Chapter 5
Mal and Evie sat on the bed next to each other, completely out of breath. Both girls had large smiles on their faces and, for the first time in a very long time, Mal felt genuinely happy and content. "Evie, can I ask you something?" she asked, almost afraid that this wasn't real.
Evie looked at Mal, a worried look penetrating through her eyes. "Yes, of course. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just was wondering… you said that you felt the same way about me as I feel about you. How long have you felt like that?" Mal asked, equal parts anxious and terrified to find out what the answer was.
The look on Evie's face betrayed the feelings of both fear and relief she was experiencing. "Honestly, I started feeling it before we came here, but I didn't recognize what it was until last year when I found your letter that you wrote when you went back to the Isle," she said as tears began to well up in her eyes. "I was heartbroken. But even more than that, I was worried. I didn't want anything to happen to you and I was scared when I found out that you'd gone back."
With each word that Evie spoke, Mal's heart became more and more full of something, but she wasn't sure what it was. It felt like an odd mix of fear, happiness and a sense of wanting to protect Evie, all wrapped up in one strong and unexplainable package. It seemed the more she thought about it, the stronger the feeling became and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, but she wasn't sure she wanted to do anything about it. "Evie, I'm so sorry. I had no idea," Mal said, wrapping her arms around Evie and hugging her tightly.
As the two girls embraced, a smile spread across Mal's face. Little did she know that her life was about to change forever.