“You want me to beg you to let me live?” The words escape her lips so softly that he has to lean in to hear.

She collapses onto the floor, and he sinks down next to her. The sobs that had been caught in her chest exploded out, filling the small space. “You don’t understand,” she chokes out. “Please kill me. Please fucking kill me!” Her body trembles. “Please.”

“Cassie?” For a moment she sees something almost like concern in his eyes, but it is fleeting, replaced by something harder, colder, and she wonders if she only imagined it.

“I should kill you.” He hisses. She imagines his voice like a snake, slithering out from between his lips.

She is crying so hard that she can barely breathe. She curls up into a ball and rocks herself gently. She wishes he would hold her.

She is sitting in the grass, laughing with him.
He holds her hand.
She is happy.

“Please, just let me die,” she whimpers. She curls her fingers into his, reaching for comfort.

He lets her have it.

For a moment they sit, intertwined.