Shattered Strings

I Finally Snapped.

Chapter 12: Shatterpoint

I didn't run far.

Maybe part of me wanted him to catch me.
Maybe part of me just wanted to finally stop pretending I wasn't breaking.

I ended up outside, the cold night air burning my lungs.

Footsteps pounded behind me.
"Kayla, wait—!"

I spun around so fast he almost crashed into me.

"Don't," I snapped. My voice shook with rage and heartbreak and months of swallowing everything down. "Don't you dare come after me now."

Tom froze, hands lifted like he was approaching something wild and wounded.
Maybe he was.

"It's not what you think," he said, desperate. "I didn't even want her near me—"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I shouted.
Tears blurred my vision but I refused to let them fall.
"I stood there and watched you laugh with her. Watched her hang all over you. Watched everyone staring at me like I'm some pathetic little joke."

He shook his head violently, stepping closer.
"I wasn't laughing with her — I was trying to get her to leave! I didn't even touch her—"

"Maybe not," I cut him off, voice breaking.
"But you let it happen. You didn't push her away. You didn't even look for me."

Tom looked shattered.
Like he wanted to fall to his knees.

"I'm not good at this," he said hoarsely. "I'm not good at us. But I swear to God, Kayla, I'm trying."

I let out a broken, bitter laugh.
"Trying isn't enough anymore, Tom. You can't just half-love me. You can't show up only when it's convenient for you."

The words poured out, years of hurt I didn't even know I had.

"I deserve someone who chooses me every day. Not someone who needs a fucking reminder I exist."
I jabbed a finger into his chest, feeling him flinch under the weight of it.
"I am not some warm-up act. I am not some background noise in your life. And if you can't see that..."
I swallowed the sob threatening to choke me.
"Then you don't deserve me at all."

Tom reached for me, desperation in every line of his body.
"Kayla, please—"

I stepped back.
One step. Two.
Putting miles between us with every breath.

"I'm done begging you to love me," I said, voice like ice.
"Figure out what the hell you want. And if it's not me..."
I looked him dead in the eyes.
"Don't you ever come near me again."

⸻

[TO BE CONTINUED...]