𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 : : 𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍

𝕃𝕀𝕋𝕋𝕃𝔼 𝕃𝔸𝕄𝔹

"𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓
𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔"

𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐈 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑

HER FINGER TIPS TOUCHED against the clamminess attached to her palms, the sweat rolling between her fingers as the fear spread through the surface of her body. There he stood, as clear as day.

He hadn't changed, she thought quietly. His eyes still that piercing blue they always were with the blonde curls bouncing from his scalp. The man she fell in love with stood only 5 feet away from her.

"Lori" he whispered, deprived of emotion as he spoke her name. Her lips moved to speak, almost quivered at his voice speaking to her, though eventually no words left her mouth. She struggled to comprehend how he was in her provisional, how it wasn't a hallucination.

"How are you..here?" She finally asked him slowly, never daring to peel her eyes away from his physique. A dry laugh liberated from him as he moved only an inch closer. Her body had completely frozen on the spot at his sudden movement, to which he noticed immediately.

"You were never afraid of me" he stated with a sympathetic smile. "How is it that you're afraid of me now?" His demeaning tone was so obvious now to her, she felt ridiculous never having realised it before.

"I'm-im not" she stuttered, mentally cursing herself at her idiotic behaviour. He took another step closer, his arms always by his side with his head high, tilted at a Forty Five degree angle.

"Oh but Lori, you are. You've never been more afraid of anything until now." His words sent a shiver down Lori's spine whilst his hand reached out for her own.

If she was in control of her body she would've snatched it away and proceeded to move as far away as possible from him, but she didn't. She allowed him to take her clustered hand in his cold one because he was more than right..she was afraid.

"I tried to save you, I tried to save us from those monsters. You don't understand Lori, they did this to us. To our future and our lives. I loved you with everything I had." Henry enunciated with Lori underneath his nose, feeling the air gushing out through his nostrils with every breath he took.

"No you didn't. You used me." she spat, feeling her limbs come to life again. Henry only smiled down at her widely.

"No, little lamb. I loved you, I wanted you in my life to help me become who I am today. You made me a good person, you stopped those monsters from hurting me more than they already had." He brushed a finger over her cheekbone, losing contact with her skin as she flinched and turned her head away from him.

"They were monsters, Henry, but you were worse. You made me believe in you, in all the lies you told me. You had me right in the palm of your hand and you crushed me until I died. You took me with you and never released the hold you had on me." Lori's voice broke as she said the words she had been wanting to say for years, finally allowing the tears to flow over the skin covered in blood and dirt.

"Lori..you don't understand." He began to say, losing his patience with every word she spoke.

"Yes I do. You're a sick man, you have so much evil inside of you, so much hatred. I wish I had never met you." She backed away as she spoke to him, watching his face turn up in anger. "I wish I had seen the man you truly are before I put all of my trust into you, into us. You don't get to stand there feeding me lies anymore." She sighed deeply. "You never loved me, and I'm glad. I'm glad you're unable to ever love because that means you'll never experience happiness, you'll never get to know what true contentedness is like." Her chest rose and fell rapidly once she had made it clear how she felt towards him.