THE ENDING
After the winds, the trees are nearly bare, leaves dried and fallen, the ancient branches revealing the nests of the birds who’ve roosted for the spring and summer. Soon enough, the nests will disappear, as well, their foundations rocked by wind and snow, the birds retreating to the evergreens for shelter.
Shelter from the storm.
This is what we are supposed to be given by our family. Care. Feeding. Love. Shelter.
But some families are different. They give only pain and fear and a frantic sense of need.
Every time I think about my father, I am reminded of the moment my mother told me how lucky we were. We had escaped him. We were free of him. We would never have to be subject to his temper, his rages, his hollow apologies. We were safe.
Only no one can escape the rule of a tyrant, not while the tyrant lives.
We were dragged back into the undertow of his world time and again until she was gone, and he was gone, and I was left alone to clean up the mess.
Do not mistake me. Damien Carr was a narcissist of the highest order. He fed off the power he accumulated, running the finances for the most powerful families in the country. He controlled my mother, he cheated on his wife, he abused his daughter. He walked delicately on the draglines as he built his web. But like an orb weaver, his sight was poor. He didn’t see what he’d created, right under his nose.
Me.
When I went away to America, I thought I’d left all of this chaos behind. I had escaped, like my mother always wanted for me.
But there is no escape when you’re caught in the monster’s nexus. Only something bigger to fear, a stronger predator to be devoured by. I was plucked from the broken strands and thrust into a larger web, one less visible, less clear, but controlled by a force I couldn’t begin to understand.
The dean puts a hand on my shoulder. It is meant to comfort, but there is no comfort to be had. It will all end now.
As the flames rise, licking the edges of the building, I swear I see Ash inside the windows. She is staring out at me, a hand raised in a farewell salute, a smile on her beautiful lips.
We are forever bound, she and I, through the blood that flows in our veins, and the blood we spilled together.
A whoosh. A cry.
Main Hall collapses.
And she is gone.