You Didn’t Save Me, You Claimed Me
~ 🖤
---
The night Mira died, Maya was behind the wheel.
She remembered the rain. The weight of silence. The way Mira slammed the door and ordered her to drive—voice shaking with something that sounded like heartbreak but felt like poison.
She hadn't wanted to go.
But she did.
Because when Mira said drive, Maya always obeyed.
Even when she didn't understand why.
Even when it felt like they were speeding toward something they wouldn't come back from.
---
Now, Maya sat on her bed, knees pulled to her chest, body trembling under the weight of memory.
The storm outside had returned like it never left.
And Elias's voice still echoed in her head.
> "I didn't stop her… because all I could think about was you."
But it wasn't just Elias.
She had her hands on the wheel.
She had the power to stop.
And she didn't.
Not soon enough.
Not before the curve. Not before the skid. Not before Mira screamed her name and the world spun into flames.
> I was the one driving.
---
The knock on her window didn't surprise her.
Nothing did anymore.
She opened it without a word, letting Elias climb through the rain-soaked darkness like a ghost she couldn't escape.
He looked wrecked. Wet. Silent.
But still him.
Still Elias.
> "You shouldn't be here," she said.
> "And yet here I am."
> "Because you always come when it hurts the most."
He didn't deny it.
He just stepped closer.
> "I remember it now," Maya whispered. "All of it."
He didn't speak.
> "I remember the way she screamed at me after that party. Told me you were hers. Told me to just drive. I was crying, Elias. I couldn't even see straight."
> "I know."
> "And you still let her leave."
> "Because I thought it was her last tantrum. I didn't think you'd actually—"
> "She was drunk. I was dizzy. And the roads were slick. And I—"
Her voice cracked. "I was the one behind the wheel."
She looked at him, tears sliding down her cheeks.
> "So stop blaming yourself. Stop pretending you let her die."
> "I didn't pretend, Maya. I let her walk away because I couldn't take another second of her trying to make me choose."
> "And you didn't even tell me."
> "Because you were already punishing yourself enough."
She stood slowly, shaking.
> "You think this is punishment?"
> "It's survival."
> "It feels like a curse."
> "Then we're cursed together."
She pushed him—fists against his chest, weak but angry.
> "You didn't save me. You used me to erase her."
> "I couldn't erase her," Elias snapped. "She's still here. In every breath. Every nightmare. Every space between us. But I chose you, Maya. And I'll keep choosing you—even if it kills the rest of me."
> "Then let me go."
> "I can't."
She slapped him. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make the silence ring.
And then he did the most dangerous thing he ever had.
He cupped her face with both hands. Looked at her like she was the beginning and the end. And he said—
> "You were driving. But she crashed us both."
> "You didn't survive that night either. You're still bleeding. Just like me."
> "And the worst part is, Maya…"
He stepped closer. His breath on her lips.
> "I don't want to be saved."
---
Later that night, when Maya lay curled in his arms—soaked in rain and guilt and something darker—she realized something that made her heart twist.
She wasn't afraid of Elias anymore.
She was afraid of how much she needed him now.
Even knowing the truth.
Even knowing she was the one who should have died.
---
🖤