Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 23

My dad’s jaw clenched.

“I - I should go after her.” I muttered. Hesitant.

I started to rise—but paused when I saw my dad. Anger brewing in his expression. I turned to my mom, hoping, praying that this time she will say something. I paused. Mom hadn’t said a word all dinner. But she looked… different now. Like Betty’s fury had struck something inside her and lit it on fire.

“James!” my dad barked. “Sit!”

I froze for a second out of habit. Old instinct. Years of it. But then-

“No, son.” My mom stood. Her voice was calm, but fierce.

“Run after her.”

She looked at me with a smile I hadn’t seen since I was a kid, the kind that made me think maybe she remembered who she used to be, too.

I didn’t wait.

As I bolted out the door, I heard their voices fade into a muffled argument behind me. But I didn’t care. My mind was on Betty. Only Betty. And this time, I wasn’t going to let her face her storm alone.

She wasn’t far.

Just a few blocks down, right at the corner where the lamp flickered with a tired buzz. She sat on the gutter, her dress pooled around her knees, like a flower that fell on the ground from the altar, her shoulders heaving. Her hands covered her face.

“B!” I called out, breath catching.

Her head snapped up. She didn’t hesitate.

She stood and ran toward me like a child runs toward safety - no filter, no pride, just instinct. I caught her. Her arms wrapped tightly around me, her cheek pressed to my chest. She was shaking.

“I- I’m so sorry, James,” she sobbed, her voice breaking mid-breath. “I don’t know what came over me. I tried to hold it in, I really did… but I just- I couldn’t anymore.”

Her words spilled between gasps. “I didn’t want to be disrespectful to your dad but… I - I -”

“Shhh,” I said, holding the back of her head gently. “You were so brave, B. You did the one thing I’m scared to do.”

“I just can’t stand him saying those things to you,” she whispered against me. “It’s wrong. It’s so wrong.”

And right then, Olive’s voice echoed in my memory: “She’s just like the others.”

But Olive was wrong.

Because Betty—she isn’t like the others.

She’s brave.

Even when the world has been cruel to her. Even when she’s breaking inside. Even when she barely has enough strength to stand up for herself- she stood up for me.

And in that moment, I knew it without a shadow of doubt:

The old Betty wasn’t gone.
She was just tired.
Tired… but still fighting.

And she fought for me.
God, that meant everything.

Suddenly, from a nearby house, a song blared through the open windows. The beat caught both of us off guard.

Sparks Fly by Taylor Swift.

Taylor’s voice floated through the air, full of ache and longing.

> My mind forgets to remind me you're a bad idea
You touch me once and it's really something
You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be…