BROKEN
LUKE
“Sarah,” I began, my voice low and steady, hands still raised, “you’re confused right now, okay? We can help you. You just need to put the gun down.”
Her eyes darted between me, Jess, and Laura, her knuckles white where they gripped the weapon. The gun wavered slightly, but her voice came out sharp and resolute. “I’m not confused, Luke. You are.”
I stayed perfectly still, watching every slight twitch of her movements, but Laura snapped.
“Are you fucking crazy?” Laura’s voice was shrill, the words echoing in the kitchen. “We helped you! We’ve done nothing but help you!”
Sarah’s head whipped toward her, her expression darkening, but there was something fragile in her eyes–like glass about to shatter. “Help me?” she repeated, her voice trembling. “You think I needed your help? You think I wanted your pity?”
She looked back at me, her eyes filled with something desperate, something unhinged. “All I wanted was for us to have a shot, Luke. After the island, you knew. You felt it too. I thought we connected there.”
Josh shook his head from where he stood, his voice calm but firm. “Sarah… no. I might have been delirious and dehydrated
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back then, but there was nothing between you two.”
“No!” she screamed, her voice breaking. She swung the gun. back toward Josh, her hand shaking violently. “You’re lying! What about the waterfall? You can’t tell me that wasn’t real!”
I took a slow step forward, keeping my voice as steady as I could manage despite the adrenaline coursing through me. “Sarah,” I said softly, “what you saw at the waterfall… that wasn‘ t real. What you saw was me, imagining Jess was with me. It had nothing to do with you.”
Her face crumpled for a moment, raw pain flashing in her eyes before her lips curled into a bitter sneer. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” I said, moving another step closer. My heart pounded as I watched her hand tremble. I knew Josh had taken the bullets out earlier, but there was no way to know if she’d figured that out and reloaded it. I wasn’t willing to gamble on anyone’s life.
Josh caught my eye, and I knew we were thinking the same thing: we had to keep her talking, keep her distracted.
“Sarah,” I said gently, my palms still raised, “let’s talk about this, okay? Please. Just hand me the gun, and we’ll figure this out together.”
She faltered for a split second, her grip loosening slightly, but then Jess and Laura shifted behind me. Sarah’s eyes snapped toward them, wild and furious.
“Move again, and I’ll fucking shoot you both!” she screamed, her voice cracking.
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I froze, my chest tightening as Jess and Laura went completely still.
Sarah’s gaze flickered back to me, tears streaming down her face now. She was spiraling, muttering to herself, her words a frantic jumble. “I was good on the island, right? I mean… I coped without my medication. I didn’t unravel, not once. That means I‘ m cured, right? I have to be cured. Otherwise, I would’ve fallen apart. But I didn’t. I held it together. I held it together!”
She pointed the gun directly at me, her hand trembling violently. “But now… now you’re telling me I’m imagining things again! Do you know what that means? It means I’m still broken!” Her voice cracked on the last word, her whole body shaking.
“Sarah,” I said softly, taking another step forward. “You’re not broken, okay? Nobody’s saying that. You’ve been through a lot, and you’re just trying to make sense of it all. Let me help you, Sarah. We’ll figure it out. Just give me the gun.”
Her breathing was ragged, tears streaming freely down her face now. The gun wavered again, and for a moment, I thought I was getting through to her.
But then her eyes hardened. “No. You don’t want to help me. You just want to get rid of me.”
“That’s not true,” I said firmly. “You’re not alone in this. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. But you have to trust me, Sarah. Put the gun down.”
She laughed a bitter, hollow sound that sent chills down my spine. “Trust you?” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “How can I trust you when you’ve been lying to me this whole time? I see it now, Luke. You’re still with her because she
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trapped you with the pregnancy. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Sarah, that’s not true,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm even as panic clawed at my throat.
She smiled–a twisted, manic smile that made my blood run cold. “It’s okay,” she said, her tone eerily light. “I have a solution. If she’s the reason you’re still with her, I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything.”
My heart stopped. “Sarah-”
