You climb six lonely sad stairs to your apartment

After another graveyard shift in the cold dull light of morning.

You walked in just in time to catch her as she's leaving

But the schedules and the conflicts kept the roof over our heads.

-The Wonder Years, Teenage Parents

Epilogue

The scissors chomped on the thread over and over again and the pixie watched as the Witch's face grew more and more concerned. As if she'd never seen the pair fail to cut through something before. They were certainly magical but after a few more attempts it became clear that this enchantment was too strong for them.

It had been much the same at every other curse breaker she'd come to. None of them could break the spell she'd woven and accidentally screwed herself over with. The thread was just too strong. She was attached to him now and there didn't seem to be a way out of it other than the only thing she wasn't willing to do.

She couldn't face him after all this time. Especially not when it was just to break the connection. He'd probably eat her. At least she thought that would probably be his first reaction. She couldn't think of anything else that the wolfman would want to do to her. He'd given up searching for her over a year ago at this point and she'd figured that that would be the end of it.

She stood to leave and the witch pulled back and sighed. "What did you do?"

"I cursed him to love me...I guess," she admitted.

"And you cannot break this curse yourself?"

"I've tried. I think I could break it in person but I doubt I'll get that chance if he catches up to me. I'd like to break it without dying in the process," she sighed and headed for the door.

Once back out on the street she turned down the sidewalk and tried to look on the bright side. The wolf hated this weather. Maybe he wouldn't come down to chase her. She'd taken to hiding in the French Quarter in New Orleans to avoid him. Even in the winter, it was quite cold enough for him to be comfortable here and in the summer there was no way he'd come after her. He'd probably melt. Not to mention that she actually liked here. Very little iron around, plenty of parties, both fae and not, and many of her own kind blended in here.

This town was a haven for Faeries. They could act like themselves and most people were too drunk to ever tell the difference. Not to mention all the people that walked the streets in costume during city-wide parties were perfect for blending in. Half the time she didn't even have to glamour herself at all and most people didn't look at her twice.

There were plenty of distractions too. Ways to forget the knot on her finger and the red thread floating thought the air around her that only faeries could see. It had raised questions in her kind when she came around, and they all wanted to know who had cursed her. She'd dodge the questions as best she could to try and avoid mentioning the boy she'd left behind.

It hurt too much to talk about him. It hurt bad enough being trapped in her own mind with her regrets, never mind having to actually let them out and tell other people how monumentally she'd screwed her own life up. She wished she'd never made the damn ring. It was meant to be a gift to him. A promise to him that he would always be able to find her wherever she went so that they could always find their way back to each other. Faeries love can be fleeting and they are meant to be free and wild. She hated being stuck in one place and she was so scared to be happy with him that she'd decided that being alone would be less terrifying.

She'd been right of course. Being alone meant that she couldn't hurt anybody. It meant that she was free to roam wherever she wished.

What it didn't mean was she wouldn't feel guilty when she touched someone else. That she wouldn't hate herself for having to hurt him to gain this freedom that she had so desperately craved. That she wouldn't dream of him every night. That that stupid song wouldn't be stuck in her head for the rest of her long and lonely life. She'd had to go out of her way to find excuses to listen to it on more than one occasion.

Public libraries with computers were the easiest way for her to listen to it alone. Sometimes she had to resort to glamouring bartenders to play it over the loudspeakers while she was drunk. She'd never expected to miss hearing it so much.

She'd caught herself humming it more than a few times, even singing it once or twice without really meaning too. It wasn't like faerie music. It was rough, and not at all whimsical. She wasn't even sure if it was a love song. Parts of it seemed to be but others seemed to be just the opposite.

She also didn't know how they fit into the narrative of it. At first, she'd thought they were the Blackbirds. Looking down from their perch and laughing at the humans that dawdled away in their pointless short lives. Lately, she'd thought that instead, they might be the couple that was separated by hundreds of miles. She hadn't called him at least. She was the one who had run away from home.

After all she'd done, she was the one who ended up having to be strong. Strong enough to stay away and let him start over no matter how much she wanted to come home and it certainly wasn't easy anymore.

She'd be lying to herself if she thought that it had ever been easy at all.