Page 87 of Secret Love
Chapter 28
Fox
We made it.
Barely.
I don’t remember much from the drive out here. A few bumpy roads. The gentle squeeze of Dani’s hand. The quiet sound of her sobbing in the driver’s seat.
“Stay with me, Fox. Hold on…”
I tried. I drifted and sunk deeper into the abyss but I spent every conscious breath holding on for her sake.
“Fox.”
My ears twitch in my sleep. The bed beneath me feels warm and familiar. The air smells clean and comforting. Blissful silence for miles on each side.
The cabin. I’m back in the cabin.
“Fox.”
I open my eyes, her feminine voice pulling me out of sleep. It’s dark. The curtains are drawn to keep the sunlight out, but I make out her outline in the shadows. She stands with her back to the window in a bright sundress, her arms casually folded in front of her.
“Fox,” she whispers, her accent as thick as before, “have you truly come all this way… just to die?”
I sit up, recognizing the soft features on her youthful face. “Sofia?”
She smiles. “Hello, old friend.”
“How did you…”
I put my feet on the floor and look around the cabin. My senses are heavy and dull. My hands are clear of blood. My bare chest is blank of tattoos and scars.
This isn’t real.
She’s not real.
“I’m hallucinating,” I say.
Sofia chuckles. “No. Just dreaming.”
“What’s the difference?”
“One is proof of a healthy, active mind. The other is an intrusion. It would offend me dearly if you saw me as the latter.”
I nod, though I’m not sure I understand. Each breath I take feels tighter than the last. It’s difficult to move at all.
“Am I dying?” I ask her.
Her smile slowly fades as she glances around the cabin. “Are you living?” she asks.
I don’t answer.
“I was like you once,” she says. “Separated from the life I desired and the person I wanted to be… but that wasn’t my choice.”
I swallow hard, my throat tight and dry.
“My walls imprisoned me,” she continues. “You’ve built yours for yourself.”
Sofia steps forward and kneels on the floor in front of me, her sundress lightly folded beneath her. “Was I wrong about you, Fox?” she asks, looking up at me. “Are you really just a man who acts for himself?”
I bow my head with closed eyes. “No,” I answer.
I feel her reach up and place something soft over my shoulders. It drapes down on either side of my neck, feeling thick, bushy, and…
I open my eyes to find Dani kneeling in front of me instead. She’s younger, barely more than fifteen. Her blonde hair sits curled up on top of her head in a long braid, exposing the neckline of her purple dress.
She leaves the red and white scarf on my neck and she smiles.
“Prove it,”she says.