❝In every man, there is a beast. Lexis doesn't have a beast...he is the beast.❞
In the year 2145, the world changed and a system designed by the supernatural took over.
Since many began to fear their fated partners, the tradit...
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The conversation between your fingers and someone else's skin. This is the most important discussion you can ever have. ~ Iain Thomas
J o r d y n ✤ T a m e
MY REFLECTION CAUGHT my attention as I stepped out of the shower.
It had been two days since the diagnosis, and in that time, I'd started looking at myself differently. Everything felt sharper. More exposed. The green of my eyes looked brighter than they had yesterday, a glint of something restless sitting just behind them. My brown hair clung to my shoulders, soaked and heavy, and water still streamed down my body.
I watched as a single drop slid from my jaw down the curve of my throat. It was strange how something so ordinary could feel so new.
Then the sharp buzz of my phone shattered the silence.
I grabbed a towel, wrapping it around myself as I stepped out of the bathroom, still damp, still half-dazed. When I glanced at the screen, I froze.
The name on the notification made my stomach twist violently.
Talia.
We need to talk.
Just four words, but they sliced through me like glass. I never thought I'd hear from her again. And I sure as hell didn't expect it now.
For a moment, the memories came rushing in—moments from a friendship I once believed in, trusted, even leaned on. But then came the lies and utter betrayal. And for what? Something just petty.
My chest tightened, the air felt too thin. I forced a breath in, like the nurse taught me, willing my body to calm down. She said I needed to let my brain heal. She said stress could make it worse.
But how was I supposed to rest when the very people who broke me kept finding new ways to haunt me?
I deleted the text.
I didn't respond. Talia had always been chaos. I just hadn't recognized it until that night when her mask cracked, and I saw what had been hiding underneath all along.
A knock at the door pulled me back. My head turned slowly toward the sound.
"Jordyn?" A familiar voice came through. "It's Nurse Revira. I've been treating you here at the facility."
I took a breath, still a little shaken, before opening the door.
She stood in the hallway with her curls pinned up loosely, her warm brown eyes scanning me the moment the door opened. They dropped to the towel wrapped around me before shifting, trying to see past me into the room.
"Come in," I rasped, stepping aside.
She entered cautiously, her eyes sweeping the space before settling on me again. "You don't sound great."
