What Died Wasn’t Just a Heartbeat.

~ 🖤

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BANG.

Time stopped.

The hallway filled with smoke and the ringing in Maya's ears drowned out everything else — the thunder outside, the sharp inhale Elias took, the way Jax's hands trembled.

Maya's knees hit the floor.

She couldn't breathe.

Couldn't scream.

All she could do was stare at Elias's chest, expecting to see red spreading fast, painting the floor in grief.

But it wasn't Elias who fell.

It was Jax.

---

The gun clattered from his hand.

His eyes widened — not in rage, but in confusion.

He looked down to see blood pouring from his side, staining his hoodie dark, soaking into the hardwood.

> "You…" he gasped. "You were supposed to let me do it…"

Elias lowered the small silver blade in his hand — one Maya didn't even realize he'd been holding.

His voice was low, shaking. Lethal.

> "I told you. You don't get to touch her."

Jax crumpled, hands pressed to the wound like he was trying to hold his body together.

> "You stabbed him…" Maya whispered, eyes wide.

> "He was going to shoot me. Or you. Or both."

> "But—"

> "There was no but."

---

Maya crawled toward Jax, heart pounding.

> "We need to call someone. He needs help—"

> "He tried to kill me."

> "He's bleeding out!"

> "Good."

Elias turned away, chest heaving, jaw locked with fury.

> "You don't mean that," Maya whispered.

> "I mean every goddamn word."

---

She pulled her phone out and dialed emergency services, hands slick with blood, voice trembling.

> "Please," she whispered into the receiver. "He's been stabbed. He's losing a lot of blood. Hurry."

When she hung up, Jax caught her wrist.

His blood stained her skin.

> "I didn't mean it," he croaked. "I just… I wanted you to see. What he really is. What he does to people."

> "You became worse than him," she said softly. "And he warned me."

Jax's eyes began to dim, but his mouth moved once more.

> "You think you survived her… but you didn't…"

Then his hand slipped from hers.

And everything fell silent again.

---

The police arrived.

The paramedics.

Elias stood motionless as they dragged Jax out on a stretcher, one of the officers keeping a cautious hand near their gun as they passed him.

No one dared cuff him.

Not yet.

Not with that look in his eyes.

---

They questioned them both.

Elias gave short, calculated answers.

Maya's hands wouldn't stop shaking.

They didn't arrest Elias — not right away.

The officer told them it looked like self-defense.

But they'd investigate.

> "There will be questions," the detective warned. "And if there are any lies in your story, we'll find them."

Elias only nodded.

And Maya realized — there were a thousand lies between them.

Lies so thick, the truth barely had room to breathe.

---

After they were alone, Elias sat on the floor, back against the wall, blood dried on his shirt.

Maya approached slowly.

> "Are you okay?" she whispered.

He laughed.

It was a low, hollow sound.

> "Do I look okay?"

> "You saved my life."

> "I destroyed yours."

> "You didn't."

> "I made you mine," he said bitterly. "And now you'll never be anything else."

---

Maya knelt beside him.

She took his hand.

> "Maybe I don't want to be."

He looked at her — truly looked — and she could see it all: the regret, the rage, the boy underneath the monster who didn't know how to love without breaking things.

> "You should go," he said. "You should run. You should hate me."

> "But I don't."

> "Why?"

> "Because even when it hurts… even when it kills… I only ever wanted you."

He leaned in slowly, resting his forehead against hers.

> "You should be afraid of me."

> "I am."

> "And you still stay?"

> "Yes."

> "Why?"

> "Because what's left of me doesn't know how to breathe without you."

---

That night, they didn't speak.

They laid in the dark, backs to each other, staring at opposite walls.

Not because they didn't love.

But because there was too much love — the kind that crushed everything beneath it.

The kind that Mira died for.

The kind Jax tried to kill for.

The kind Maya no longer knew how to survive.

---

The next morning, the news was everywhere.

"Local Teen in Critical Condition After Knife Attack — Sources Say Love Triangle May Be Motive."

"Authorities Investigating Violent High School Confrontation."

"Dark Side of Obsession: When Romance Turns Deadly."

Maya didn't go to school.

Neither did Elias.

Serena came by, but Maya didn't open the door.

She sat on the kitchen floor, eyes blank, locket spinning on the tile in front of her.

And finally, she whispered:

> "I don't know who I am anymore."

---

Later that night, she found Elias in the garage.

He was working on something — a box.

Inside were all their things.

Photos. Notes. The broken charm bracelet from her sixteenth birthday.

He looked up when she entered.

> "What are you doing?"

> "I'm burying us," he said. "Before someone else does."

> "Is that what you want?"

He didn't answer.

So she crossed the room.

Took the box.

Tossed it onto the floor.

And kissed him.

Hard. Fierce. Like drowning.

> "I don't care what happens after this," she whispered. "But I'm not leaving you."

> "You should."

> "I won't."

> "Then don't ask me to be gentle."

> "I never wanted gentle."

---

And that night, their bodies spoke the words they were too scared to say.

That they were ruined.

That they were toxic.

That they were everything the world warned them not to be.

But still — they belonged to each other.

Even if it killed them.

---

🖤