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I follow their gaze until I see the blade of the knife that has completely disappeared up and into the front right side of Cody’s body. Both men are motionless, both staring at each other as though caught in some sort of stupor.
“Mi… na…” his speech is heavily garbled, and I have to lean closer to his mouth to hear his words, “... so… rryyyy...” His breathing becomes rapid and shallow.
For a long, agonizing minute, I sit there, staring at Cody. He’s dead. Cody is dead.
You know, Mina… you know who the fourth is. I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head. No, shut the fuck up! He wouldn’t...
I've been saying this since book1
Keenan had been telling the truth.
Duh
“You love him, Mina,” he says finally. “You love him, I know.” He stops for a moment, staring me down as if he’s trying to see through me. “But you aren’t happy. You aren’t who you really are. You are a shadow of the girl you once were.”
Yup
And that’s why I can’t approve of you being with Shay. Because he doesn’t want what’s best for you. He wants you to be what he needs.”
Father embraces son, and I get the feeling that I’m witnessing something monumental.
Bruh is James gonna die
“You did that to her?” Still nothing. “You stabbed her? You mutilated her?” He presses his face harder into my middle, and I shudder beneath him, whimpering as I try not to scream. “You planned it all?” His silence starts to infuriate me, and I reach down and smack him hard on his shoulder. When he doesn’t respond, I hit him again, over and over, pummeling his head, his back, any part I can reach. But the fucking bastard doesn’t move, nor does he say a word.
Knew it. I fucking knew it.
“You were going to leave me, Mina! You were going away! I had to stop you… I had to!”
Bro wtf
“You knew, Mina!” He moans into my body, “On some level, you knew how far I’d go to keep you!” “Not that, Shay. I can’t believe you would be so fucked to do what you did to me… to mum!” “She wanted to take you away from me! She wanted us apart! She always hated me. I had no one, no one, Mina! Until you. You came and breathed life into my dying lungs. And she was going to take the one person I cared about most in the whole fucking world away!”
Oh shut up
“What about you?” I ask, my voice breaking, and a single tear falls into his hair. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.” Lies… he’s lying… “I hope one day, you’ll forgive me, Sweetness. I never wanted to hurt you. I just… I-” his breath releases in a shuddering gasp, “I wanted us to be forever…”
Omg
back. It feels like goodbye. I know it’s goodbye. I just don’t know for how long.
“I will see you again, right?” I ask him uncertainly. The corner of his mouth rises slightly, that beautiful non-smile smile that is so Shay. “Of course, Sweetness. Just gotta get you safe first, okay?” Lying… he’s lying to you…
Yup
“I love you, Shay.” I see the tears forming in his eyes, how they shine in the moonlight, and his breathing becomes laboured and stressed for just a few seconds until he straightens and yells, “Fucking go, Storm!” and slams the door.
What exchange point? Who was he handing me off to? “Who?” I ask timidly, bracing myself. “Dodger.” Dodger… Keenan! “Wh-what?”
Omg yay
“You won’t be contacting us, Mina. We’ll be contacting you,” he says, at last. His voice is gruff and raspy like speaking has become more difficult for him.
“Will Shay be alright?” I ask as he speeds up, racing down the road, away from Ashland and all the border towns. “He’ll be fine,” is all he says, and his words are like swords stabbing my very soul. He’s lying, but I choose to believe the lie. I have to, because any other alternative is too much to bear.
There’s only one thing you can do, Shay. The voice tells me. I know… I fucking know.
Kill himself?
me. I haven’t felt this… right… in a long time. For once, I know, with absolute certainty, that what I’m doing is right. And I won’t be lost in the darkness anymore...
Omg
What more can I do? Dead men can’t talk, right?
Omg
Beside her stone is another white one. Matthew. Great guy. I’d loved him, too. He was good to her. And now, they were somewhere together, while I was alone.
Is Matthew suposed to be Shay?
It’s then that I notice the kid with them. He looks to be about two or three, and he’s running around the graves, giggling as butterflies and crickets scatter out of his warpath.
Shay's son bro.
I catch sight of a pair of silver dog tags around his neck and realize that’s what had been making that tinkling noise as he ran, but he’s still too far to read the inscriptions. It’s an odd choice for a kid so small to wear.
Omg :(
The girl reaches into her shoulder bag and withdraws something wrapped in what looks like damp packing paper. What the heck? I lean forward a little trying to see what she’s unwrapping. At last, she holds out a flower… a daisy.
It looks like, “love you,” or “forgive you,” or even, “vacuum,” though I highly doubt it was the last option. Seriously, Casey, not the time for jokes, you twat.
As she steps back, her partner catches her and the boy, holding them protectively in his arms as he steers them away, and I feel that ache in my chest again.
Omg is this Mina with a kid
As they move back up the path, exiting the area, the little boy wiggles out of the man’s arms and skips ahead, giggling wildly. He’s the happiest kid I’ve ever seen.
Shay needed redemption. In his final act, he finally did what she needed, and that was to put someone else’s needs before his own. He was caught up in all the dark chaos of his life, and in the end, he did find peace. Mina did love him, despite what he did to her mother. She may not have forgiven him in their final moments, but the love was there.
Omg
And as this was all from Mina’s perspective, she discovered some truths, while other parts remain a mystery. The same goes for Shay. He never found out it was Keenan that Mina had that secret relationship, and honestly, I’m glad he didn’t.
The ending… I wanted to leave a possibility of things…
