I knew the moment Mathew woke up.

I started to rise for the doctor, but he grabbed my wrist.


I didn't struggle.

Mathew smiled at me.

"You're in my dream again... I've missed you so much..."


...

I squeezed his hand. His brow furrowed, his eyes focusing.


"This isn't a dream, Mathew."

If we were destined to be entangled, so be it.

After settling Mathew, I went to apologize to my parents.

For Mathew's selfishness.

And for my own.

Dad was never one for words. He just waved his hand and sighed.

Mom's temples had gone gray. Tears glistened in her eyes. "When we adopted you, we never intended to take him too. We saw how he felt about you, even then..."

"But that night when he showed up, you begged us to keep him. You promised you'd teach him to be good. How could we refuse?"

"Life takes strange turns... We've done what we could. Now it's up to you two..."

...

After they left, I returned to Mathew's room.

He stared at me, unblinking.

I kept my face neutral, ignoring his stare.

Suddenly he smiled, catching my pinky finger and kissing it. "I'm so happy, Crystal... so happy..."

Despite everything, I smiled too.


* Mathew Byrne's Perspective


Mathew Byrne wasn't normal.

He'd known this since childhood.

When his parents fought about him, he never cried or tried to stop them. He just watched with fascination their expressions of anger and pain.

Like bulls charging a matador's cape.

That look in his eyes—seeing people as objects—terrified his parents.

Bedtime stories stopped. Then regular meals.

His room became dark and bare.

But he never felt fear.

His mother called him a soulless monster.

His father stopped coming home.

None of it mattered.

Until his mother took him out one day.

She left him at an orphanage entrance, promising to return with candy.

The oldest trick in the book.

Mathew knew better.

But he waited anyway.

It suited him. He wanted a change of scenery.

He'd thought he didn't care how others saw him.

Until he met Crystal. Then he discovered he could fear being feared by someone.

"I'm not a monster... not a monster..."

This became his mantra.

Second only to—"Crystal, save me."

He was too young to understand what he really meant was—"Please, love me."

Fortunately, all roads led to the same place.

He did eventually win her love.