returning to the place where it all started, you load up the familiar game on your phone (that for some reason was never uninstalled) and wait for the digital version of Elisabeth Fiorelli to appear. you feel a myriad of emotions that are no longer dulled by otherworldly influences.

when she finally appears, you feel your heart skip (sink?), but it's not for the same reasons as before.

why?

Elisabeth Fiorelli

why?

nothing would ever be enough to encapsulate the myriad of whys that plague your mind. you have mulled them over to the best of your abilities but in the end, you always reach the same conclusion.

she must not have loved you.

she was just using you.

you were a means to an end.

but what end? what could she have possibly achieved from your downfall?

none of the options sit well with you.

why pretend to love me?

a part of you still believes she does; that part will never be quashed.

Elisabeth Fiorelli

that's not true, you think, because you remember what you saw when she looked at you and what you felt when she spoke to you, breathing vulnerabilities into life meant only for you.

i think you're scared.

she will rebuff and deny it, that much you know, but you still hope for something different.

Elisabeth Fiorelli

you can hear her laugh through the screen but it's not as callous or cruel as you remember. far from it, in fact.

you read the options—choices, really, as all of them are true—in silence. your lips thin at the mention of kyle lopez, and as baiting as it may have been, you decide otherwise, finally in control of your mind again.

you're scared of us. you cared about me, despite everything.

why else would she have ran?

Elisabeth Fiorelli

she killed you because she had no choice. she backed herself into a corner and found the easiest way out: by hurting you, and that hurt her. so, she closed herself off, erecting walls to keep you away.

that must be it, you think.

you don't think you can care about anyone, but you do. you do, and you hate it. and that's why you hate me.

Elisabeth Fiorelli

the first and second options would likely lead you to get caught in a loop with either side unwilling to compromise. she's stubborn the same way you are, you remember. to get the desired outcome, you realize you have to beat her at her game. you have to back her into a corner until there's no escape but to surrender to you.

you pick the third option.

Elisabeth Fiorelli

well, that was easy. you must know her well enough to know what makes her tick, what to say, and what to do. your fingers tap away, gliding across the screen with an assuredness most have come to expect from you.

for some reason, it isn't as arrogant as it once might have been.

i never said it was your fault. i don't blame you for what happened. the only thing you're guilty of is being a coward. so stop running, elisa.

Elisabeth Fiorelli