Try And Stop Me (Girlxgirl)

Twenty-Five

Taylor's mind raced as she fumbled for her balance, almost tumbling right back down in the dirt, her stomach now empty of all it's earlier contents. She looked at the woman right in front of her, long brown hair, parted down the middle and tucked back behind her ears. Dimples in her rosy cheeks, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she took in Taylor as well. She hadn't expected to see her, either.

It was silent for a moment, Taylor too afraid to speak, too afraid that this was all in her head and that if she spoke, she would disappear. Her head hurt from all of the confusion, questions she wanted to ask being locked up inside of her, begging to come out. She was confused, angry, afraid, she didn't knows how to feel. She was hyper-aware of Michelle behind her, silently taking in the scene ahead of her, probably freaking out, probably out of her mind, but Taylor couldn't focus, she could only think of one thing, one person.

Talia.

She couldn't even be sure if this was real, or if this was a nightmare. She would say a dream, but it didn't feel like much of a dream. She felt sick to her stomach and upset and hurt. All she wanted was to rewind to this morning where she and Michelle had woken up happy and naive. She couldn't get that letter out of her head, she couldn't stop thinking about the danger they were all in, how he knew somehow that Talia was still alive before they did. She didn't know how to say that, she didn't knows if she could.

Taylor spun to look at her fiance, who stood back a few feet, hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes as she took in the other girl, who had managed to pull herself up into a seated position, shaking dirt and leaves from her hair.

She wasn't the only one seeing her. She wasn't crazy.

"How?" Michelle was the first to speak after regaining her wits. Talia's huge eyes landed on Michelle for a split second before landing right back on Taylor, where they rested.

"I-" she began, but then she pursed her lips and looked down at her lap, a tear escaping her eye and ran down her cheek, rapidly followed by another and another. Taylor was still frozen in her spot when Michelle came to kneel beside the both of them, setting her hand on Taylor's shoulder and was hurt when Taylor shook it off immediately.

"You lied." She whispered to Talia, finally, the words just bubbling out of her. "You lied to me, you left me to believe you were dead. For five fucking years, you fucking bitch, five years!" She couldn't stop the tears and the pure anger that ripped through her as Talia flinched at her harsh words. She never wanted her to be afraid of her, but she didn't know how to stop the words from coming out.

"How fucking long were you planning on living in hiding from everyone who ever cared about you? How could you live with yourself? When you died...I...it fucking hurt more than anything I've ever experienced, and I never got over it, That's, not something you can just fucking take back," Taylor knew she was raising her voice but she didn't care. She felt so hurt, so betrayed. She wasted years of her life trying to defend the honor of someone who wasn't even dead. She mourned and stayed up for weeks at a time. She got herself into this stupid job where she was convinced she was doing a good thing by pretending to be a vigilante when really, she was just mad at the world for taking away her first love. And here she sat, acting like some victim when she had no idea the kind of distress she caused. Taylor knew she couldn't really blame Talia for the things she had done, but she felt like it was Talia's fault, even if it wasn't. "Say something, dammit! Don't just fucking sit there, I know you aren't a ghost, I know you're real, at least give me some fucking answers! You owe me that."

Talia had reached up to cover her eyes as fresh hot tears gushed out, emotions gushing out of her in the form of sobs and hiccups.

"I'm so, so sorry." She whispered, sniffling as she let out another cry. "I-I didn't have a choice, Taylor, please believe me, please. I never wanted to hurt you, I wanted to tell you, to find you, but they wouldn't let me. When this all started I was still a minor, I was scared and I'd just come out of a coma. It took me weeks and weeks to finally remember you, and what you were to me, and even then, my memory was foggy, I couldn't understand a lot of what was going on, my mom did most the decision making, and pretty soon I was hiding out halfway across the globe in government housing, trying to stay out of the way."