Jack recoiled, his heart racing in terror. Her words filled him with a fear of loss- not the loss that Demi was trying to show him. It was losing everything he had worked for since leaving the city, including Sarah. The city and all its trappings meant nothing to him compared to the life he shared with Sarah. That was what he truly wanted, and he was afraid of losing it. He couldn't let everything crumble after coming so far.

"No!" His whole body shook as twisted voices and evil laughter echoed in his mind, a reminder of a past he'd rather forget.

Suddenly, the room seemed to close in on him. The walls pulsed with an otherworldly energy, and Jack could swear he saw shadowy figures dancing at the corners of his vision. His breath came in short, ragged gasps as he fought against the rising panic.

"You can't escape who you are, Jack," Demi's voice seemed to echo from every direction. "The darkness is part of you. It's what made you successful. It's what brought you to me."

Jack clutched his head, trying to block out the voices. "No, no, no," he muttered, his eyes screwed shut, trying to escape the torment. "I'm not that person anymore. I've changed. Sarah... Sarah showed me a different way."

But even as he spoke her name, doubt crept in. What if Demi was right? What if he was fooling himself? What if the darkness was too deeply ingrained to ever truly leave?

He opened his eyes, and for a moment, it was not Demi standing before him, but a twisted, demonic version of himself. It grinned at him with sharp teeth, its eyes glowing red with malice.

"Welcome home, Jack," it sneered.

Jack stumbled backward, nearly falling over in his haste to get away. "This isn't real," he gasped. "This isn't who I am anymore."

Demi's voice cut through the hallucination, sharp and insistent. "If you don't come with me now to fix the mess you've made, it will be as if you never existed. No one will remember you."

The room snapped back into focus, the shadows retreating to the corners. But the fear remained, a cold, hard knot in the pit of Jack's stomach.

"Sarah will remember me!" Jack snapped, his love for her fueling his defiance. "And I won't leave her behind to go back. She's my new life here."

Demi laughed harshly, startling him with how loud she was. "You think Sarah loves you like some ‘dream cowboy’ she’s been waiting for all her life? For fuck’s sake, the woman knows who you are. While you shut off your phone to be away from me, she must have used hers to search you out. Who in this town drives that kind of car you parked outside? You think women are stupid? You think she doesn’t want to level up? She’s playing the typical ‘virtuous-woman-who-will-help-the-depressed-rich-boy’ card just to get into your heart. She is on a mission, which is to enter the riches of the good life you have. News flash—that life only comes from being the rich, celebrity author you want to discard for whatever reason. Wake up, Jack!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Jack was shaking his head vehemently even before she was done speaking. "No!" He took further steps away from her until his butt hit the table. There was nowhere else to go. "What Sarah and I have is real! The most real thing that has ever happened to me."

Demi walked forward until she was a hair's breadth away from him. "The most real thing in your life is me, I am the one who always sticks my neck out for you on your bad, ugly, depressed and even batshit crazy days. I’m the one organizing your life and walking you through your mood swings and silly personal problems. “I’m the one who is constantly keeping you afloat and repairing the rubbish you keep creating. I do everything to make your life work; yet, you don’t see it. You don’t value it. You ran out here without telling me! I am the one who fixes your messes and this one is the worst."

"I’m sorry," Jack said, too many things running through his mind. He couldn’t think straight. "I may not be going through this transition the right way, but I’m here now and I want to see it through. Sarah feels right, Demi. I don’t know how to explain it, but she’s good for me."

"Because you guys have fucked?" She inched closer still so that her mouth was almost on his. He could smell the mint mixed with alcohol on her breath. It was a heady smell that destabilized and distracted him. "Do you really think she gets you better just because you've been inside her? Is she more important than me because you haven’t been in me? Do you think I don't know what you need because you haven't felt me that way?"

"Stop!" Jack warned, raising a hand, but it was a useless gesture. Her chest was pressed against his, and she was brandishing an angry but ravishingly intimate gaze. He kept his focus over her shoulder. He wouldn’t fall for whatever this was that she was doing. "Stop it, Demi! I want Sarah! I want Lily Corner! And I want my life here!"

"You fool! You don’t know what you want" she said, grasping him. "You are nothing without your life in the city! Sarah doesn’t want you; she wants a chance at that glory. Are you a fool? What does that tell you?"

"It tells me that I don’t care!" Jack grabbed her by the arm and tried to push her away. "You have to leave Demi! Go back to The city. My life is here."

She stood her ground, stronger than he would have ever believed. "We can fuck now, Jack," she said, still pushing up on him, her hands groping at him. "Look at me and all you’ve been really missing, kiss me."

"No!"

The door to the room opened suddenly, there was a flash, Sarah arriving just behind the photographer. An image of a moment out of context. Demi and Jack in an apparent embrace. Her face to his, her hands on him, and his on her arms.

Jack met Sarah's gaze, her eyes darting from him to Demi and back again. When they finally rested back on him, they were filled with such hurt that he knew he'd never forget them.

"Like what you see, bitch?" Demi sneered, a smirk playing on her lips.

Sarah's eyes flickered to Demi for a brief moment before she turned and fled.