"I've been replaced, haven't I?"
Silence.
Stillness.
Then, "Yes."
"You love her?"
A loaded sigh, full of Let's not do this and What kind of question is that? and Please don't hate me for this.
"More than anything. More than everything."
A reluctant nod.
"This is new for me." A raised eyebrow. Confusion. "Hurting. I've never hu-hurt like this before." If she could cry, she'd be sobbing by now.
"I never, ever meant to hurt you. I would never do that. Not to you."
Big, wrenching, headache-inducing sobs that would suck the air out of the surrounding forest.
"Well," a cold, perfect hand smooths an errant hair behind the shell of an ear, "I'm afraid you already have."
"Please…" He starts forward. A hand reaches out.
"Don't!" The façade crumbles. Her pain is nuclear fallout, surrounding him. Blinding him.
Smothering him.
"I cannot stay here. Not now. Not knowing…this." Her spine is a steel rod, holding her up when she wants nothing more than to crumble. "May the rest of your forever be filled with her. I wish you the best."
And she's gone.
Her name falls from his lips like I'm sorry. Don't leave. I miss you. Please.
"Siobhan."