that pharmaceutical giantsneedto be held accountable, that standards in medical care need to be higher." I exhale loudly. "That’s what I saw in you back then, Marcel. The tiny omegatirelesslywandering through thecampus pathways in his quest to bringjusticefor those treatedunjustly. I saw something bigger in you. Courage… that drew me in, the beauty of your soul… not just on the outside but inside too. But the beauty faded, turned into something ugly and twisted. Funny, now I see it in him, on the other side of that mirror. Back before the tumor, you really did care about change… but change toward something better, constructive, not toward chaos and destruction, and death, and rape…"
I fall silent and lower my head. I don’t want to look at that frail body under the thin blanket, slowly fading.
"You know, I’m asking Fate that if this therapy works, it brings back that passionateversionof you I fell in love with, not the one thetumor created."
Tears are now falling from Marcel’s eyes, one after another, like glass beads sliding down his hollow cheeks and onto his thin neck.
"For the past year I couldn’t look at myself in the mi—mirror, Gabs, because every time I did… I saw these dark patches… like black hands pressing into my eyes… and that anger I couldn’t ex—plain, that struggle inside me whispering, ‘kill, destroy…’ As this damn tumor kept growing, it kept telling me to destroy everything, but in reality it was destroyingme…"
I straighten up and take a step back.
"Well, I hope that’s true. I really do. I hope you find your way again, the one you originally wanted to walk, even if before that you’d have to spend years in prison. That doesn’t mean you can’t still make a difference. Your voice still matters to a lot of people. Be a force for something good. That’s what I wish for you. And… good luck fighting the enemy you’re carrying inside you."
Marcel lets out a faint, sad laugh.
"Isn’t that the uni—versal truth, Gabriel? The greatest enemy always livesinside us, hidden deep in the heart… andthat’s the one we end up having the ultimate battle with. The on—only battle that matters."
I want to respond, throw in some sarcastic comment about cheap philosophy delivered from a hospital bed, but somehow I don’t. I’d rather see that bed as a place where there’s still hope, even if it means I’m naive. This time, I consciously choose to be.
"Goodbye," I say. "And good luck, Marcel."
I walk out of the room, feeling strangely light. One day, I might even let go of my anger toward him. I won’t forget, but leaving it behind could be the only way to free myself from the suffocating grip of hate.
Blue is waiting for me in the hallway, looking down at his ever-present tablet.
He lifts his eyes to me, filled with light, and suddenly, for the first time, I notice a subtle new note in his scent.
I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, a shiver running through me like the first hint of spring.
"Blue… your scent has changed."
"Oh? How?"
I let out a shaky huff.
