FIA
I forced the thought down the moment it surfaced.
It did not vanish. It never really did. It simply sank, heavy and ugly, lodged somewhere deep where I could pretend it was not there. I hated that Hazel could still pull that kind of darkness out of me without even being in the room. I hated that my mind could wander there at all.
Poison...
I closed my eyes for half a second and breathed through it.
No.
I would not let her turn me into something else. I would not let her rot me from the inside the way she rotted everything she touched. Whatever justice looked like now, twisted and compromised as it was, I would not cross that line.
But I had to see her.
That need felt different from anger. Quieter. Sharper. Like a hook under my ribs pulling me forward whether I liked it or not.
